Mud Management For Horse Farms
Why is mud a problem?
- Unhealthy environment for your horse
- Inconvenient for horse owner (harder to do chores)
- Dangerous footing for owner and horse
- Unsightly
- Causes odors and flies
- Impacts environment-runoff of sediment an nutrients
What is mud?
- Fine organic material
- Holds moisture
How does mud happen?
- Increase of surface water
- Highly organic soil instead of well-drained or gravel
- Manure buildup
- Decomposed organic material (stall waste, shavings, old hog fuel, hay)
- High traffic areas
- Compaction causes an impervious surface
- Break down of vegetation that helps stabilize soil
Six Techniques to reduce mud and hopefully eliminate it.
- Establish a sacrifice area
- Pick up manure on a regular basis
- Install gutters and downspouts
- Use footing material for paddocks
- Use footing material for high traffic areas
- Use trees as mud managers
Informational material from a seminar that my husband and I attended, given by Alayne Renee Blickle, Horses for Clean Water.
Visit: Horses for Clean Water
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