Paddock Blade

Pearlsasinger

Up in the clouds
Joined
20 February 2009
Messages
44,730
Location
W. Yorks
Visit site
https://paddockblade.co.uk/

Thoughts please, anyone used one ?

My hard working hubby is getting old and pushing endless barrows is taking a toll. I am wondering if the paddock blade does actually pick up or just skim over the top.
Thanks.


I must admit that I laughed at your concern for your husband!

I don't know anything about the blade, or the company, although the incorrect use of the apostrophe puts me off! I would be concerned that this could be disturbing the ground like the field vaccs with brushes can, sometimes they have been linked to grass-sickness.
I would try a more traditional paddock vac, which sucks up the muck, you can pull them with a tractor/quad, too
 

AdorableAlice

Well-Known Member
Joined
24 October 2011
Messages
13,000
Visit site
A barrow full of Ted the Twits muck weighs a ton ! I need to either find a labour saving method or put a cork in Teds rear end.

Looking at the video it shows the tool being used in Australia, bone dry and muck like bullets. In leafy mid England, I have wet pasture and a horse that produces juicy elephant size poops. I think the blade would skim over the top and produce a skid of epic proportions. ??
 

meleeka

Well-Known Member
Joined
14 September 2001
Messages
10,473
Location
Hants, England
Visit site
I’ve been looking at these too and can’t find any genuine reviews, ie not just what they’ve allowed on fb. There are however videos on YouTube showing it being used in longer grass.

I am currently using an old ride on mower with a this trailer http://mowerexpress.co.uk/acatalog/...MI6saStdLt4QIVEUTTCh26oQqKEAQYAiABEgKBz_D_BwE

I bought second hand but something like this would suite your OH. It holds much more than a wheelbarrow (about 4 times a standard one Id think) and makes the job much easier.
 

whiteflower

Well-Known Member
Joined
30 December 2009
Messages
678
Visit site
I looked at these but couldn't find much in the way of reviews and I can't see how it would get the poos from the long grasses latrine areas we have, even the heavy harrows on back of the tractor struggle not to go over the top so I doubt very much the paddock blade would go under and collect a poo. I can only see it working on flat dry lawn style paddocks and hence I decided against until I can see some reviews to the contrary
 

Quigleyandme

Well-Known Member
Joined
8 March 2018
Messages
2,400
Location
County Sligo
Visit site
I watched the video in OP's link and I have to agree; that paddock had no grass in it and the poo was dry as dust. I would also feel the need to fork the poo up onto the muck heap after emptying it from the paddock blade otherwise your muck heap would just spread and spread. Interesting idea though.
 

AdorableAlice

Well-Known Member
Joined
24 October 2011
Messages
13,000
Visit site
The return to the muck heap caught my eye too. The blade itself weighs 40kg, filled with cart horse muck (3 of, plus small cart horse and the super star muck) how the heck would poor husband lift and tip it ! Our muck heap is mountainous, so after getting a hernia tipping the tray thingy, he would then have to fork it up the heap as well.

It's a non starter, I will search for cart horse bum sized corks !
 

quizzie

Well-Known Member
Joined
26 May 2009
Messages
888
Visit site
How about a motorised wheelbarrow?, you still have to put in in there, but the pushing around/emptying is easy.

I managed to find a second hand battery powered wheelbarrow on Gumtree a couple of years ago.....my best buy ever, given the steepness of the slope of my fields!
 

Pearlsasinger

Up in the clouds
Joined
20 February 2009
Messages
44,730
Location
W. Yorks
Visit site
We have a Trafalgar Paddock Vac, which we like. We are seriously considering an upgrade as ours needs people power to move it. As we get older and creakier (!), we would prefer one that we can move more easily with the tractor.
The weather usually does a better job than it has done this year of distributing it, along with birds, other wildlife and sheep breaking it up, so that it can wash into the ground.
 

cobgoblin

Bugrit! Millennium hand and shrimp.
Joined
19 November 2011
Messages
10,206
Visit site
They don't have ANY grass in the video and the paddocks are perfectly flat. I can just imagine it getting stuck on the first clump of weeds or molehill and it would smear wet poos all over the grazing.
 

