Is anyone else playing catch up???

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suzyqet

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with their poo picking.

After having heavy frosts, followed by snow, follwed by more heavy frosts, I havent been able to poo pick my fields for weeks.

Now we have had 2 days continuously well above freezing and all the snow has gone, I am trying to clear my fields.

I have 6 horses to clear up after all of which live out 24/7.

It is taking forever. My fields look like minefields and I normally like to keep them clear on a daily, if not every other day basis.

It is making me really depressed looking at them, but there is only so much poo picking which can be done in a day.

My partner and I are knackered, and with the kids still on holiday from school, I am finding it really hard.

Is anyone else having the same problem?

Please tell me there is a light at the end of this seemingly never ending tunnel.
 
Light at the end of the tunnel?
I wish! I have spent the last 4 days trying to catch up.
I thought I had been clever picking up whatever I saw, and keeping them in a fairly small area's of the fields, but now the snow has gone, I have been proved wrong. There was loads of it hiding under that white stuff.
But I guess its one way to work off the xmas choccies and mincepies!
 
I am in the same boat, 8 living out 24/7 and 9 going out during the day, started today clearing 1 field that only has 3 in 24/7 and darn it hardly made a dent in it,
have managed to nearly clear up after the ones that go out daily.
I am finding it mega depressing as my fields normally look ike lawns and are cleared everyday, but with a few horses being ill at the mo i have had to let something go and with the snow the poo picking seemed the easiest idea.
Good luck with catching up, i think mine will be a couple of weeks before i am fully upto date again
 
It really is depressing isnt it.

I cant even afford to pay someone to come in and help, otherwise I would have done by now.

What makes it worse, is I am currently advertising livery spaces, but dont really want anyone to come and view at the moment as I am ashamed and embarrased at the state of my fields.

Oh, if only there was a magic wand I could wave and it would all dissapear.
 
mine is really awful. I shall be starting tomorrow to try and dent it. I hate muck picking though. It's my least favourite job :(
 
With the amount of poo to pick and the bog aka the way in and out of the field we are going to move ours into another part of the field and harrow when the ground can take it. Much prefer to poo pick but it's like mission impossible at the moment.
 
ISHmad said:
With the amount of poo to pick and the bog aka the way in and out of the field we are going to move ours into another part of the field and harrow when the ground can take it. Much prefer to poo pick but it's like mission impossible at the moment.
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We are lucky in the fact we dont have any poached areas in the field - yet! The gateways are still pretty accessible. thankfully.
the problem we do have, is the other fields we have dont have access to the field shelter, so cant even transfer them to another field. I had already thought about that one.
When I go down on a clearing spree, we shut them in half of the field and concentrate on the other part of the field. That way, the kids and the dog can play and run around safely while me and OH knuckle down to the hard work.
 
Yep it's really depressing! I hate poo picking and my fields are full of it, it gives me back ache and I'm currently waiting for the farmer to take the muck heap away so even less incentive to do it as it's like chucking muck up to the top of a mountain. Also full of cold so the TV and sofa are much more inviting but I know it needs doing at some point!
 
nope, do it every day no matter what. In snow you can see where the lumps are (guess) frost just bash the hell out of it till comes off ground and i get one barrow a day as my horse lives out - I cant stand seeing poo on a field and am a bit OCD about having a clean field - i cant even go one day without doing it. My field looks ok actually considering the weather and 247 living out horse
 
kezimac said:
nope, do it every day no matter what. In snow you can see where the lumps are (guess) frost just bash the hell out of it till comes off ground and i get one barrow a day as my horse lives out - I cant stand seeing poo on a field and am a bit OCD about having a clean field - i cant even go one day without doing it. My field looks ok actually considering the weather and 247 living out horse
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Tried the bashing the hell out of it, but after OH nearly broke his toe, and we bent 2 different types of fork beyond repair, we gave up. I also wish I only got 1 barrow a day. I get 5 !!!
I also tried the guessing where it is in the snow, but 10 acres is alot of ground to cover with guess work!
 
I usually do poo picking at the weekend as work f/t. Havent managed for 5 weeks as they have been buried under snow or welded to the ground.
Have removed 15 barrowloads this weekend and still loads to go. My lot are great and have toilet areas in the field along the fence line although the 2 young ones poo in the field. It looks like elephants have been to visit lol.
Im beginning to see an end to it buts been annoying the hell out of me. Glad I only have 2 ponies out 24/7 and 2 out during the day and Im soo glad they arent big horses.
 
AMW said:
I usually do poo picking at the weekend as work f/t. Havent managed for 5 weeks as they have been buried under snow or welded to the ground.
Have removed 15 barrowloads this weekend and still loads to go. My lot are great and have toilet areas in the field along the fence line although the 2 young ones poo in the field. It looks like elephants have been to visit lol.
Im beginning to see an end to it buts been annoying the hell out of me. Glad I only have 2 ponies out 24/7 and 2 out during the day and Im soo glad they arent big horses.
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Lol. Out of our 6, one is my 16.3hh Percheron and another is my 17.2 ID x DWB !

Its not my fault I like big horses. lol
 
I totally sympathise...tried to tackle it this morning but hardly dented it...guess what I'm spending my bank holiday Monday doing?! Fun fun x
 
Yes, totally annoying, although I'm so lucky to have next doors farmer's son, who's 13, that will do any crappy job for me. He just loves anything to do with animals. I give him the odd lesson and pay him, and he mucks out when required and poo picks, rolls the fields, delivers straw!!! All on the chaep!!!
 
Gosh i wish my were all tiny but with most of them over 16hh it looks like the local zoo has left the elephants at my place for a month.
Spent hours yest and hardly made a dent, may have to hire a poo hoover i cant keep looking at it it really is depressing me
 
miss_bird said:
Gosh i wish my were all tiny but with most of them over 16hh it looks like the local zoo has left the elephants at my place for a month.
Spent hours yest and hardly made a dent, may have to hire a poo hoover i cant keep looking at it it really is depressing me
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Funny you should say that, but I was thinking exactly the same with hireing a poo vacuum thing today. We did another 10 barow loads today. Not even quarter of it done yet!!!
 
I would have had to scrape away a foot of snow from my field to search out the poo, so no, I couldn't poo pick it whether it was frozen solid or not. It was hard enough just walking across the field, and don't even mention trying to wheelbarrow my hay through it LOL!
I never do this normally, but today I sectioned my field in half and my YO harrowed the worst section, leaving half of my grazing for the horses to use. I'd have never managed to clear it this time. Mind you, I do have 3 in the field out 24/7. Tough old winter isn't it?
 
It's in my contract that I HAVE to poo-pick every day although YO are lenient with the totally frozen to the ground poos. :P

For those that tried and failed - I found that using a shovel worked better than a fork :)
 
I just thought I would check the forecast for tomorrow.
-1 tonight with snow showers forecast for tomorrow.
Oh the joys. All the hard work i have just done, might now be undone again.
AArrgghh.
 
We have had 24 hours of rain over the New Year, a total thaw and +6C, the melt has come three months early. Wall to wall muck. Lovely.

I unearthed the harrow and spent 4 hours doing all the bigger paddocks (x5) the track, and scraped two smaller paddocks, everything has frozen solid again now :) (back to a more normal -9C this afternoon) but at least it looks tidier for a bit, bring back the snow now please.

I won't be doing any clearing up until it thaws again. I certainly won't be picking anything up by hand! That's a mugs job with the amount of fields and horses I have, better things to do with my time.
 
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