POO PICKING.....

[GingerTrotter]

Do you have to???

I do in the summer. I have 3 horses on 4 acres and in the summer i strip graze to keep the fatties nice anc trim. So i do religiously poo pick every couple of days.

In the winter its impossible as I have clay soil and its MEGA wet up here is bonnie scotland and my wheely barrow get stuck.

I see loads of posts about people poo picking everyday and I get worry I am not doing enough.
Can you just buy a chain harrow and be done with it??

 

[Niddlynoo]

I used to only poo pick in summer as like you we have heavy clay ground which makes it hard work in the winter! My new yard though insists on daily poo picking - even in winter

 

[stencilface]

I'm only poo picking atm as my horse is turned out in a 8 x10m paddock for his recovery, if I wasn't it would be gross by now (and its pretty gross anyway!).

Ours gets harrowed and rolled every spring and we have 12 acres, 5 horses (although 6 acres has not been used since sept so I doubt that will get harrowed, crows/nature will have sorted it by now!

We tend to do job lots of poo picking in the summer with a 4x4 and trailer, as the field is big and v hilly, and with 5 horses it gets quite messy. I tend to strip poo pick doing it section by section - just need to find an allottment group to take it off my hands

 

[Ladylina83]

You do what you want my dear ! I don't in the winter I can't get my barrow to the field, I can hardly get there myself - but in summer I am religious. The rain breaks it down over the winter, just make sure you keep a good worming routine.

 

[GingerTrotter]

I feel for you Niddlynoo! I feel like a comedy sketch every trying to walk down my field at the moment! lossing your welly on minutes and skidding over on your bum the next!!

Surely no harm can come to the horses with regular worming and paddock rotation even in the summer.... or am i being a terrible horse owner??

 

[bumblelion]

I only poo pick in the summer also as iv got clay soil, well mud and have no chance of getting the barrow around the field empty, let alone filled with poo!! It gets harrowed in the spring and has a few months rest whilst they're on summer grazing.

 

[GingerTrotter]

You do what you want my dear ! I don't in the winter I can't get my barrow to the field, I can hardly get there myself - but in summer I am religious. The rain breaks it down over the winter, just make sure you keep a good worming routine.

Thanks!!
Im airing onthe side of buying a chain harrow and paddock rotation. We worm very regularly and even in the summer up here its pretty wet!
Maybe i should just stop worrying so much! i spent all summer scurrying round with a wheel barrow after the horses religiously getting every poo, now i have taken in a livery who wont help and I'm dreading the extra work load this summer - although her livery money pays my competition fees

 

[Fransurrey]

I tend to poo pick near the muck heap and that's it, winter or summer. Sounds odd, but they use the muck heap to poo on, but they tend to go further and further out if I don't clear the area. It looks awful at the mo, but my arm still isn't up to poo picking. Am dreading the first go, as I broke the arm in November!

 

[GingerTrotter]

ouch! I hope your arm gets better soon.
Instead of tennis elbow we all get poo picker wrist

 

[little_critter]

ouch! I hope your arm gets better soon.
Instead of tennis elbow we all get poo picker wrist

It's not just me that gets a sore wrist then!
I poo pick all year round every saturday. I was commenting the other week that it's so much easier when the poo is frozen!

 

[WelshRuby]

In winter I take the dogs round the field and kick and scatter the poos on the way so it's like harrowing.

 

[EmmasMummy]

I did, but I don't now. I find that the birds destroy any poop that the ponies put down. That and I can only get there 3 times a week and not going to spend all my time picking up poop

 

[GingerTrotter]

This is how I feel EmmasMummy!
I work full time and then want to keep them fit and competing - its mega hard fitting in all the extras.
How many do you have and on how much land? do you harrow?

 

[AmyMay]

Can you just buy a chain harrow and be done with it??

I would. Unless the horse is on a postage size amount of land then I wouldn't poo pick. I'd just harrow, roll and then rest the field at the end of the winter.

 

[EmmasMummy]

This is how I feel EmmasMummy!
I work full time and then want to keep them fit and competing - its mega hard fitting in all the extras.
How many do you have and on how much land? do you harrow?

The 2 ponies (10.3hh & 11.2hh) are on 2 acres of good grass. We dont harrow as really they are glorified pets for my daughter. But time is precious. I only get up there about 5:30pm, and after feeding LO its after 6 and I have to leave about 7:30 to get her home for bed....so its a big rush!
I also have a horse at another yard up the road - not sure their policy, need to check, but then I am only up there one a month or so .

 

[GingerTrotter]

I would. Unless the horse is on a postage size amount of land then I wouldn't poo pick. I'd just harrow, roll and then rest the field at the end of the winter.

What about in the summer?? can you just rotate the strip grazing?

