Why You Should Poo Pick: Protecting Your Pasture and Equine Health
For horse owners, maintaining a healthy pasture is paramount to the well-being of their beloved animals. While proper feeding and shelter are essential, often overlooked is the critical task of removing manure: poo picking. This seemingly mundane chore is a cornerstone of effective parasite control and overall pasture management. Let’s delve into why poo picking is so vital and what happens if you neglect this important task.
The Parasite Problem: A Vicious Cycle
The life cycle of most equine parasites relies heavily on a period spent outside the host, nestled in the pasture. Adult worms within the horse produce eggs that are then expelled in the manure. These eggs then develop into infective larvae right on the ground where your horse grazes. As the horse eats, it unknowingly ingests these larvae, restarting the entire parasitic cycle.
The goal of any successful worming program is to minimize your horse’s exposure to these parasites. While deworming medication is crucial, good pasture management, with poo picking at its core, is an indispensable part of the equation. Even a horse with a seemingly low worm count can significantly contaminate a pasture. Imagine a horse with just 100 eggs per gram of manure producing approximately 15kg of droppings a day – that’s a massive amount of eggs being released daily, leading to a heavily contaminated grazing area.
Beyond Parasites: Improving Grazing and Reducing Waste
Aside from parasite control, regular poo picking has numerous other benefits:
- Encourages Even Grazing: Horses are selective grazers, preferring young, tender plants and actively avoiding areas soiled with manure. If droppings are left uncollected, these areas become “rough,” with mature, less palatable plants and increased weed infestations. This drastically reduces the amount of available grazing, forcing horses to graze closer to the manure and increasing their risk of parasite infection.
- Optimizes Pasture Utilization: Removing manure allows for more efficient use of your pasture. Horses will graze more evenly, leading to consistent growth and reducing the need for overseeding or costly renovations.
- Reduces Weed Infestation: By removing the manure, you also remove weed seeds that are often present in the horse’s digestive tract and deposited in the droppings. This helps to control weed growth and maintain a healthier, more productive pasture.
Adapting to a Changing Climate
The UK’s increasingly mild and wet climate presents a challenge to pasture management. Traditionally, harsh frosts and hot, dry conditions helped to naturally kill parasite larvae. However, with milder winters and wetter summers, these larvae can survive for longer periods, extending the infection season and increasing the chances of horses becoming infected throughout the year. Furthermore, some parasite eggs, like the Ascarid egg, can remain viable in the soil for years, even in colder climates. Therefore, year-round poo picking is essential, not just during the typical grazing season.
Integrating Poo Picking into a Comprehensive Worming Program
Drug companies and veterinarians recognize the importance of pasture management, especially in light of rising resistance to certain deworming medications. To preserve the effectiveness of these medications, a holistic approach that combines strategic deworming with diligent poo picking is necessary.
Regular fecal egg counts are a valuable tool, helping to assess the level of pasture contamination and monitor the effectiveness of your poo picking efforts. These counts can provide valuable insights and ensure that your worming program is truly minimizing the risk of parasitic infection.
Making Poo Picking Easier
While the thought of manually removing manure from acres of pasture might seem daunting, there are solutions available. Paddock vacuum cleaners, manufactured in the UK, offer a fast and efficient way to clean fields, especially in wet conditions.
These machines can cover large areas quickly and effectively, making the task far less labor-intensive than traditional hand-picking methods. While an initial investment may be required, the long-term benefits to your horse’s health and pasture quality make it a worthwhile consideration.
The Bottom Line: Poo Picking is an Investment in Your Horse’s Health
Poo picking might seem like a tedious task, but it’s a crucial component of responsible horse ownership. A single horse can pass tens of thousands of small redworm eggs in its dung each day, potentially contaminating the entire pasture. By consistently removing manure, you’re actively breaking the parasite life cycle, promoting even grazing, and creating a healthier environment for your horses. A typical horse produces around 10 tonnes of manure a year and will contaminate the pasture with 1.5 million eggs each day. So, grab your gloves, invest in the right tools, and make poo picking a central part of your pasture management strategy. Your horses will thank you for it!