Ponderings whilst poo picking....

[Jericho]

Ok I am sad I admit but does anyone think about horse poo whilst poo picking??

I poo pick every day (2 fields with one equine in each) and whilst doing this dastardly deed I always seem to end up thinking about:

1) why my fat Welshie who is on hardly any grass and a section of hay can poo 14 times in a day but my 16.1hh TB will poo only 8 or 9 times a day despite being on 3 acres of lovely grass and hard feed.

2) my Welshie poos in the same places every day but TB does it anywhere

3) can worms travel far i.e if I chuck the poo into the hedges will the worms migrate (so actually no better than not poo picking)

4) if I didnt poo pick every day I would have to pick up about 140 poos every weekend and what a horrible job that would be

5) why do the crows always pick apart the TBs poo and not the Welshies?

6) how do people cope when they have massive fields or lots of horses? My two fill a wheel barrow a day roughly and it takes me about 10 - 15mins.

7) is there any benefit to completely removing the poo (I put mine on the muck heap well away from the grazing) or is there no harm in dumping it all in the corner of the field? I never have because I think the parasites would then contaminate the horse again if it chooses to graze near it.

8) how come some people never seem to poo pick? Do the poos eventually disappear at the cost of making the grazing nasty (e.g. rank grasses) and do they just control the worms with chemical wormers?

9) why is poo picking quite relaxing ?

Anyway enough rambling, off to bed now, just wanted to air my thoughts and see if I am going mad thinking about this stuff or others think it as well...............

 

[MrsMozart]

Nope, you're maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad

Can't remember the questions. Never mind. I think about things like, if horses won't eat where they poo, why do they poo where they eat? When we put hay rounds in, the neds stand and poo on it

 

[Jericho]

oh dear I need help.....

 

[Cahill]

i`m a poo-picker and i think these thoughts too.

if you have finished the job and empied the barrow and horsey does another one,do you have to go back and get it? i do

 

[legaldancer]

He he... some great observations!

My Welshie also poos in one of two places & the two TBs poo anywhere & everywhere.
At the moment I'm removing two barrow loads per day from the Tb's, one of which is doing cowpats & they weigh a ton!
I wish I only had one barrowful a day to do as it is quite relaxing, but two & a half is boring!

 

[SpruceRI]

Very interesting thoughts!

I used to poo pick but gave up years ago in favour of mending broken fences, cleaning out water tanks and weeding.

Whether it's just the land we have (rock hard in summer, bog in winter) but the poo picking never made any difference to the weeds.

Ponies pooed amongst the weeds and then it was harder to pick it out with the implement!

I've often wondered whether shoving poo in a pile in the hedge was just as bad as leaving it on the field? I suppose larvae that hatches must crawl a certain distance?

An interesting experiment years ago with a friend:

She had 2 ponies on 7 acres and religiously poo picked every day, yet rarely wormed them.

I had 3 ponies on approx 5 acres. Didn't pick up the droppings, but rotated the fields and regularly rested them on rotation for at least 6 months - and chemically wormed.

We both did a worm count.

Her ponies came out with High and Very High worm count.

2 of mine came out with no evidence of any eggs (<50epg) and the one I'd only had for 6 months had a low count.

Now I know that worm counts don't include Tapeworm and Encysted Small redworm, so I worm against those now, but still do the worm counts a couple of times a year.

So, in conclusion - who on earth knows!!

 

[Natalie_H]

This is a hilarious thread!

I poo pick for 2 TBs once a day. They do 2 wheelbarrow loads per day.

I have OCD in that I cannot leave the field if they poo after I have finished. I HAVE to leave it clear.

One of my musings is whether the horses think that the purpose of owning them is to collect their poos - like a manure farm. This is because they are ridden 3 to 4 times a week, but the poo collecting happens every day. Maybe they think that this is their primary function.....

Yes - I am insane - and do a lot of poo picking!

 

[Cahill]

i have 4 at home fields at the moment.
they are in at night and out in the day.
i have 3 barrows from the stables each morning and 1 barrow from the field that they do in the day.
they are very tidy and all go in the same place.

my DIY er is also very particular and does hers every day(she has 4 but two of those are minis and only do little ones)

i have 3 out in the big field but don`t poo-pick this but it does seem to disappear there.

 

[marmalade76]

In answer to question 6 (large fields, not lots of horses), we use a tractor and chain harrows followed by a few weeks rest.

 

[punk]

Think this is hilarious!! I think ALL of these things, and more - (from all of the posts) while I am poo picking.

