spreading worm eggs in the paddocks

Discussion in 'Breeding, Raising, Feeding and Caring for Animals' started by Flatland, Dec 22, 2015.

  1. Flatland

    Flatland Member

    Joined:
    Oct 8, 2015
    Messages:
    152
    Likes Received:
    13
    Trophy Points:
    18
    Gender:
    Female
    because I don't want to rely on chemical wormers for my horse I am anal retentive about paddock hygiene. (read somewhere that at any given time 80% of a horse's worm load is in the paddock) winter is covered as the winter dung beetles are crazy workers. Summer I collect the manure which is fine as I am using that for fruit trees and vegie garden. I am thinking of making manure tea and spreading that on sections of the paddocks that I am reseeding and trying to get really well covered as a fire break near the house. My question is if I use horse manure to make the manure tea and then spray that onto the paddock am I spreading horse intestinal worm eggs on that section of the paddock? I know heat in manure pile will kill worm eggs but what happens to that if they are soaked in water for a couple of weeks?
     
  2. Bryant RedHawk

    Bryant RedHawk Junior Member

    Joined:
    Sep 8, 2014
    Messages:
    607
    Likes Received:
    83
    Trophy Points:
    28
    Gender:
    Male
    Occupation:
    Arkansas Senior Appraiser
    Location:
    Vilonia, Arkansas, deep in the woods
    Climate:
    USDA zone 7b,8a.
    I'd first hot compost the manure to kill the eggs then make the tea. This will eliminate any issues.
     
    Jody Wall likes this.
  3. Jody Wall

    Jody Wall New Member

    Joined:
    Mar 14, 2016
    Messages:
    4
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    1
    Climate:
    Sub-Tropical
    It's all good. Believe in yourself. Believe in those you love.

    I think if you google your local university, and find a PhD student or someone within the department of worms(Entomology maybe. though probably not, they're the insect people), they might be able to give you a more definitive answer on the life cycle, and how to break it.
     
  4. Grasshopper

    Grasshopper Senior Member

    Joined:
    Nov 19, 2010
    Messages:
    1,016
    Likes Received:
    9
    Trophy Points:
    38
    There would a temp or time or combo that would be worth knowing
     
  5. Bryant RedHawk

    Bryant RedHawk Junior Member

    Joined:
    Sep 8, 2014
    Messages:
    607
    Likes Received:
    83
    Trophy Points:
    28
    Gender:
    Male
    Occupation:
    Arkansas Senior Appraiser
    Location:
    Vilonia, Arkansas, deep in the woods
    Climate:
    USDA zone 7b,8a.
    For horse manure with intestinal worm eggs you want to compost to a temperature of 150 degrees f for a period of 7 days. From that point you have egg free material to work with and can either let the compost finish or start a compost tea, keep in mind that finished compost has more nutrients readily available for dissolving in water than unfinished compost.
     
  6. Flatland

    Flatland Member

    Joined:
    Oct 8, 2015
    Messages:
    152
    Likes Received:
    13
    Trophy Points:
    18
    Gender:
    Female
    I know about the hot composting to kill worm eggs, but i am having trouble getting the temps you need that way. Think my problem is not enough water so the pile dries out. Need to move the pile to some place nearer to water so that i can water it but that is not going to happen at the moment. Too many other things further up the must do list. So I am using manure straight from the paddock. I've used it for veggies before and it works great and I realize it would do some good for my pasture as well but don't want to end up having to use chemicals to worm the horse because I have ended up reinfecting the horse.
    Have been in touch with a lady doing a Phd on horses at pasture. Very interesting lady. She's really thinking outside the square and her research is turning a lot of horse "truths" on their ear. Her comments were she didn't know if it would spread eggs but she thinks it is a bad idea to have too clean a paddock anyway as a healthy horse should carry a certain worm burden so that its immune system can be healthy.
     
  7. Bryant RedHawk

    Bryant RedHawk Junior Member

    Joined:
    Sep 8, 2014
    Messages:
    607
    Likes Received:
    83
    Trophy Points:
    28
    Gender:
    Male
    Occupation:
    Arkansas Senior Appraiser
    Location:
    Vilonia, Arkansas, deep in the woods
    Climate:
    USDA zone 7b,8a.
    What a great resource you have found in that lady. for the compost pile, try putting a cover on, we use old carpet and it really helps keep the heap moisture under control so the heaps heat up and stay hot longer. You could probably even use plastic in a pinch for this, we find our carpet at homes doing re-carpeting, They usually just put the old stuff out at the road for the trash people to pickup and our grabbing it keeps it out of the land fills, we get a full year and sometimes two out of a piece then it becomes part of the compost heap and a new piece is put on for the cover.

    Interesting thing about a horse needing a small worm burden for its immune system, I'll have to do more reading on that.
     

Share This Page

-->