[Bywaters]

My countryside stewardship application small print insists that I have my hayracks and feed troughs on "hardstandings" to reduce poaching etc

What have folk used other than excavating and replacing with concrete ?

Are there any soil reinforcing materials ? interlocking rubber matting / plastic tiles ?  that are effective?

Be good to get ideas please

[Womble]

We used old concrete slabs our neighbour wanted rid of. The reality is that after a couple of years they now have a layer of mud and grass over the top, and you'd never know they were there, except that the ground is more poached around the edges of the slab than next to the hay rack!

[arobwk]

I have absolutely no knowledge re this subject, but what is a "hard-standing" was my 1st thought with ref' to Womble's post ?
I'm guessing you've double-checked the stewardship small print and that it has not been specific and so you are casting around for acceptable alternatives to a non-eco concrete slab. 
Have you asked DEFRA or whom-ever to define "hard-standing" to your satisfaction yet - I would !

[Bywaters]

In terms of definition, it's fairly simple - it's something hard that stops the ground being churned up, so concrete, concrete flags, tarmac, rubber matting etc will all do the job.
Ideally cleaned off every year, I imagine, of the waste hay and mud etc

New concrete is fairly unsustainable and expensive, so was looking for ideas of a less civil engineering nature

[arobwk]

Exactly and agree (re new concrete slab):  alternative resilient "eco" surfaces (even if they only last for a season or so) would be soooo much better. 
An ex-work colleague of mine keeps a pedigree South Devon herd (as a side-line biz):  he swore by some sort of proprietary "mulch" for his winter feeding area (can't remember what it was - sorry).  He reckoned it would get his heifers through the whole Winter in a feeder area without it getting gloopy. 
Not sure that's very helpful, but I offer anyway as clearly there are some non-concrete products that can minimize the poaching issue (according to my ex-colleague of 10 years ago). 

[SallyintNorth]

The farm I was on used to tip a few loads of road planings or other hard core / rubble down in gateways and anywhere you knew the stock would congregate.  He'd do it in summer, by the following summer it just looked like grass again, but wore better when everywhere got muddy.

Stones can get between cloven hoof cleats, though, so for a feeding area or gateway used daily, i would not use planings alone.  Maybe try mud control mats on top of planings?  Sweep the mud off them now and again or you won't be able to pick them up at the end of winter and reuse them. 

[Bywaters]

Thanks all of you 

Most appreciated

[Buttermilk]

I have put mud control slabs down.  Not cheap but they are moveable so if you do not site them in the best place they will lift and put where you fnd is a better spot.  https://www.mudcontrol.co.uk/slabs