One thing though -- The natives tend to do their doo doo's in one area, because they are INTELLIGENT, and don't want to ruin their grazing area (in the wild it would probably be quite sparse!) As they are usually on 'starvation corner' (ie the field with virtually NO grass, to avoid Laminitis

) they have to maximise any little bits they can get

!!!!!

TB's and WB's, on the other hand, have no idea about self-preservation, and are used to being pampered beasties. They really don't see the need to toddle ALL the way over to the other side of the field to DOO it. After all - there is always some nice person coming behind with a wheelbarrow!!!

 

[hoggedmane]

I am about to go and do my daily thinking (aka pooh picking). I am a teacher and have some of my best ideas for work while pooh picking.

My shire X TB does huge ones - it's like having an elephant but is really neat and tidy about it and very easy to tidy up after . She even follows me round to check I'm doing it right and will pooh where I am to help. One of the ponies (bog pony) does it in one place but the other 3/4 welsh I'm afraid doesn't have a clue. She poohs all the time and anywhere. They are usually quite small and hard to spot so she is a nightmare. The other 1/4 is TB though so maybe that has an influence. She can do 5 or 6 while being got ready for riding.

Oh ATM I get about a barrow a day (big barrow) but the ponies are in 14hours a day.

I just wish it was worth something!!!! We'd all be rich.

 

[hoggedmane]

Oh and question 5 they are probably looking for undigested food and your welshie either doesn't get any or digests it better!

 

[puddleshark]

And don't forget those days when your horses seem to have been holding a party the night before and you have all this mysterious extra poo!

 

[Jericho]

phew I am not that mad after all, thanks everyone for reassuring me!

And yes I have to go back and pick one up if they helpfully do another one after I finish

And yes mine watch me and I am sure they do think that my sole purpose is to feed them and pick up after them - they must think we are complete mugs!!!!!!

 

[Cahill]

and also,at this time of year,i look at my big stack of hay and think of it all converted into poo.

 

[SaffronWelshDragon]

LOL great thread - could do with a mid-week laugh

Poo-picking - I have 4 girls, all 14.3hh and under, the smallest being 9.1hh. The two little ones are in their own small paddock and the two big ones in a larger field, they are all natives. They all seem to have desigated toilet areas and only poo in these which is a great help as it's quicker to poo pick. I try to poo-pick a few times a week, but my fields are never clear, I just try to keep on top of it. Misty and Saffron in particular follow me around and delight in sniffing each poo which gets put in the wheelbarrow. They also look at me as if to say, 'ah the cleaner's in'.

I also find poo-picking relaxing, I keep telling myself it's good for me, I mean, it's like a full body workout (I use rubber gloves to pick) so we using upper and lower legs, stomach and arms. Why to people pay good money to go to a gym, they can help me to poo-pick!

 

[Gonetofrance]

[ QUOTE ]
and also,at this time of year,i look at my big stack of hay and think of it all converted into poo.

[/ QUOTE ]

That made me laugh out loud until I looked at all my haylage .....

 

[jaynedoc]

We have a quad bike at our yard... I love it so do my kids we wizz round on the quad inj between picking up the poo...


great fun!!

 

[jaynedoc]

I should add there is a trailer attached to it for the poo

 

[jaynedoc]

And yes mine watch me and I am sure they do think that my sole purpose is to feed them and pick up after them - they must think we are complete mugs!!!!!!

[/ QUOTE ]

Are these horses we are talking about or husbands/boyfriends

 

[jaynedoc]

I have to poo pick a field with more than just my horse in it...I end up thinking if I can spot which is my own horses poo or trying to guess which horse did what pile based on size alone.

What am I thinking!!!

 

[Slinkyunicorn]

Hehe!!

I poo pick my two everyday - I have to take out their hay and feed in a wheelbarrow so its easy to fill it up to bring it back in!! My coblet has a poo corner so easy to do and my wb is pretty tidy to - has 2 poo corners and despite having a huge field still manages to lie down in it

...........as a combination of regular poo picking we have changed our worming and my mare has had zero worm counts for 7 years now (inc. tapeworm etc) and my boy (only been here a 7 months) is about to have his first worm counts/bloods for tapeworm etc done. I also count the poos - as long as there is 8 + in each paddock everyday I know they are ok.....

 

[flyingfeet]

[ QUOTE ]

1) why my fat Welshie who is on hardly any grass and a section of hay can poo 14 times in a day but my 16.1hh TB will poo only 8 or 9 times a day despite being on 3 acres of lovely grass and hard feed.

