time to muck out, fill haynets and waters?

itsapiebald

Well-Known Member
Joined
6 March 2016
Messages
117
Visit site
Title says it really, how long would you spend on mucking out (taking dirty, wet and adding new bedding) filling water buckets and haynets?

I've just started working at a livery yard and wondered how long all that should really take.

When I do my own stables (Inc bringing pony in) it takes me 25 minutes but that's because I have a dirty pony and I'm ocd with my stable and I talk to other liveries lol

obviously I'm not ocd with other people's stables
 

stormox

Well-Known Member
Joined
4 May 2012
Messages
3,286
Location
midlands
Visit site
Depends on how far the muck heap is, Ive worked in yards and have my own horse, I was more 'ocd' with other peoples than my own - especially if I was being paid Id want to do the best job I could. I suppose one 12x12 stable would take about 20mins, then a further 10 mins doing haynets, cleaning and refilling water and sweeping.
 

SusieT

Well-Known Member
Joined
15 September 2009
Messages
5,922
Visit site
takes me about 5min to muck out ( deep litter) well, then a further 5-10 to do the rest depending on distance so 15min per stable if doing a nice, neat job without being ocd.
 

itsapiebald

Well-Known Member
Joined
6 March 2016
Messages
117
Visit site
Depends on how far the muck heap is, Ive worked in yards and have my own horse, I was more 'ocd' with other peoples than my own - especially if I was being paid Id want to do the best job I could. I suppose one 12x12 stable would take about 20mins, then a further 10 mins doing haynets, cleaning and refilling water and sweeping.

Okay, everythings really close together. What I mean by ocd is i make sure all my banks are really big and square and exactly tthe same size, I'll put about double the amount of straw in as I need, there can't be a piece of straw out of place, my buckets have to be level with each other....its crazy haha
 

ILuvCowparsely

Well-Known Member
Joined
5 April 2010
Messages
14,457
Visit site
Title says it really, how long would you spend on mucking out (taking dirty, wet and adding new bedding) filling water buckets and haynets?

I've just started working at a livery yard and wondered how long all that should really take.

When I do my own stables (Inc bringing pony in) it takes me 25 minutes but that's because I have a dirty pony and I'm ocd with my stable and I talk to other liveries lol

obviously I'm not ocd with other people's stables

I muck out 8 a day 3 are mine and the others part livery I start at 6-45 - 7am and finish aroun 9.45am. At the moment longer as I have a torn tendon in my hand and fractured shoulder. I do all the hay - water- feed and turnout- and evening feed put in and remade up and do the CPL cats in the morning
 

stormox

Well-Known Member
Joined
4 May 2012
Messages
3,286
Location
midlands
Visit site
Thats deep litter is it SusieT? I think itd take longer to do proper daily muck out, sweep floor and bed down. Especilly if you swept the yard after you- Id never leave a yard unswept or a barrow half-full.
In the yards Ive worked in a 5 min muck out wouldnt be considered a 'proper job'.
 
Joined
28 February 2011
Messages
16,451
Visit site
It takes me about 3 hours to Muck out my own 6 mainly because I hate loath and despise mucking out so always end up procrastinating. I don't don't haynets, mine eat from the floor.

At the yard I can do 15 boxes in an hour and a half but that is purely mucking out. The horses have automatic drinkers and the yard men hay up. We only Muck out when we are a yard man down - which is once a month if we are unlucky lol
 

SusieT

Well-Known Member
Joined
15 September 2009
Messages
5,922
Visit site
yes- it is deep litter shavings on mats - works extremely well and quick and I prefer it to taking out the wet - it really doesn't take long to lift 5-6 poo piles, bank up, pull clean banks down, brush front but I'm pretty quick at it - mucking out with taking out wet would take a good bit longer so depends what type of beds are in use.
 

itsapiebald

Well-Known Member
Joined
6 March 2016
Messages
117
Visit site
I muck out 8 a day 3 are mine and the others part livery I start at 6-45 - 7am and finish aroun 9.45am. At the moment longer as I have a torn tendon in my hand and fractured shoulder. I do all the hay - water- feed and turnout- and evening feed put in and remade up and do the CPL cats in the morning

I had my first day today, did 7 stables (full muck out, water, hay) shadowing someone in 4 hours we also turned out and brought in, I've pulled the muscles in my back

Hope your hand and shoulders better soon x
 

MoodyMare101

Active Member
Joined
6 September 2014
Messages
48
Visit site
I work at a livery yard 1 day a week. We feed at 8am and then turn out. I have 7 to turnout/muckout. 6 are on straw and one is on woodchip and it usually takes me till about 11-11:30 to change rugs, turnout, muckout, do haynets, feeds, sweep yards and the muck heaps are 30 seconds away (the 7 are spread out across 3 differnet parts of the yard) They all have big beds (apart from the one on shavings)
 

itsapiebald

Well-Known Member
Joined
6 March 2016
Messages
117
Visit site
I work at a livery yard 1 day a week. We feed at 8am and then turn out. I have 7 to turnout/muckout. 6 are on straw and one is on woodchip and it usually takes me till about 11-11:30 to change rugs, turnout, muckout, do haynets, feeds, sweep yards and the muck heaps are 30 seconds away (the 7 are spread out across 3 differnet parts of the yard) They all have big beds (apart from the one on shavings)

Okay thanks that really helped
 

fatpiggy

Well-Known Member
Joined
1 December 2006
Messages
4,593
Visit site
It depends on what bedding you use. I was on aubiose and only mucked out the wet patch on Saturday mornings, and put clean in which took around 25 minutes I suppose. The rest of the time I just picked up the night's poo which was usually 3 piles, and swept the bed back from the door/tidied the surface. I would have the buckets on trickle fill under the tap so by the time I'd done everything the bucket was full. Haynets take a couple of minutes to fill and weigh.
 

