Now that it’s finally spring in the northern Rockies, the new season brings with it a lot of pasture and grounds maintenance work. We’ve been busy scraping out the winter build-up of horse manure from the corrals and building new compost piles. The compost will "cook" over the spring and early summer as we turn it every few weeks. Then it will cure for a few months and be ready to spread in the fields by fall. In addition to corral cleaning, we’re also dragging the fields with the tractor and chain harrow. That’s what Kathryn was doing this afternoon when I took these photos.
The chain harrow breaks up and scatters the manure clumps in the pastures, helping distribute this good source of natural fertilizer more evenly across the fields. Breaking up the clumps also helps destroy internal parasites in the manure by exposing them to the sun’s ultraviolet rays. And dragging assists in dethatching the ground, making it easier for new grass to come up and easier for nutrients to reach the soil.
With 13 pastures spread across our 160 acres, there’s plenty of dragging to be done!
(Click on photo for larger image.)
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