Penks
Well-Known Member
Does anyone have any experience of poo vacuum machines? Struggling to keep on top of poo picking at the moment with an injured back.
Poo Vacuum/Paddock Cleaners are they worth it?
- Thread starter Penks
- Start date
JillA
Well-Known Member
A friend travelled halfway round the UK to get one, and doesn't really use it because it needs two people - one to drive the towing vehicle and another to press the nozzle onto the poo. If you are anywhere near Blackburn she might want to sell it.
FfionWinnie
Well-Known Member
I think the brush type are more user friendly. The vacuum ones are a two person job and probably no better for your back.
alwaysbroke
Well-Known Member
Have been advised if I am ever looking for one to have the brush type
cavalo branco
Well-Known Member
We have a large size Trafalgar poo picker which was an eBay special. We love ours and use it twice a week. It's basically a large red plastic box on wheels with a large hose powered by a small engine on top. It gets emptied by an easy lift up lid at the back.
I would advise getting the large size because it fills quite quickly (we have 2 horses 16hh and 16.3hh) so cuts down trips to muck heap.Also you need a quad bike or similar to tow it.
The best bit for me is non-horsey OH loves machines so will usually do it for me!!
I would advise getting the large size because it fills quite quickly (we have 2 horses 16hh and 16.3hh) so cuts down trips to muck heap.Also you need a quad bike or similar to tow it.
The best bit for me is non-horsey OH loves machines so will usually do it for me!!
Gloi
Too little time, too much to read.
We have a brush type but it is a pain because it only works when the grass is short and the field is bone dry. Any other time and it just makes an awful mess.
Notimetoride
Well-Known Member
I had a large vacuum one a few years ago which was towed with a quad. It was rubbish so we sold it
Dry Rot
Well-Known Member
Well, I seem to be in the minority because I have a Predator vacuum type pulled by a 4x4 Honda quad. My major grumble is the cost of fuel for both machines and it would be cheaper if they both ran on red diesel. But it will pull fragmented or soft poo out of long or short grass which the brush type won't. I suspect the sweepers smear poo which increases the dangers of contamination -- and they have been linked to grass sickness. I do tend to rotate ponies and harrow with a 10 foot chain harrows behind an MF135 tractor a lot as it is so much quicker. (Just come in from doing that!).
There is a technique to using the Predator. I am 75 and manage single handedly quite easily. I don't find it all tiring. In fact, I find it is easier with one person! I line the poos up and then go down the line, sucking them up by handling the pipe while sitting at the quad. Speed up to the next batch, then zap them too. I seldom get off. It's actually quite fun and I've volunteers wanting to do it for nothing.
But as I said, there is a technique. If the pipe is blocking, it helps to have a hose pipe handy when some water can be directed down the pipe. Sometimes, a little kick at the bottom of the bend of the tube will get things going again. I'd prefer a better tipping mechanism as although the hopper will tip, it doesn't go far enough and most has to be forked out. I put a sheet steel lining in mine which I think does help a bit.
So, a positive vote from me with the exception of the minor grumbles mentioned above. I tend to use it for the smaller paddocks and just harrow anything over an acre.
There is a technique to using the Predator. I am 75 and manage single handedly quite easily. I don't find it all tiring. In fact, I find it is easier with one person! I line the poos up and then go down the line, sucking them up by handling the pipe while sitting at the quad. Speed up to the next batch, then zap them too. I seldom get off. It's actually quite fun and I've volunteers wanting to do it for nothing.
But as I said, there is a technique. If the pipe is blocking, it helps to have a hose pipe handy when some water can be directed down the pipe. Sometimes, a little kick at the bottom of the bend of the tube will get things going again. I'd prefer a better tipping mechanism as although the hopper will tip, it doesn't go far enough and most has to be forked out. I put a sheet steel lining in mine which I think does help a bit.
So, a positive vote from me with the exception of the minor grumbles mentioned above. I tend to use it for the smaller paddocks and just harrow anything over an acre.
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Follysmum
Well-Known Member
We have a Trafalgar and pull it with a quad. Have 6 horses so find it invaluable
ILuvCowparsely
Well-Known Member
No we do ours my kubota & trailer/ wheelbarrow as we have them all on two small paddocks ( 3 1/2 acres at any one time. If we had more than 9 acres then I would invest in one as I wont leave my fields un poo picked.
cobgoblin
Bugrit! Millennium hand and shrimp.
