poo picking

[deepmill]

hi there, we have fourteen horses here and I am starting to lose the will to live after 5 hours of poo picking. Is there a better way? Can I buy a machine? Help!

 

[flowerlady]

Yes you can buy a machine. It's like a Quad bike with a machine attached that sucks up the poo. I'm sure you'll be able to see one if you google H & H adverts. or look through any Horse & Hounse or any horse mag.

But alas thery are not cheap

Oh just noticed your first posting welcome to the forum watershipdown

 

[lucym]

do you do it daily? that might be the only way to keep on top of it...

have heard bad comments about the machines though
another thought...is there someone you know that would do it for pocket money...a pony mad girl wanting to earn a few pounds an hour?

 

[millerj]

we have 6 horses on ours, we mark out sections and everyone has their own section to keep on top of, means smaller area and can keep on top of it every couple of days with just a couple of wheel barrows

 

[wkm]

130212304692 on ebay £4,750! My friend says in his opinion it's time consuming and not very good ( had to say that so I don't get sued!)

What you really need is a team of people to help you, going to the paddock at different times of the day so it doesn't get so much!

That may not be much help but it's the best advice I can offer as an ardent pooper scooper user

 

[Donkeymad]

I've heard many people highly recommend some of these machines. There are a variety to choose from so investigate them all. I poo pick daily but think doing it for 14 is a bit much!!

 

[peanut]

I poo pick for two horses and that's quite enough!

Maybe you could get a machine second hand in order to save a bit of money.

 

[jnb]

Get the "sweeper" type one and not the one with the pipe - they take forever!

 

[katiex2]

Although poo picking by hand is soul destroying it is by far safer!! They have linked poo picking machines with "grass sickness" so be aware.

 

[AmyMay]

[ QUOTE ]
hi there, we have fourteen horses here and I am starting to lose the will to live after 5 hours of poo picking. Is there a better way? Can I buy a machine? Help!

[/ QUOTE ]

Rotate your grazing??

 

[pinktiger]

you can buy a machine, one of the ones i know of, is like a sit on lawn mower with a hoover attachment, n you kindo hoover the poo up!!!!! how wonderful

but alas very expensive

 

[Chunkie]

5 hours! Every day?

I also only do it for 2 horses, and that's more than enough. You have my sympathy Deepmill.

 

[Foxfolly]

Why poo pick? (Am I opening a large can of worms here... excuse the pun!!??)

My husband... a farmer, is against it, we don't have a problem with worms in any of our stock, we don't regularly worm the cattle or sheep but do the horses (On my insistance!!) and he reckons that the ground needs the muck put back into it otherwise you are only taking and not giving back!! (His words not mine!!) We do fertilise our field too in the spring and he also muck spreads all fields too.

You can get stale patches if you leave it in piles which in a small paddock can be a problem, but he reckons that if you chain harrow regularly to break it up that solves the problem.

Mind you we have large field so maybe that helps??
If you look at a cow pat in a field all the old one have lovely green grass sprouting up through it!!

 

[BeckyD]

Have you had any worm counts done to check there isn't a worm burden?

 

[Foxfolly]

Not had the horses done recently, I'm not too worried about that as we worm them regularly anyway.

The other stock I must admit I just accept what my hubby says, I'm no farmer!! He has been on our farm all his life so I assume he has his reasons for saying that... they used to have dairy cows before I knew him and now we have suckler cows and sheep.
Also I'm pretty sure when they go the abatoir that is somthing that is noted when the carcass is inspected by the vet as we did have one sheep who's liver was condemed as it had liver fluke. That was the only one in a whole flock though!

 

[milliepup]

Hi Fox folly, do you harrow the field and still keep the horses on it or do you harrow and rest?

 

[jewel]

if you cross graze your horses with the sheep or the cattle they are breaking down the worm cycle. so you o/h is right in a way. however most of us just have horses on our grazing so we need to poo pick to break the cycle.

 

[BeckyD]

Interesting! I know nothing about worms in farm animals, I know sheep can be used to keep horse pastures clean from worms, but hadn't really thought about worms infesting them (or cows).

We don't worm our cats as often as we should

In the back of my mind I think that we never wormed our old cat, and she made it into her early twenties. Which is the wrong thing to think, I know. And I love our cats to pieces so I shouldn't let their worming be so irregular.

 

[kerilli]

i had one of the Waste Warrior brush paddock cleaners, it was murder on my back to empty (even though i said when i tried it that i had a bad back and it mustn't be hard to empty), would not recommend at all unless you are Arnie Schwarzenegger...

 

[Foxfolly]

Some of the fields are grazed after haymaking then the stock is taken off in early spring to enable it to be muck spread, harrowed, rolled and fertilised so it can grow ready for more hay in the summer.
The main one used for the horses is grazed all year round but it is a big field and also the stock grazing it is varied, sometimes just a few cows and sometimes sheep in with the horses. But yes its harrowed, and rolled and fertilised whilst the horses are still grazing it.
We did take the horses off the year before last but left the sheep on it.
Its an amazing field the horses and other beasties trash it over the winter and it always recovers and has loads of grass in the summer!!