Fransurrey

Well-Known Member
Joined
27 April 2004
Messages
6,503
Location
Surrey
Visit site
Would be absolutely useless on anything other than a billiard table, I would have thought. In the video, you can see where some of the poos leave a skid, too.
 

paddy555

Well-Known Member
Joined
23 December 2010
Messages
12,538
Visit site
I think it would be useless for all the reasons stated. I poo pick with a machine, a predator lynx and that does a good job. It is towed behind a compact tractor. I do 9.

I think you have 2 choices to make things easier . Either a predator or trafalgar. I found the predator easier to use than the trafalgar. Alternatively get rid of the wheel barrow but still scoop up the dung by hand. If you had a small mini tractor with a box on the back you could sit on it to drive between poos and it would carry the weight of the dung rather than lifting it in a barrow. With a small hydrostatic one there is little effort in either driving or getting on and off it. I did that for years and still sometimes do. If you have a tipping box so much the better.

We too are getting too old so I have studied every detail of poo picking to find the least physical way so we can carry on doing it.
 

eggs

Well-Known Member
Joined
3 February 2009
Messages
5,245
Visit site
I use a Predator towed behind the quad to suck up the poo but it is the model before the Lynx (which is self tipping) and is a bit of a pain to empty. Now that I only have seven to muck clear I normally use a small trailer that I tow with the quad which we can muck clear into and then fork out onto the muckheap.

I've seen the videos of the paddock blade and read the rave reviews but really couldn't see how it would work in a normal field.
 

joosie

Well-Known Member
Joined
24 June 2009
Messages
1,105
Location
New Zealand
Visit site
I used one just like it in NZ (different brand, but almost identical going by the photos) and didn't like it at all. Even on a totally flat paddock with short grass it mostly just lifted the main lumps off poo, left the rest and spread it around.
I also worked for someone who has a paddock vaccuum which was pulled by a quadbike and that was a lot better. Less labour intensive than mucking out by hand but still required lots of bending / leaning over, hopping on and off the quadbike etc so still fairly physical! Plus quite a heavy job emptying it out!
 

paddy555

Well-Known Member
Joined
23 December 2010
Messages
12,538
Visit site
. Less labour intensive than mucking out by hand but still required lots of bending / leaning over, hopping on and off the quadbike etc so still fairly physical! Plus quite a heavy job emptying it out!

a predator works best with 2 of you for the above reason. One drives and the other just walks around directing the nozzle at the offending item. I have used it with just one person and it is a lot more work. With just one it probably equals picking it up with a scoop but it does do a much better job if the birds have spread it around.
 

3OldPonies

Well-Known Member
Joined
25 March 2013
Messages
1,599
Location
Berkshire
Visit site
A barrow full of Ted the Twits muck weighs a ton ! I need to either find a labour saving method or put a cork in Teds rear end.

Looking at the video it shows the tool being used in Australia, bone dry and muck like bullets. In leafy mid England, I have wet pasture and a horse that produces juicy elephant size poops. I think the blade would skim over the top and produce a skid of epic proportions. ??


OMG that made me laugh 😂😂😂😂
 

MyBoyChe

Well-Known Member
Joined
17 April 2008
Messages
4,554
Location
N. Bucks
Visit site
I poo pick by hand but in a level field and using a wheelbarrow and one of those long handled poo collector thingies. I have a little trailer outside my field so I only have to push it as far as that, then once its full my hubby comes and helps me drag it back to the yard with our 4x4 or the YOs quad if its working! It is definitely easier than pushing endless wheelbarrows across the fields and has helped to make the job easier. I put it into bags as I lift it from the field so they can be slung up onto the muckheap more easily once you get a rhythm going. Killer of a job though as you get older and by chance, whilst out riding a couple of weeks ago we got chatting to a couple who wanted to stroke the pony, they had given up their horse as, aged 74, they could no longer cope with all the field maintenance ie picking up the poo!!
 

blodwyn1

Well-Known Member
Joined
4 February 2015
Messages
888
Visit site
We have a equine power brush from scl which is towed by our dumper truck. It sweeps the poo into a hopper and is very efficient. We employ a handsome young man to do the work and he lifts any escaping poos under the fence line into the dumper. I meanwhile watch and on hot days have diet coke moments! It is well worth the money!
 

DD

Well-Known Member
Joined
12 August 2015
Messages
2,306
Location
Albion
Visit site
I think it would be ok on dry flat ground but not on grass after rain or if its generally a bit squishy
 
Top