Has anyone tried the trafalgar one on a trolley, I think it's the pc50 ?
Penks
Well-Known Member
Thanks everyone for your replies, looks like for most they are less effective than i thought they would be unfortunately.
paddy555
Well-Known Member
I have had a predator cub for the last 12 years and it was the best thing I ever bought. It can clean the dung off the ground far more cleanly than i ever could. There is no way that I would ever want to go back to poo cleaning by hand. The pred is worth it's weight in gold and has lasted many years.
I was considering getting a trafalgar this year but having tried the largest one I found the hose very heavy after the predator. It also wasn't suitable as it was narrower and some of our ground is steep and it would have been less stable than the predator. I looked at the swivel one but that wouldn't have been safe on sloping ground so they told me.
I therefore decided to look for the next size up predator and will buy one when I find a good S/H one that someone doesn't like. The newer ones tip Dry Rot so that will be a bonus. Unfortunately they don't run on red diesel!
Pearlsasinger
Up in the clouds
We like our Trafalger. We have been known to muck out with it! I understand that the brush ones have been linked to grass sickness, so woud definitely avoid that kind.
rara007
Well-Known Member
We have one that's been used maybe twice!
FfionWinnie
Well-Known Member
All mechanical poo picking has been linked with EGS, Dryrot.
Really anything which disturbs the ground could be.
I harrow and rest for a long time which is also not recommended regarding EGS.
Really anything which disturbs the ground could be.
I harrow and rest for a long time which is also not recommended regarding EGS.
Pearlsasinger
Up in the clouds
But harrowing and the brush-type vac disturb the soil whilst the vacuum type don't, they just suck up the muck off the top of the soil.
As we are not in a high GS risk area, we both harrow and vacuum but something to bear in mind in GS areas, I would have thought.
As we are not in a high GS risk area, we both harrow and vacuum but something to bear in mind in GS areas, I would have thought.
sare_bear
Well-Known Member
I have one and have used it maybe twice. Definitely easier to manually muck out. I bought it to pick up sycamore seeds, but it wasn't very successful at that either.
benz
Well-Known Member
We have a Wessex sweeper it is a god send as I too have a bad back, it has to be set up correctly or it will smear the poo. We have a worm count of zero on most horses, so it works. BUT it is heavy to lift onto the hitch and that does hurt my back. I would look at getting a lighter vacuum type of you have less horses (we have 6)
FfionWinnie
Well-Known Member
It doesn't matter what the method is. Taking a mechanical anything onto the land could cause soil disturbance.
Dry Rot
Well-Known Member
Yes, my Predator tips but not high enough so I still have to fork it out. I don't know what the answer is as poo tends to stay in where it is anyway! Definitely easy to work while seated on a quad though. I think it would be a real bore to tow it behind anything else -- but as I've said, that means two machines and two engines drinking petrol. I think it is possible to get a diesel engine for them, so if I bought again, I'd definitely be looking into that. Oh, and to making it road legal, then I could go contracting!
paddy555
Well-Known Member
Yes, my Predator tips but not high enough so I still have to fork it out. I don't know what the answer is as poo tends to stay in where it is anyway! Definitely easy to work while seated on a quad though. I think it would be a real bore to tow it behind anything else -- but as I've said, that means two machines and two engines drinking petrol. I think it is possible to get a diesel engine for them, so if I bought again, I'd definitely be looking into that. Oh, and to making it road legal, then I could go contracting!
It is possible to get a new one with a diesel engine but heavens knows what the price would be. Also it may not be a good idea to buy a new one as they loose so much value once "off the forecourt" but there are often S/H ones nearly new where people have given up. Not sure why they give up.
We tow behind a bolens small tractor. Not much bigger in size than a garden tractor but powerful. It has hydrostatic drive. That is what makes it. I ride the tractor side saddle, it is very low to the ground and I can just about walk on and off it plus I can move it on the ground by just depressing the accelerator.
However I had found a new use for mine. Had to top a field and there was way to much to leave on the field. Only choice was to rake it up by hand (unless anyone has other ways of doing it) and lift it into a trailer. Alternatively I found just walk round with the pred and it hovers it up easily. Very little work and no lifting.