Fed up of poopicking - inspire me please!!

diddy

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Hi everyone,

It's probably just the time of year & the horrible weather, but right now my horse time seems to centre on poopicking, albeit interspersed with occasional bouts of wrestling with tarpaulin & tipping water down my boots (no undercover storage or running water - bleugh!) I'm thinking of the threads where people say how much time you save by having them out, how you should poopick because it's a few minutes a day & makes a big difference in terms of grass & worm burden. But I seem to spend my (horsey) life bent over piles of poop.

I poopick every day using a wheelbarrow & gloves & usually leave the paddock clear. Apart from when it's dark & I might miss a few as can't see all of them unless I step in them - lovely! But I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed by it at the moment! It takes me a good 30 minutes to poopick every day for 3 ponies. Is this normal? Or am I unusually slow? Or perhaps I just have too many horses (that's my OH speaking obviously)?!

So a few questions for you (if you've not fallen asleep by now!):

- Is there a method that works better?
- Does anyone pay someone to do it? If so, how did you find them? I imagine horsey people would have enough of their own to do & non-horsey people would think it was a gross job & not call!
- Even though I can't bear the thought of it, would the world end if I just didn't do it..? How much land you need to have before you can safely leave it altogether?

As you can tell, I have a love/hate relationship with this topic as I love to see the paddock all clean. But right now, I never seem to have time to ride & I think I have my priorities all wrong!! Any thoughts, oh wise HHO people..?

D. x
 

sueonmull

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I'm sure it's just that time of year, days too short, weather horrible and no end in sight - spring's not far away, apparently!!. I personally wouldn't leave it however much land I had, then we're in a very wet area (isn't everyone just now) and I do worry about worms.
 

*hic*

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I used to have a little ditty that seemed to help, it went: Every **** that I shift is one less to lift.

Now I have six I tend to rotate the fields and harrow :D
 

nikanita

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I have 3 and poo pick every day. Takes me about half an hour including feeding etc. I usually find poo picking therapeutic but must admit at the moment am finding it a real chore. The fields are thick with mud, which is getting stuck in the barrow wheels and is a struggle to push! I use a poo pick, so not so much bending but the pick is getting heavy as the mud sticks to that too. I keep telling myself it will be spring soon.
 

WelshD

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I leave mine in thewinter but do expand the grazing area and movr the ponies. In the spring the ponies are completely moved to fresh ground and the winter area is harrowed and rolled thengrazed by sheep.

To answer one of your questions i have found the easiest method for me is a large outdoor dustpan (B&Q) and the end of a leaf rake which is slightly squared (Wolf Garten) This one - (the red all plastic one) just hold the metal bit but youcan get short handles http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=wo...ei=znDZUpP7M6ev7QaEl4GQBQ&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAQ#i=5
 
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hoggedmane

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I used to keep mine on a small patch when I had my own fields for the middle of winter and didn't pooh pick then. (They were in at night and had access to the yard during the day where their hay was). The rest of the year I did the paddocks on a 2 or 3 day cycle just clearing one part of the field each day. It cut down on the walking around searching and so saved a little time although you end up picking up the same amount of pooh. I like pooh picking - I have all my best ideas when I am doing it although it is a bit of a chore at the moment as fields are so muddy.

Now I am on a livery yard and we have a set number of buckets to do and the YO picks them up in a 4x4. It is still a chore though and the field is huge!
 

samlf

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I have 2, they are on about 2-2.5 acres at the moment. I poo pick every single day without fail. It takes me about 45 minutes to do 2 barrows, would take far far less if I didn't have to pull the barrow up hill that is ankle deep in mud to empty it (that probably takes 10 minutes per barrow, so if I had somewhere closer it'd take about 25 minutes).

It is horrible and disheartening! Like you, I don't have any undercover storage and battle with a tarpaulin daily. I just keep thinking of how lovely everything is in spring...
 

lelly

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I think you will find it quicker with the correct tools. I poo pick every day for two ponies and it takes ten minutes and that's in the dark at the moment. I wear a head light and use the rake and muck skip with the long handles so theres no bending down.
 

Pinkvboots

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Poo picking whats that mine is floating in water at the moment so its poo soup, and I only have one of mine out for about an hour a day as the other is on box rest and he wont stay out on his own, so I have plenty of skipping out in the stables to do instead, its not the end of the world if its not done everyday I wouldnt worry about it.
 

irishdraft

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I must admit today I was thinking its easier to muck out than poo pick the fields, I have 4 out 24/7 and spend a hour everyday poopicking but the fields are now so wet and on a hill that its very hard work but must think of calories burned !
r
 

MCTM

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I'm even more fed up with poo picking as the owner of the other horse in the field just won't do her share - I'm lucky if she even does 1 or 2 barrows a week. I hate seeing the field full of poo so I just do her share too. Really getting me down at the moment, I try to do it at lunchtime but am bored with going back to the office looking like a drowned rat that's been hauled through a hedge backwards !!
 

tallyho!

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I haven't poopicked for a long time now... I think I've just consciously avoided places that do...

The fields we keep them in at my current place are harrowed apart from the massive hilly 40 acre one. That is left to the birds and the worms!

How much land have you got OP?

Just wondering as my friend has 15 acres and in summer she splits them in to smaller paddocks and in winter it's open for 7 horses. It's then harrowed in spring and all the poo is like free fertiliser. The horses are worm counted by the vets and they don't seem think that the worm burden is a huge issue. She's been doing this for as long as I can remember.

