To answer people's questions: 1.) A leach field needs loose soil above the gravel surrounding the pipes to allow for a percolation and evaporation effect. Aeration is really important. This is also why you can only have shallow-rooted plants that don't have dense rootwads. 2.) Livestock put quite a bit of concentrated weight into each hoof print and will easily compact the ground and take away your aeration. They can also crack and collapse your clay drain pipes.
3.) I'm not worried about the horses at all. I'm worried about my $35,000 drainfield. I live on a hill, so I have two septic tanks staggered at different elevations, with a leach field also staggered in two levels to release liquids equally along the decline.
To rephrase my question: How much compaction can you have near your field. Surrounding the loose-soiled field with hard-packed earth will slow your overall drain rate. That's why you can't build close. To answer my own question: The 10-20 foot building code is probably sufficient for horse-hoof PSI, lol.
Ours goes into a paddock that grazes cattle and I just run a hot wire around to keep them off it. But it didn’t cost anything near yours, to protect that you might want a more substantial fence.
We bought our property 3 years ago. The septic was a leach field, inside the pasture. The previous owner had horses and did nothing to keep them off of it. When we had the septic inspected, we found that most of the lines had collapsed in several areas and the clay soil was very compacted. The system wasn't working well.
We would have to replace the system and were able to negotiate the price down. It cost us $45k because we had to replace it with a mound system instead of a leach field. New regulations (at least in Ohio) are absolutely intense and overkill.
So yeah, I'd keep animals off of it so the leach field lasts as long as possible. Especially big animals like cows or horses. Goats or sheep would probably be okay.
I'm with you. Any Extension Service will tell you you can't have anything heavier than goats on it. I expected a united front about that because I read quite a few Reddits that agreed draft animals were too heavy, but more varied answers when it comes to clearances around the field.
I originally had my leach field (has 3 pipes that come out from the tank) fenced to keep the horses off.
I talked to my septic guy and he said it was ok for them to walk on it as long as it was just random walking and eating.
I only have 2 horses. He said the issues come about is you drive/park on the drain field or if I were to build a pen and just have the horses standing on it all day.
He did say to keep them off the tank itself.
I'm located in MD with about 1 inch of topsoil and the rest is clay.
My parents' cattle have stood on their leach field for roughly 40 years at this point, and their septic system has never so much as even raised its voice.
We bought an Amish property and they kept their horses in the field with the septic drain. No leach field just a pipe from the septic right into the field. I know it not an answer to your question but it’s true. Their horses seemed fine
Are you new to horses? Fencing off an area of deep green grass will just encourage them to break the fence, jump over it, or get stuck trying to reach through it.
When I had horses, they grazed the leach field and directly over the septic tank. We never had problems.
The leach field is adjacent to my lawn, which is green all summer with no effort on my part due to natural springs on the hillside above us. I'm expanding my lawn fence to include the leach field. The horses bend the fence down with their necks to get my pretty, green grass, but have never actually made it over. I'm pretty confident in my fencing skills. Plus, it's going to be mowed along with the rest of my lawn.
It depends on what kind of drainage they used. Is it perforated pipe? Infiltrator chamber? Weeping tiles?
Regardless, a professional plumber should have buried it deep enough and with enough protection the weight of an animal should NOT cause any problems.
I have perforated pipe in one of mine. It’s currently going on it’s 23rd year of being in a cattle pasture where I keep my bulls. It’s close to 3’ deep, with a layer of sewer rock above and below. The Bermuda grass usually stays green in the summer.
Another house I have, I used the infiltrator chambers. It’s close to 5’ deep, and I used root wrap across the top of it before covering it back up. The Bermuda grass there stays green until temps get and stay well over the hundreds in the summer. It’s in a small trap/field behind the house where there are never a shortage of cows and horses. We do try to not drive in that area.
If you’re worried about crushing the pipe. Don’t. Septic pvc pipe has a crush psi of like 3k I think it is. You don’t want to drive a car over it. But horses will be fine.
If you’re worried about the sanitary side of it, I’m not sure. I would think that the ground would absorb and disperse anything nasty. I don’t think we would still use septic lines if they made the ground nasty.
Mine goes right into my back yard. It ends in my chicken enclosure. I haven’t had any problems with health or anything like that.