[/ QUOTE ]
Murphy's law

[ QUOTE ]
2) my Welshie poos in the same places every day but TB does it anywhere

[/ QUOTE ]
Restricted grazing leads to frugal tendencies, so they work out better to poo in one place and have more grass

[ QUOTE ]
3) can worms travel far i.e if I chuck the poo into the hedges will the worms migrate (so actually no better than not poo picking)

[/ QUOTE ]
Nope parasitic worms would dry out, so cannot travel far.

[ QUOTE ]
4) if I didnt poo pick every day I would have to pick up about 140 poos every weekend and what a horrible job that would be

[/ QUOTE ]
True, but you can really see a difference if you only do it at the weekends!

[ QUOTE ]
5) why do the crows always pick apart the TBs poo and not the Welshies?

[/ QUOTE ]
Guessing you feed the TB? Undigested grain is what they are after. I sometimes feed whole oats just so the jackdaws clean up the poos.

[ QUOTE ]
6) how do people cope when they have massive fields or lots of horses? My two fill a wheel barrow a day roughly and it takes me about 10 - 15mins.

[/ QUOTE ]
They don't poo pick, just harrow and rotate fields

[ QUOTE ]
7) is there any benefit to completely removing the poo (I put mine on the muck heap well away from the grazing) or is there no harm in dumping it all in the corner of the field? I never have because I think the parasites would then contaminate the horse again if it chooses to graze near it.

[/ QUOTE ]
In theory it gives you horse more grazing if you take everything away. However you are also removing the field nutrients, so nothing gets put back

[ QUOTE ]
8) how come some people never seem to poo pick? Do the poos eventually disappear at the cost of making the grazing nasty (e.g. rank grasses) and do they just control the worms with chemical wormers?

[/ QUOTE ]
Just because your horse is in a small paddock and its not poo picked, doesn't automatically mean there is a worm problem. Especially if the farm doesn't have visitors / new horses coming and going.

[ QUOTE ]
9) why is poo picking quite relaxing ?

[/ QUOTE ]
Its not?????

 

[miss_c]

The yard I used to work at had three good sized fields, and about 20 - 30 horses. Five or six of us would go out every day poo picking, usually 2 - 3 wheelbarrows each, and it would take us about an hour. Absolute hell! The horses only went out in the summer though, so fortunately we didn't have to traipse round muddy fields.

 

[Pinkwellies2]

I usually go off into a daydream when poo picking about having a paddock cleaner. Or inventing a liquid that when sprayed on the poo. causes it to dissolved into the soil as a perfectly safe natural fertilizer.

 

[yethersgill]

Hubby normally does most of the poo picking for ours

They do seem to have favourite "areas" LOL they will also come over to the barrow and leave you a present, or if you are quick you can catch it in the scoop!

Yes it is relaxing and I do enjoy it

when I get a chance to do it!

 

[HayleyandBob]

mine all seem to have their own area !

and they do about 3/4 a wheelbarrow each in 24hours lol!
im ashamed to say i can tell the difference between whos is whos

!

 

[f_s_]

It's my job!!!

My mother always says "all that education, and you shovel s*** all day long!!!!"

I contemplate, when I'm picking too! Usually, size , shape, smell and...taste!!!

Only joking, don't taste!!!

I also like to watch my lot, their interaction, and actually poo picking can tell you a lot about your horse/s!!

Whether it's right or not, I don't know, but do do it religiously! Maybe it's good for the soul!!

 

[Steeleydan]

We are anal about poo picking! one TB out 24/7 thro the summer do droppings every day and get a barrow full. Its a ritual at our house I or my sister push the barrow and mum picks the droppings up with rubber gloves,also followed by the cats, mum is 65 and says the bending down keeps her supple, my sister and I laugh cos every time we get to a certain part of the field mother repeatedly says "If some one told me 43 years ago I would of been picking horse poo up on my own small holding I would of never beleived it!!!" (Mum was brought up in a town and never had a dog even, only got horsey when we were little)
But I usually get out of familiy poo picking sessions cos Iam normally away on house sitting jobs, but Iam usually picking up some one elses poo!! The house Iam at the moment have two horses out from 7am-8pm, the owner just tips the dropping in a big pile in the corner of the paddock, but the horses poo all around this pile no where else so very easy to just throw them onto the pile.

 

[Shazzababs]

I think I spent most of my childhood poo picking, I hated it!

When I bought my own place the first thing I bought was tractor, topper and chain harrow. Never poo pick now, the fields get harrowed and topped and then have 4 months off.