Dragging Manure piles

[dieselbeef]

I use 6 semi tires chained like bowling pins

if you drag they will eat where the pile was..but not if the pile is still there...no matter how old

 

[M.Magis]

No beetles around here that I'm aware of. I've looked, but have never seen one or even a sign of them. It's either drag, or waste the grass around every pile for the last year and a half. They simply won't touch it.

 

[ClinchValley]

We have beetles and worms galore IMO. But still isn't fast as I like.

 

[Cucumber35]

I use the tractor tires chained together as well. I think it really helps, I usually don't get time to do as much as I'd like. Same goes for mowing too. I've got plans to try dragging the tires behind the mower this year, two birds with one tank of fuel...

 

[True Grit Farms]

http://www.americanharrow.com/mobile/Pr ... =D12WH13RH

This is what I use, works great. I also pull it behind my double disc drill and 10' rotary mower. Nothing looks worse to me than a bunch of crap in your fields.

 

[greybeard]

No beetles around here that I'm aware of. I've looked, but have never seen one or even a sign of them. It's either drag, or waste the grass around every pile for the last year and a half. They simply won't touch it.

Same here, except we do have dung beetles. Takes weeks for the beetles to get rid of a pile well enough for the next good rain to dissolve the pile, and in spring, that just leaves more ability for the flies to work. Some years, I have lots of beetles but still they don't degrade the piles very fast and I still end up with a pasture full of clumps of grass--looks like I'm farming ant mounds or something (and I do have more ant mounds than I want too, and they often start on a pile of cow poop) .

Maybe the fescue type forages are different but bahia pastures really look bad if we don't drag.

 

[BC]

X 2

 

[Ky cowboy]

We drag ours every year with a 10 foot pasture harrow, as soon as we pull them off of it to the winter lot. We think it helps with them not eating around thw piles and spreads the free fertilizer

 

[ddd75]

if your manure piles are staying and not leaving its because you have chemicals in the manure so nothing wants to touch it.

wormers, tub licks, etc.

i've never dragged my manure piles and they are gone within 2 weeks.

 

[M.Magis]

if your manure piles are staying and not leaving its because you have chemicals in the manure so nothing wants to touch it.

wormers, tub licks, etc.

i've never dragged my manure piles and they are gone within 2 weeks.

I'll guarantee you'll find no chemicals in the manure piles on my place. An odd statement.

 

[dun]

if your manure piles are staying and not leaving its because you have chemicals in the manure so nothing wants to touch it.

wormers, tub licks, etc.

i've never dragged my manure piles and they are gone within 2 weeks.

Ain;t necessarily so. Too many variables. No tumble bugs or too cold for them to be active, low protein so that the piles are the consistancy of rocks, drought so that the piles dry out really fast, I'm sure there are lots of other reasons too.

 

[warped04]

http://www.americanharrow.com/mobile/Product.aspx?ProductCode=D12WH13RH

This is what I use, works great. I also pull it behind my double disc drill and 10' rotary mower. Nothing looks worse to me than a bunch of crap in your fields.

Doesn't hurt the grass/pasture?

 

[True Grit Farms]

http://www.americanharrow.com/mobile/Product.aspx?ProductCode=D12WH13RH

This is what I use, works great. I also pull it behind my double disc drill and 10' rotary mower. Nothing looks worse to me than a bunch of crap in your fields.

Doesn't hurt the grass/pasture?

The grass looks bad for a few days for sure. But after a couple of days the grass grows better where you've drag. Dragging promotes growth. IMO

 

[warped04]

The grass looks bad for a few days for sure. But after a couple of days the grass grows better where you've drag. Dragging promotes growth. IMO

As I've thought about it, I guess it'll depend on how often you do it, and the condition of your pasture. I'm still super new at this and thinking how important pasture management is to this.

IE. Twice a day every day will ruin pasture, twice a year, probably helps.

 

[greybeard]

I do it several times over the course of winter when there's lots of buildup around hay rings and mineral feeders. Doesn't seem to hurt the grass any.

 

[farmerjan]

I don't think it is an odd statement. If you are feeding tubs or lick tanks, if you have wormed the cattle with a chemical wormer of any type, Ivomectin, safe guard, you name it, or if you have added any antibiotics to the feed say for pnuemonia or anything, it is gonna come out the other end of the cow. It then is not a "natural component" and the dung beetles and worms and others that break down the manure piles may not go to work on them or may not do it as quick as they would if the animals just ate grass and NOTHING else like nature intended in the grand scheme of things.

I am not saying that you should never do anything to or for the cattle. But it will change the composition of the manure and some of the organisms that do break down the piles may not work as well or as fast on them. I can't remember where I read a study on that. And I am not saying that it is the only reason for slow breakdown. But I do believe it can be a contributing factor.

 

[ClinchValley]

Makes sense

 

[boondocks]

Makes sense

It's been discussed on CT before and there's a thread somewhere (our vet has also explained it to us). See, eg, http://extension.uga.edu/publications/d ... mber=B1086
("Dung beetles are beneficial in pasture management because they break down the manure piles that protect the eggs and immature larvae and recycle manure nitrogen. Excessive use of the avermectin class of dewormers has been shown to kill dung beetles.")