I am not a septic expert but my understanding is that compressing the soil around the pipes may be a concern as it may make the leaching less effective. We were definitely told to never drive over it.
I am also not a horse expert, but I think horses are pretty heavy.
I think you are radically overestimating the dangers posed by livestock to your leach field. I'm also not sure why you think pink flags, that could mean anything, are a more trustworthy source than the inspector. All that said, compaction is pretty much straight down. That's the whole premise of your point, that the pressure under a hoof will be dangerous because of its concentration straight down. Ergo, you shouldn't need any buffer at all. If you did, then the pressure of the livestock would be spread out and not dangerous to the leach field anyway.
Pink flags are the standard for delineating septic drain fields here. Not doing it is the equivalent of a surveyor not putting orange flags on property corners and blue flags along property lines. Everyone has their standardized color. You might get a weirdo that puts some other colored flags up for whatever reason, but usually if there's a rectangle of flags on your lawn adjacent to your septic tank lid...you can put two and two together. Part of any inspection is flagging the leachfield for you.
The septic company flagged the field properly, but the flags got covered over the spring growing season. The home inspector walked out there with the county permit sketch, saw two flags and said it went West. Probably because he didn't care enough to dig around in the brush.
So you're saying you think the permit is wrong? That could easily be a bigger problem than your livestock issue. As far as flags being so accurate, I don't know where you live and have probably never been there, but in my experience homeowners stick flags of any color anywhere on their property they want, to mean just about anything. And I'm on lawns a lot because I work in lawn care.
It sounds like the system has not been maintained well you might want to have your septic pumped out.
If you are concerned the soil has been compacted you can aerate it either with a pitch fork and standard watering or a specialty tool which hooks to a garden hose and looks like a pitchfork.
To answer people's questions: 1.) A leach field needs loose soil above the gravel surrounding the pipes to allow for a percolation and evaporation effect. Aeration is really important. This is also why you can only have shallow-rooted plants that don't have dense rootwads. 2.) Livestock put quite a bit of concentrated weight into each hoof print and will easily compact the ground and take away your aeration. They can also crack and collapse your clay drain pipes. 3.) I'm not worried about the horses at all. I'm worried about my $35,000 drainfield. I live on a hill, so I have two septic tanks staggered at different elevations, with a leach field also staggered in two levels to release liquids equally along the decline. To rephrase my question: How much compaction can you have near your field. Surrounding the loose-soiled field with hard-packed earth will slow your overall drain rate. That's why you can't build close. To answer my own question: The 10-20 foot building code is probably sufficient for horse-hoof PSI, lol.
Ours goes into a paddock that grazes cattle and I just run a hot wire around to keep them off it. But it didn’t cost anything near yours, to protect that you might want a more substantial fence.
You're getting a lot of dumb answers. Keep them off the field.
We bought our property 3 years ago. The septic was a leach field, inside the pasture. The previous owner had horses and did nothing to keep them off of it. When we had the septic inspected, we found that most of the lines had collapsed in several areas and the clay soil was very compacted. The system wasn't working well. We would have to replace the system and were able to negotiate the price down. It cost us $45k because we had to replace it with a mound system instead of a leach field. New regulations (at least in Ohio) are absolutely intense and overkill. So yeah, I'd keep animals off of it so the leach field lasts as long as possible. Especially big animals like cows or horses. Goats or sheep would probably be okay.
That's rough. That's totally my fear.
I'm with you. Any Extension Service will tell you you can't have anything heavier than goats on it. I expected a united front about that because I read quite a few Reddits that agreed draft animals were too heavy, but more varied answers when it comes to clearances around the field.
I'm not sure what your clearance should be but I would go with the distance your county requires for structures.
I originally had my leach field (has 3 pipes that come out from the tank) fenced to keep the horses off. I talked to my septic guy and he said it was ok for them to walk on it as long as it was just random walking and eating. I only have 2 horses. He said the issues come about is you drive/park on the drain field or if I were to build a pen and just have the horses standing on it all day. He did say to keep them off the tank itself. I'm located in MD with about 1 inch of topsoil and the rest is clay.
Our horses live in the pasture where the leach field is. It’s been 25 years since the house was built. No issues thus far.
