As a Realtor, I know a lot about spreading
manure:).
The reason you need to do it, has more to do with
pasture management than anything else. If you leave the manure intact, it
will burn out an area of the grass underneath it and around it. Depending on
your rainfall amounts and temperatures, that burnout spot can last up to a
couple of years before the grass can comeback. Usually it goes through a
rank weed stage before the grass crowds out the weeds. The Extention
offices in Missouri used to have a chart that showed how much land a
horse or cow's manure covered in a year. It seems like it was about 1/3 acre per
year, but my memory could be mistaken.
To see this on a closer
level, drop a concentrated handfull of
fertilizer or manure on your lawn in one spot. Don't break it up , and
watch what happens. Track it and see how long it takes for the lawn to return to
normal.
One of the old names city folks had for
farmers/ranchers was " S%&T Kickers" It came from the habit good
farmers had when walking through a field where they would manually break up
piles of fresh manure with their boots. It was good pasture management then. It
still is now. It drives my wife nuts when I do it. Drag those meadow
muffins. It will help your pastures, and your horses health.