Should I one day happen to win the lottery (universe, its surely my turn by now?) I think this would suit me down to the ground:)
 

_GG_

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I dont poo pick the cows so why do the horses? nature takes it all away, i find.

I have two on 6 acres and I was doing it, but then the rains came and it is impossible to do with it this wet!

It's been 2.5 months since I poo picked and I have to be honest, you can see a few poos, but yes, nature is getting rid.

I keep getting itchy feet wanting to get out there and get through it and I have to remind myself that I never once poo picked a field when I was a kid and it was never an issue. The girls will be moved onto fresh grazing in the spring and the field will be harrowed and after a period of rest, they will go back on it again.

I would say, if you need to do it, get yourself a poo picker as that will make a huge difference to you...and your back probably. xx
 

pippixox

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i don't at the moment as herd of 10 on lots of land, and we rotate and harrow, but years ago my mare was in a tiny field so had to be done most days: i loved my ipod :) nothing like music to keep you going, also had a portable radio at one point. i personally used a metal shaving fork and was not really fussy- if tiny bits escape it is no big deal.
if you are near any livery yards there are normally teenage girls around willing to poo pick for a little cash!
 

Saneta

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I miss pooh picking!!! It was a lovely time to spend with my horse, she always came over for a cuddle, and often followed me as I picked up the pooh with my pooper scooper. I also enjoyed the peace and quiet, observing the wildlife, I found it a time to switch off I guess. Sometimes I would think through anything troubling me at the time, but in general, I relaxed my mind. I used a wheelbarrow and we had a great muck heap, very easy to tip the barrow into.
Now I no longer have my horse, I've even been tempted to help out at local liveries, but I'm not quite ready for that yet!!!
 

roz84

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Poo picking was the bane of my life last winter! On my new yard we just don't do it, nature takes it and all the horses are fine re. worm counts etc. it is a huge field though.
 

Auslander

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I don't poo pick - I rotate my fields and harrow them. Spike has been thoroughly tested for worms during his stint at the vets, and is completely worm free, so my conscience is clear!
 

windand rain

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I love poo picking find it very therapeutic especially on a lovely day like today. It takes about 20 minutes tops to poo pick 4 acres for 4 ponies I use a oo picker with a blade and as the grass is lawn length it cleans it completely
 

kerrieberry2

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I feel your pain, luckily they have a shelter and refillable trough but I can't keep on top of the mucking out! get enough time to do 1 barrow in the morning before work, but I have 2 and a mini so I need to clear about 2 barrow fulls a day! so spend the weekends doing the extra 7! but I've not done that for weeks before of the wet and the mud!!
 

lachlanandmarcus

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Bear in mind (more for other readers) encysted redworm doesn't show on worm counts so has to be wormed for annually: and neither does tapeworm, that needs to be blood tested or wormed for annually.

Both are less likely to build up with regular poo picking.

Manual Poo picking also reduces the risks associated with contaminated grass ingestion re grass sickness etc and also better than a poo Hoover for grass sickness risk as the soil isn't disturbed.

So manual poo picking daily is the very best you can give your horse, all those suffering in the poo soup, muddy wheelbarrow chasms and misery should pat yourselves on the back. Other solutions are good, but nothing is better than prompt and complete removal. It is also a great bonding opportunity and a chance to observe your horses well being at close quarters when turned out 24x7.

But I have to admit, at the moment mucking out and turning out and bringing in daily is actually no more work than leaving them out and poo picking great mountains of plop daily! I'm compromising, 2 nights out, then the next night in, so I don't go mad with either poo picking or mucking out!
 

lachlanandmarcus

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I dont poo pick the cows so why do the horses? nature takes it all away, i find.

Cow dung isn't pickup able. But that's not the only reason. Horses tend to be on shorter poorer grass in smaller paddocks and also may be out all year whereas cows tend to be taken inside. Cows are also less selective grazers and so have a wider area of the ground to graze from. Horses tend to not graze near dung and gradually expand their dung areas. Also, cows are better designed internally than horses, cows with their stomach division arrangement can still get worm instigated problems but they aren't as common or as often fatal as horses. Plus, if a cow gets sick, it either gets better or shot. Prefer to avoid that with horses where possible. Cows are routinely wormed but as with horses this is leading to big issues of resistance and unavailabilituy of new wormer classes.

If someone has few horses on lots of land with good grazing well drained and in a hot dry area of the country, then the leaving it approach or harrowing approach may work ok. But most are on limited grazing with little chance of rotation and temperatures that rarely (last year excepted) stay high enough for long enough to reliably kill the worms. It still might be ok,but that's down to luck....
 

tallyho!

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My thoughts are that if you keep your horses on small grid system paddock then you need to get out there and clear it up.

If however you are lucky enough to have many acres of roaming type grazing, its less of an issue.

I a lucky to have the latter.

I have seen a track based system work very well though recently. You basically transform the outer edge of your grazing land into whatever you want (dry area, hay area, hardstanding, shingle etc) and you just follow it round everyday.

We just have to be innovative. The wet weather and climate is here to stay due to changing weather systems. We must adapt and find ways to cope.
 

diddy

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Hi everyone,

Thanks for all your thoughts. Glad it's not just me :) We have 3 ponies on 5 acres, about half of which is well-draining. So it's do-able with poopicking but would probably get into a right state if we didn't clear it.

And those of you who say it's time spent with the ponies are right - 2 of the ponies follow me & around & are very sweet & entertaining but at the moment I'm pushed for time so tend to throw the hay out before I start so no one takes any notice of me. Perhaps I should stop doing that because it's probably adding to the feeling that it's such a chore just now! There we go, problem solved :)
 
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