Anyone used a muck truck vacuum?

Is this just a push vacuum, if it is 350ltr capacity is going to do your back in just pushing it!!
frown.gif

Muck vacuums that you attach to a quad are better but you need 2 people really to do it, one to drive and one to hoover muck.
We looked into getting one but after some research ended up getting a Logic sweeper / collector and it’s fantastic.
http://www.logictoday.co.uk/equestrian_msc120.php
There’s a video, click in the top right hand corner of pic. Not only does it pick up poo, but if you harrow or top it collects all the moss and grass which is a big boom for us.
They’re about £3700 new but we got our nearly new one off ebay for £1600
laugh.gif

Honestly, I’ve got a dodgy back and just looking at that I know it would hurt, backs argggggh!!
crazy.gif
 
Thanks both, I have realised that in my naiivity(sp) I thought the price was for the whole outfit but I would have to buy the powered barrow as well.....started saving today and didn't buy anything while I was out LOL!
I love that logic sweeper thingy too but too many pennies.....
 
Ages ago I seem to remember reading something somewhere about poo pickers or vacuums causing grass sickness because of oil or something, does anyone have one or any idea of what the hell I'm talking about? (waits for abuse)

Cheers
 
I have had a paddock hoover in the past, and now have a sweeper.

The hoover was much better for my back, and it did genuinely pick up droppings in all weathers, and even in long grass. However, whether you have a quad or a hand one, they are difficult to use when the field is wet, due to getting them through muddy gateways. They're also not much faster than doing it by hand. In addition, there is the emptying to consider - ours had to be tipped out, and we couldn't get it up on the muck heap, meaning my OH had to then shovel it up - so not easier overall with a bad back, unless like me, you can get someone else to do it for you. If you have one that attaches to a quad, then either you need two people - one to hoover, one to drive, or you have to keep getting on & off.

The sweeper is better for speed. It is probably five or more times faster than the hoover or doing it by hand - depending on the way the poos are in your field. I don't find it as good at very fresh poos dotted around the fields. It's excellent if you have a whole patch of poo, but if you are driving it over individual poos, it tends to spit bits out, which you then have to go back over to pick up. For some reason, it doesn't seem to spit drier ones out the same way. And like the poo hoover, it has to be towed behind a quad/tractor, so not ideal for getting in & out of muddy gateways. And when the field is wet or muddy, it can't be used, as if your grass is low it pulls it up, and smears muddy poos around the field. Also like the hoover, when it comes to emptying it, you have to dump it by the muck heap - you can't get it up on there. So again, it has to be manually shovelled.

In an ideal world, probably I'd have both machines, and between both of them, and a wheelbarrow & scoop, I'd be set up all year round. As it is, I'm on a mission to get myself fit again (I'm recovering from a fractured spine) to do it by barrow, and then sell the sweeper.

I did ask my vet about the grass sickness risk. His answer was that there was a low occurance of it in our area, he knew many studs with sweepers and none had had grass sickness, and that if we needed one to keep the poo up then we were more likely to be at risk from worm damage without a sweeper than of grass sickness with one.
 
PLEASE BE AWARE that the Grass Sickness Organisation does not recommend a muck collector with a sweeping action as they have collated research from grass sickness cases and in a lot of the cases the common link is for a muck collector with a sweeping action as this changes the molecular structure of the soil/grass. Just think you should be aware of this, especially as April/May is the worse time for grass sickness problems. Someone from a yard in Warwickshire last year had four cases on their yard and all four horses were euthanised although they did not use a muck collector in this case.
 
They are a total waste of space.
The only ones that work are the large cut and collect type with the rotating sweeping blades which are pulled by a full sized 4 wheel drive tractor.
Relying on just suction does not work as it is not powerfull enough.
 
OWLIE185 said:
They are a total waste of space.
The only ones that work are the large cut and collect type with the rotating sweeping blades which are pulled by a full sized 4 wheel drive tractor.
Relying on just suction does not work as it is not powerfull enough.
Click to expand...

I completely disagree. We have both a Predator vacuum which is towed by a quad and the Logic sweeper which is also towed by the quad. We have the wander hose on the Predator so the quad driver can do the job on their own. It picks up REALLY well, even in long wet grass.

The Logic is great on short grass (not good on longish grass) and, as already mentioned, is very good on drier, scattered droppings.

Both definitely save a lot of time although neither is ideal to empty as the much needs forking up onto the muckheap. There is also an amount of time and effort required to keep them clean to work effectively.

I wouldn't be without them.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top