Poo-picking - would you pay someone to do it?

[domane]

I only work part-time and I have some spare time during the day so I'm thinking of advertising my services locally as a poo-picker, just through the winter for a little extra pocket money. I'm thorough, fit, strong and trustworthy - there must be quite a few people who work full-time and get fed up with either PP'ing in the dark or having to do it at the weekends when they'd rather be riding. Is this something you would take advantage of if the price was right? And if so, what sort or price would you think IS right... I have no idea? I guess it depends on whether someone wanted me daily or a couple of times a week, how much land and how many horses they have and I'm flexible with that too. Any thoughts/comments?

 

[Eriskayowner]

Yes! I would I've got another thread running on poo-picking!!

 

[Blitzen]

I would too, its my least favourite job! Depending on where you are I think you'd be looking at charging around £8-10 an hour, would be what I would pay. Or do it by the barrow load?

 

[luckylou]

Yes definitely! Please say you are in Bristol!!

 

[skyejosh]

I'm a groom and i have one owner at the moment who i only poopick for. I get £8 an hour, same as for general yard work. There is usually lots of people wanting their fields poo-picked. Good Luck

 

[typekitty]

£8 an hour, that's decent!

 

[abina]

Worcestershire please !!

and yes I would pay some one to deal with that side of things so I could spend more time schooling/teaching/or catching up on paperwork!
£8 would be reasonable

 

[indie999]

oh yes definitely good idea I wish I had a teenager or trustworthy person that wanted a few pounds for an hour or less work. They keep fit at same time

Just to have a couple of days off and for holidays etc

Good luck

 

[Phoebe]

I do it at my yard. I charge £3 for 15 mins, £5 for half hour. This includes walk to Muck heap and back, so closer fields are cheaper for owner and less hard work for me. Tend to cover holidays and odd days for people but I would spend hours doing a field that's been left unpicked

 

[Phoebe]

"wouldn't spend hours" phone!!!

 

[zoon]

I pay someone to do mine - poo from 2 horses removed daily for £60 per month. Best thing I've ever done!

 

[xTrooperx]

£8 hour, i would def pay for a servce like that, only thing i would worry about is someone messing around and taking the p*ss and spending 1 and half hours 'mucking out', as i know i can muck field and stable within an hour.

but prehaps a weekly/monthly fee option that would work out slightly cheaper would be good idea too, as would bring more reg work.

good luck on your new job

 

[Brigadoon]

I do. I work full-time and have 5 horses at home. I do them all myself but cannot pick all the poo so my treat is a poo picker. Its a local teenager. I do pick a bit myself but it means my worm counts are low, thus save on wormers. The grass keeps fresh and my fields look smart. I know lots of folks who would love someone to poo pick for them.

 

[Thistle]

please find me one in NE Herts!

 

[fidleyspromise]

I pay someone to do mine - poo from 2 horses removed daily for £60 per month. Best thing I've ever done!

That is a really good price.
I wouldn't pay £8 an hour sorry. If I did have someone daily, this means I would spend £240 in one month if done daily plus for my 2 ponies = on my 1 hour lunch break, I can leave work, have ponies fed and poo-picked and have time to chat to farrier, go to work, grab my lunch.
20 minutes to do mine.

If I was paying for half an hour = £4, then I'd be happy with that.

On current yard, in contract I have to poo-pick every day, so if I can't make it up, I have the yard poo-pick and it costs £1.50 per pony per day so £3 a day for me currently.

I only have someone do it if I'm ill or unavailable as I love the time it takes to poo-pick. Means I can watch my ponies, spend time in field with them and play games with my youngster

 

[MerrySherryRider]

Former YO used to charge £1 per horse a day and it was a long very muddy trek to the muck heap.

 

[domane]

Thanks for all the comments, much appreciated I have 3 horses myself (two youngsters unbacked in case you start thinking "how come she has so much free time?") but they have 'poo hoovers' at the yard I keep them on so I'm spoilt Thanks also for the ideas on what to charge, I really guess it depends on how far from home, how many horses, how much land and frequency....

I'm a very honest person and wouldn't claim for it to take longer than it did just to earn more. My reasoning is that you know roughly how long it takes to poo-pick your own horses so you could say to me "It takes me X amount of time" so we could negotiate a price around that on the basis that I would do it at the same rate. So as far as I'm concerned there is little room for cheating.

 

[zoon]

Took me ages to find my poo picker as I wanted it done daily and very few people would travel to mine daily to do 20mins work! Ended up asking a good friend who used to share one of my horses and she now does it. She'll get a pay rise when I can afford it as she's worth her weight in gold!

 

[charmeroo]

I've done several large-scale poopicking jobs usually for people who have up to 4 horses living out 24/7/365. On that basis I've usually done the fields twice a week and charged a fixed sum for job once I've worked out how long it would take me. This works well for both sides as if I'm in a rush I can just work a bit faster and still do the same amount of work in a shorter time but still do what's needed!!! If anyone needs poopicking close to Elstead I can help!!

 

[luckyhorseshoe]

I do use someone regularly. I pay her £5 an hour but she literally lives down the road, so no travel costs for her. So worth it as working full time and trying to do 2 horses was leaving me a tad stressed. I just use her for the days where i know i am working long hours, so sometimes could be every mid week day or i an go a couple of weeks with not needing her much.

 

[Slinkyunicorn]

A local teenager charges £3.50 a barrow - really helpful if you are away so it doesn't pile up