 

[mrussell]

I poo pick every day come rain or shine and I am on heavy clay too. I only have 3 acres of winter grazing so I really want to look after it.

I do however trudge around with plastic tubtrugs and then tip them over the fencing in designated spots around the paddock. This is then bagged up in the spring and sold as nicely rotted horsepoo to the local gardeners.

I can probably bag up 20 to 30 sack loads and if I charge a £1 a bag thats a nice little bonus for me in the spring. Yay !

 

[GingerTrotter]

I poo pick every day come rain or shine and I am on heavy clay too. I only have 3 acres of winter grazing so I really want to look after it.

I do however trudge around with plastic tubtrugs and then tip them over the fencing in designated spots around the paddock. This is then bagged up in the spring and sold as nicely rotted horsepoo to the local gardeners.

I can probably bag up 20 to 30 sack loads and if I charge a £1 a bag thats a nice little bonus for me in the spring. Yay !

Great system!! i love that you can sell it! i bet that makes all the effort worth while

 

[AmyMay]

What about in the summer?? can you just rotate the strip grazing?

If you're strip grazing in the summer then yes, I would poo pick.

 

[forestfantasy]

Another one who harrows & rotates here..i have no time to poo pick.
Farmer (YO) does the harrowing too so no work at all for us

 

[GingerTrotter]

If you're strip grazing in the summer then yes, I would poo pick.

I have for the last 4 years but did wonder id i could be a bit lazy this year.
May have to put lazy livery's horse in its own little paddock and leave her too it as really dont want to do all the work for her too!

 

[GingerTrotter]

Another one who harrows & rotates here..i have no time to poo pick.
Farmer (YO) does the harrowing too so no work at all for us

Do you have lots of land (super jealous you married a farmer! haha)
I only have 4 acres so have resigned oneself to wheelbarrow duty all summer. Its not too much of a hardship as i get to hang out with my gorgeous horses while i'm at it!

 

[forestfantasy]

Do you have lots of land (super jealous you married a farmer! haha)
I only have 4 acres so have resigned oneself to wheelbarrow duty all summer. Its not too much of a hardship as i get to hang out with my gorgeous horses while i'm at it!

lol no YO not OH!

I wish OH had land, unfortunately not!

We have about 10 acres (2 seperate fields) with 5 horses on it in winter (in at night)
In summer we move our 3 to another field with 5 acres

 

[AngieandBen]

I've got three ponies on 4 acres of clay soil, its actually looking really good atm I poo pick twice a day while they eat; 7am and anywhere between 5pm and 7pm depending on when I finish work!

I walk the whole field with my scoop, I keep the wheelbarrow in the middle , then I only have to push it to the heap, keeps me quite fit! I actually love doing it!

 

[GingerTrotter]

lol no YO not OH!

I wish OH had land, unfortunately not!

WHOOPS! haha!
Sorry my fantisy of marrying a farmer sneaked in there! oh to have all those tractors at my disposal! lol!

 

[peanut]

I poo-pick all year but find it easier to pick the dung up with rubber gloves in the winter when the field is muddy rather than using a rake/scoop.

 

[fidleyspromise]

Our livery contract is to poo-pick daily, so I have no option.
It gives me a chance to make sure their last poos are normal looking, their poo is normal amount and I check the fence/water as I go.

For 2 ponies on 1 acre, it take between 10 minutes (summer) and 22 minutes (in worst of winter) so not too bad. Means I feed ponies, go poo-pick and by the time I take pony in, brush and tack up - an hour has lapsed so I can ride (They're not fed in summer).

 

[Tammytoo]

I have 2 on one acre and poo-pick everyday. Not just to keep it looking nice, but to keep the worm burden down. I find that I don't need to worm as frequently as a result (I have the poos tested for worms by my vet). It only takes 10 minutes and I tip it over the hedge for my neighbour who has a smallholding! My neighbour only does hers infrequently and as a result has large bare patches where the grass has been killed off.

I suppose if I had a HUGE field I wouldn't bother, but would get sheep in as well to keep down the worm burden.

 

[Enfys]

In winter I take the dogs round the field and kick and scatter the poos on the way so it's like harrowing.

You'd only kick one pile once here then! For the last week we've been in the minus double figures...everything sets like concrete within seconds.

I don't touch my fields until Spring, then I harrow them.

I only pick a couple of the small paddocks on the roadside and visible from the house for aesthetic reasons rather than anything else.

 

[kathantoinette]

I am a poo picker fanatic - all year round, every dropping. Although in winter its a bit hard going when the rain has spread it all around and the mud gets mixed in with the poo! I have two horses on a small amount of land so not poo picking is not an option.
I don't mind the job though! Sad, I know.