Poo picking in winter

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poiuytrewq

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Is a problem for me on heavy clay as I simply cant push a barrow round the field!
Last year so many people advised just not to bother, eventually I got to the point where the fields were so under water it was literally impossible. This winter they have not been done in about 5 weeks (I usually do daily) due to daughters illness and just sheer lack of time. The horses will be mainly stood eating hay piles rather than grazing so worm wise I don't see it as the total end of the world but my pet hate is piles of poo all over the field.

What does everyone else do?
 
We are on heavy clay field, I carry builder style buckets around and fill them up, have my OH carry the otherside of this. Like you with the wheelbarrow we just end up with the wheel clogged still with clay mud. I am anal about poo picking so in Winter the entire 3 acres is poo picked on the sat and sun till almost all poo is gone.
 
Hi, we get to a point that it isnt worth the struggle. Mine come in at night now and the poo is left and harrowed in the spring. We rest that bit and cut for hay so it isnt a problem for our circumstances. Would rather the kids dashed around riding rather than worrying about poo picking when there are so few daylight hours.
 
Am lucky, most of my paddocks are sandy (ish).
I pop round with the barrow after work & pick up the worst I can see, mine are now in on work nights - so I dont have furry helpers :biggrin3:
On day off I cover the paddocks fully, usually find I've only missed the odd 1 or 2 each day.
To be fair, the 3 winter paddocks are no more then 0.7 acre each tho, so not a zillion miles to cover & all are right off the main yard :)

TFF, also particular about poo-picking, but sooooo glad am not on clay.
 
Lack of time/ light (no idea how people see poos with a torch) as well as wheelbarrow proof clay mean I don't pick the winter field. But the only go into it mid Dec and move out by end of March - when it's harrowed and rolled, my understanding is if it's rested for 6 months + you break the worm cycle.
I also have only my 2 boys who are counted and wormed accordingly - rather than lots of horses coming and going
 
Well that makes me feel better anyway!
In summer or when they are living out I have to do it as my paddocks are fairly small and soon become poo ridden!
Last spring we harrowed and rested for ages so I guess that will be the plan for this year also. Gosh, along with turfing retired boy and Shetland companion out into the field to be "live out ornaments" Im becoming quite harsh! (and have a little time on my hands!)
 
If I poo picked it would be like painting the Forth Bridge, life is simply too short.

I have on average 20 horses over 40 or so acres.
They each do what? 10 piles each a day?
No way on God's green earth am I wandering about looking for 200 piles a day :o


I harrow. In winter I don't do anything because the stuff is concreted to the ground.

To those who push a barrow, pull a sled, or trolley - much easier to pull than push ;)
 
Agree with TFF (apart from the helpers).

I have a two wheeled barrow that I can pull, much easier to get through mud that way. And the ponies tend to poo in the same areas, so I get most of it each evening and the rest at the weekends. Makes it easier to know where to direct the torch to! I hate it when it snows and I can't see it *sob/ocd*
 
texas said:
Agree with TFF (apart from the helpers).

I have a two wheeled barrow that I can pull, much easier to get through mud that way. And the ponies tend to poo in the same areas, so I get most of it each evening and the rest at the weekends. Makes it easier to know where to direct the torch to! I hate it when it snows and I can't see it *sob/ocd*
Click to expand...

Really? I cant get my two wheel barrow anywhere at all! Hats off to you for that one! Perhaps yours is different to mine, which tends to overturn on even slightly uneven ground!

As for the builders bags idea... I could tell you word for word what my other half would think to that idea! ;)

Looks like I sh** out on wheelbarrows and partners...
 
I don't poo pick in winter- unless they have done some by the gate/or escaped onto the banned driveway field. I have 2 adjoining winter fields, so plenty of space for them to eat as well as poo, and I will harrow them when the horses move into the summer fields.
Mine are all worm counted/wormed if required, and have a tapeworm treatment autumn and spring, so I don't see worms as an issue.
 
I use those to put water buckets in!

I'm on clay and still poo pick every day. I have four 0.5 acre paddocks to last me over winter, and each must do a month. Two also get grazed through the summer so I have to poo pick to keep on top of it. Between the two girls I get about a level wheelbarrow each day, then a level wheelbarrow from their stables overnight as well.
 
Still poo pick every day...however horses are good (are trained ;)) and mainly poo only around the edge of the field in 4 different concentrated places.....so just go look in these areas now. We also tip our poo onto a heap in a corner of the field so don't need to push the heavy, filled barrow back through the gate way!
 
No one poo picks at the yard I am on...
When we had our own private place I poo picked daily in the winter but that was because there was little poo to come out and they were all in small-med size paddocks so it was easy. At the yard now we've got 4 so a decent sized field, it's also on a whacking great hill! The field will be harrowed at some point, and we will poo pick come summer when its dry and if possible otherwise it doesn't get done.
 
We tried last year, but eventually decided that our field was too big (9 acres for 2 horses, I don't know why we bothered!!) and gave up. The grazing arrangement is slightly different this year (smaller field for one thing) and we are still poo picking at the moment, but I think we'll give it up fairly soon. We have plenty of room to rotate the horses so over-grazing is really not an issue for us! Plus there is a very steady herd and all worm counts done this year have consistently been 50 epg or less.
 
my mare used to be in about 1.5 acres with one other horse, and i used to poo pick weekends only in the winter as after a few attempts with a head torch i could not be bothered! just spent ages at weekend, with an ipod to keep me entertained.
but now my 2 live in a herd of 10, on up to 40 acres in the winter, and it gets way too boggy in the fields. we harrow in the spring and autumn, and have a separate summer field as well.
if you have a winter paddock you can rest, just get in harrowed in the spring, although i agree it looks gross, i like to squint so i cant see the poo!
 
also, get worm counts done- 3/4 had no/nearly 0 worm count in september, my mare had low-medium count, very low end of medium. so i'm not worried that harrowing creates worming problems.
 
its a nightmare - i keep mine on about 3 1/2 acres which is split into 2 paddocks and when the one they are in now - which is still the ’summer’ paddock gets deep and yuk they will move into the other rested half. Im afraid Im terrible though and pay someone to do it :p
 
We have stopped poo picking now, they will be in the field for another 3 weeks to a month then move to their smaller field that hasn't been used for over a year. We will harrow the summer field in then and rest it letting all the nutrients from the poo leech back into the ground. This should mean we won't need to feed much hay at all unless we have snow on the ground. The youngsters need a good winter diet as they are starting to get too fat, Summer field has minimal grass now so that should help that's why I'm leaving them in there so late in the year and they are just going to gorge themselves on their winter grazing.

I do kick open all the poo's I come across though I just hate the field being covered in the stuff.
 
I don't get mud, on chalk over sand so it cuts up a bit when they are hooning around but otherwise it's good through winter, grass disappears quite quickly in summer though. As for poo picking, my Womble (Hubby) does it every day for me and I do the stables. He's quite well trained now.....:)
 
I hate my land not being cleared daily, but since I became so ill I do find it too much sometimes, so try to get my partner to do it once a week. he's not bad for that.
 
Still poo picking at the moment but ain't got much grass left on evil clay land. I do have hard standing areas on which I will be putting haylage and they will be cleaned of course. As for the bogs, they'll be harrowed and rolled in the spring.
 
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