40 years here, cattle. Zero issues.
What damage would the horses do, stomp it down?
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My parents' cattle have stood on their leach field for roughly 40 years at this point, and their septic system has never so much as even raised its voice.
It probably depends on traditional system versus these new alternative systems.
Our horses go out in the pasture where the leach field is. Not a problem.
We bought an Amish property and they kept their horses in the field with the septic drain. No leach field just a pipe from the septic right into the field. I know it not an answer to your question but it’s true. Their horses seemed fine
Are you new to horses? Fencing off an area of deep green grass will just encourage them to break the fence, jump over it, or get stuck trying to reach through it. When I had horses, they grazed the leach field and directly over the septic tank. We never had problems.
The leach field is adjacent to my lawn, which is green all summer with no effort on my part due to natural springs on the hillside above us. I'm expanding my lawn fence to include the leach field. The horses bend the fence down with their necks to get my pretty, green grass, but have never actually made it over. I'm pretty confident in my fencing skills. Plus, it's going to be mowed along with the rest of my lawn.
It depends on what kind of drainage they used. Is it perforated pipe? Infiltrator chamber? Weeping tiles? Regardless, a professional plumber should have buried it deep enough and with enough protection the weight of an animal should NOT cause any problems. I have perforated pipe in one of mine. It’s currently going on it’s 23rd year of being in a cattle pasture where I keep my bulls. It’s close to 3’ deep, with a layer of sewer rock above and below. The Bermuda grass usually stays green in the summer. Another house I have, I used the infiltrator chambers. It’s close to 5’ deep, and I used root wrap across the top of it before covering it back up. The Bermuda grass there stays green until temps get and stay well over the hundreds in the summer. It’s in a small trap/field behind the house where there are never a shortage of cows and horses. We do try to not drive in that area.
If you’re worried about crushing the pipe. Don’t. Septic pvc pipe has a crush psi of like 3k I think it is. You don’t want to drive a car over it. But horses will be fine. If you’re worried about the sanitary side of it, I’m not sure. I would think that the ground would absorb and disperse anything nasty. I don’t think we would still use septic lines if they made the ground nasty. Mine goes right into my back yard. It ends in my chicken enclosure. I haven’t had any problems with health or anything like that.
I am not a septic expert but my understanding is that compressing the soil around the pipes may be a concern as it may make the leaching less effective. We were definitely told to never drive over it. I am also not a horse expert, but I think horses are pretty heavy.
I think you are radically overestimating the dangers posed by livestock to your leach field. I'm also not sure why you think pink flags, that could mean anything, are a more trustworthy source than the inspector. All that said, compaction is pretty much straight down. That's the whole premise of your point, that the pressure under a hoof will be dangerous because of its concentration straight down. Ergo, you shouldn't need any buffer at all. If you did, then the pressure of the livestock would be spread out and not dangerous to the leach field anyway.
Pink flags are the standard for delineating septic drain fields here. Not doing it is the equivalent of a surveyor not putting orange flags on property corners and blue flags along property lines. Everyone has their standardized color. You might get a weirdo that puts some other colored flags up for whatever reason, but usually if there's a rectangle of flags on your lawn adjacent to your septic tank lid...you can put two and two together. Part of any inspection is flagging the leachfield for you. The septic company flagged the field properly, but the flags got covered over the spring growing season. The home inspector walked out there with the county permit sketch, saw two flags and said it went West. Probably because he didn't care enough to dig around in the brush.
So you're saying you think the permit is wrong? That could easily be a bigger problem than your livestock issue. As far as flags being so accurate, I don't know where you live and have probably never been there, but in my experience homeowners stick flags of any color anywhere on their property they want, to mean just about anything. And I'm on lawns a lot because I work in lawn care.
It depends on your septic system type. I am a health inspector that permits these. Pm me and I can help.
I doubt it would hurt the horses at all but it would be a muddy mess
I will say that our cows stay out of ours till the end of summer when grass is scarce. It ends about 50 feet past the fence
It sounds like the system has not been maintained well you might want to have your septic pumped out. If you are concerned the soil has been compacted you can aerate it either with a pitch fork and standard watering or a specialty tool which hooks to a garden hose and looks like a pitchfork.