Does anyone here harrow a small paddock rather than picking it daily?
I was unfamiliar with this practice until yesterday, when I went to see a barn that harrows instead of cleaning. By small paddocks I mean 5000 sq ft or so (which in my area is spacious). I also think a barn I looked at today does the same thing (I had to think over the conversation for a while to get that). In both cases, the paddocks looked clean, as if they were picked daily. In both cases, the harrowing seems to occur a few times a week. Again, the paddocks looked clean and there were not an unusual amount of flies. I did see a barn once with the same size paddocks where they just "let the horses spread it." That was an immediate deal breaker because it was obviously a hideous mess with flies everywhere. Nice barn otherwise, so that was strange.
I did a quick internet search and it said that harrowing like this (although I think larger pastures were the topic) works in hot and dry climates because it breaks up the manure sufficiently that it dries out the heat kills any parasites.
Any thoughts on this? Honestly, the harrowing seems like it would be more work than just cleaning, so I am trying to figure out what the advantage could be, other than not having a pile.
I was unfamiliar with this practice until yesterday, when I went to see a barn that harrows instead of cleaning. By small paddocks I mean 5000 sq ft or so (which in my area is spacious). I also think a barn I looked at today does the same thing (I had to think over the conversation for a while to get that). In both cases, the paddocks looked clean, as if they were picked daily. In both cases, the harrowing seems to occur a few times a week. Again, the paddocks looked clean and there were not an unusual amount of flies. I did see a barn once with the same size paddocks where they just "let the horses spread it." That was an immediate deal breaker because it was obviously a hideous mess with flies everywhere. Nice barn otherwise, so that was strange.
I did a quick internet search and it said that harrowing like this (although I think larger pastures were the topic) works in hot and dry climates because it breaks up the manure sufficiently that it dries out the heat kills any parasites.
Any thoughts on this? Honestly, the harrowing seems like it would be more work than just cleaning, so I am trying to figure out what the advantage could be, other than not having a pile.
