For all you poo pickers

C

clipclop

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Following on from the poo picking poll.

I am amazed by how many people poo pick.

I am afraid I am a baddy and don't poo pick.

I am not knocking it, far from it. What I am posting for is I am interested in how you tie it in to your busy days/weeks?

Any top "poo picking" tips?

Thanks
C x

(Hmm, how many times can I type poo pick in one post)?
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I reckon someone poo picking for 40 plus horses would get nothing else done!
This year was a problem for us however as we had no rain to soften them and allow the birds to scatter them about. They are excellent at doing that as a rule, but this year we will have to harrow before resting those fields. We're lucky in that we use 107 acres which alows us to periodically rest all the fields in turn, otherwise we could be out there poo picking trailer after trailer load...
 
At work I poo pick every day, which takes me about an hour (4 fields- 8 horses). Usually I have the bosses 2 yr old son with me so my boss can ride. He's very good at pointing out the poos.
I don't mind poo picking at work because I'm being paid for it.
Luckily my mum poo picks my horses field for me in the morning.
 
I poo pick one barrowfull six times a week (Sunday is my day off!) and do it at the crack of dawn at the moment - there is just about enough light! When it is too dark on a morning I will do it four times a week when my daughter is at Playgroup. It takes me about 10 minutes to fill one barrow so isn't that time-consuming!
 
Both my horses poo in exactly the same place - right next to the manure heap. I've not trained them to do this (if I had, I could make a fortune getting other neds to do it!) they just do for some reason. Takes me about 5 minutes of an evening and I do it every day to keep on top. Mainly because we don't have a lot of land so we have to manage it quite strictly.
 
I poo-pick every day but one thing I have learned, the hard way, is that if you DON'T poo pick properly (i.e pick it all up) you get lots of sour patches and big clumps of thistles, nettles and dock all of which LUURRRVVE horse poo. I have spent hours and hours and hours recently sorting out the field weeding, feeding and seeding. Poo picking thoroughly is much quicker than sorting out the result of not doing it properly!
 
I poo pick during the summer, when they are on restricted grazing..... AND when it's only my horses!

I used to work for a Bloodstock Agent in Sussex (before I went to Kentucky) and we would poo pick 150+ acres DAILY!! We had 25 TB broodmares and their followers - so in the Spring that could be 75 horses if ALL the mares had had foals the year before and foals the current year and none yet sold. With a quad bike and trailer and 4 of us, it would take 2 hours max!! INclusive in the 2hrs was turning out and feeding once out. After this was done, we'd go in to the main house for breakfast, then back out to muck out & set fair - all done by 11 and then the rest of the day was free till 4.30pm when we caught in and did field checks. that would take 2 of us 45 mins!

I've NEVER seen grassland like it! Absolutely beautiful it was! For 20yrs there had never been a dropping in the fields (OK so the odd one was missed) for more than 24hrs - there were no roughs and troughs!! It was all grazzed evenly! Did you know that a horse is happy to eat the grass that grows on an area that has had droppings on it, if it's hand picked - they just don't like the smell of the soil after droppings have leached into it. This smell apparently takes 7 years to fade......
 
I used to enjoy poo picking, it used to be so satisfying to see a clean field. When I was running the yard there was no way I could poo pick after all the horses so I used to rotate regularly with sheep and harrow the fields but I used to hate seeing the poos building up.
 
I poo pick in summer when they are on my field but not in winter when they on rented farmer field which gets grazed with cows and is bigger than mine. Don't mind at all have two horses spend about 15 mins either end of the day when i go to 'do' them. Gives the dogs a run and me a chance to check on the field. Also my horses have clear worm counts. BUT if i didn't have to do it would't miss it, guess its something i just accept and get on with. Husband hates it loves the winter when he dosn't have to do it.
 
In reply to your horses going near the much heap, so do mine. I also poo pick and pile it underneath my fencing, so where ever I create piles they do it nearby It saves so much time. The poo under the fence rots down quickly and as I have done this for the past six years, all the fields have a neat row of poo under the fencing.
 
We are dedicated 'poo pickers', we have to be as there just isn't enough grazing not to be. In the winter it's done at the weekends but in the summer it's done everyday, usually by out Mum, bless her!
A pooper scooper is our winning tool!
 
We've been poo picking the afternoon. But we have a machine! Still a day later doesn't look like we 've done it !
 
We poo pick every day in the summer and 2-3 times a week in the winter. I think its much easier for people with 2-3ac paddocks than those with 10+ acres. I like to see a clear paddock and I'm sure the horses prefer it.
When we're at the end away from the muck heap it gets chucked in the hedge, it doesn't seem to do any harm.
Shavings fork saves your back and gets all the poo up.
 
Take the dogs into the field most days and they run about whilst I pick what I come across. Chuck most of it into the hedge as it is recently planted on some fairly poor soil so it needs all the help it can get. We have fairly newly sown grass too - about 2 years old - so I really don't want it getting spoilt.

No particular tips other than keep on top of it as it looks and is a far bigger job (jobby!?) if you don't.
 
I do it every day, takes about 10 minutes for two horses, resulting in one barrowfull, so hardly a major task and its good to be out with the horses, watching them, listening to the tweety birds etc. OK when its raining it's a chore.
A pooper scooper gets my vote too!
 
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