Luci07

Well-Known Member
Joined
13 October 2009
Messages
9,382
Location
Dorking
Visit site
I was thinking I was slow as I take just under 30 minutes..however I have 2 big horses to do, 1 who is in 24 x 7 and do feeds as well. I set up for the day as well (horses are on assisted DIY) so need to do hay for 24 hours and evening feeds as well. These will be added in at teatime or when my horse is brought in. Do a proper sweep as well.

Am highly envious of those who can deep litter /semi deep. It worked so brilliantly for a previous horse but my current horse wrecks his bed as does the mare. Tried so many variances and it doesnt work!
 

dibbin

Well-Known Member
Joined
12 March 2010
Messages
3,701
Location
Ayrshire
Visit site
In the morning before work, I'm out for about 40 minutes. That's feeding and turning out 2, and mucking out, cleaning buckets and filling a haynet for Jazz. Full muck out and bringing the bed back down (with the bed flattened and the bankings levelled) takes me 15-20 minutes. Plus emptying my wheelbarrow - I use the farmer's midden, we haven't built a ramp for our muck trailer yet!
 

skint1

Well-Known Member
Joined
11 February 2010
Messages
5,310
Visit site
I'm really slow, have 2 horses on straw, not deep littered, they have a large haynet each and 2 water buckets each which are replaced daily. The muck heap and straw are across the yard from my stables, but not a huge journey. Doing the mucking out, nets, water, setting the bed with banks etc for both prob takes me an hour, but then add another 30-40 mins in for rugs, breakfast, turning the boys out and quite a lot of sweeping.

I used to do a lot less sweeping but one of the other liveries has her horse on part of the stable that we all have to pass to get our horses out so I now sweep that up too as it's not fair to leave it in a mess, sometimes I feel a bet "meh" about it but it keeps the peace so it's worth doing.
 

tatty_v

Well-Known Member
Joined
25 March 2015
Messages
1,394
Visit site
I'm really slow! Takes me 50 minutes in a morning to change rugs, muck out straw bed, fill water buckets, fill, soak and drain haynets, sweep yard (I hate bits of straw everywhere!) and turnout. I can't seem to speed up either!
 

Damnation

Well-Known Member
Joined
25 February 2008
Messages
9,663
Location
North Cumbria
Visit site
I can bring in, pick out feet, water, muck out, hay and feed in half an hour. Tack room isn't far and muck heap is within 20 feet of the hay. Field is only across the road by where I park.

Routine is:

Park up, bring horse in and put her in her stable. Make up feeds and 2 buckets of water to tip into her big tub trug. Put the feed, 2 water buckets and broom and shavings fork into wheel barrow. Wheel down to stable, sweep the front so I can put her food down (She rummages and it goes everywhere!), put down her food in the designated "spot" and tip the two water buckets into her tub trug. Full muck out (her bed is in such a place that she mainly poo's on the rubber matting). Take empty haynet and full wheelbarrow to muck heap putting buckets and tools away en route, empty barrow, fill haynet and put into wheelbarrow. Put wheelbarrow away in tack room, put haynet up in stable, pick out feet. Go home.
 

Starzaan

Well-Known Member
Joined
20 January 2010
Messages
4,084
Visit site
I have had A LOT of practice working on big yards and having my own. Currently at work I muck out anywhere between six and twenty in the mornings, depending on who is working with me. I am fast, so if working with slow people I end up doing a lot more!

I can do a full muck out of a big straw bed, bed down, perfect (enormous) banks, hay on floor and haynet filled and hung up, plus water bucket scrubbed and re filled in 10 - 20 mins depending on how dirty the horse is. I am only that fast because I have had so much practice. My beds are always uniform - big banks, big fluffy beds - just the same as I do with my own horse. In fact, as someone has said above, I would be more careful with work horses as people are paying a lot of money to keep their horses with us!

Shavings take slightly longer as those we have at work on shavings are all dirty beggars.

You'll get faster with practice. You need to work out your system. Mine is -

Start by flicking all clean straw/shavings up into the banks, making a pile of poo and wet/dirty bedding in the middle of the box.

Remove the pile in the middle, into big wheelbarrow, then sweep out the middle of the box and put that into the barrow too.

Flick the banks over to get any wet out from underneath, and put that into barrow too.

Re build banks.

Tip water into wheelbarrow, leave bucket outside door.

Take haynet down, and take it and my barrow to the muck heap.

Empty barrow, re fill haynet and fill barrow with straw/shavings to bed down, half large slice of hay or haylage for the floor (if horses are in during the day we give hay on the floor during the day and fill haynet ready for the evening, if out they get half a section of hay or haylage on the floor, and haynet hung up ready for them to come in to) and haynet if horse is out and it can be hung up.

Return to stable, hang net, put hay in corner under manger, bed down.

Sweep front of the stable clean and bedding into straight line.

Scrub, re fill and replace water bucket.

Sounds like a lot, but when you do it so often you get faster. And we're lucky that everything is very close together.

ETS - we normally have 45 in during the winter, and five of us working. We feed at half 7 and start changing rugs, then those going out are turned out (a bloody trek all over the farm!) then we start mucking out. We are usually done between 10:30 and 11:00. That includes changing rugs and turning out anything up to twenty horses, full muck out, hay water, and sweeping the four separate yards. That's the bit that irritates me. The endless sweeping! If all were in one yard I'm sure we'd save a serious amount of time! Ten of these horses are riding school ponies on rubber mats with a thin, flat layer of shavings in the back of the box. Their boxes take about five minutes each as we sweep everything out and the re bed each day. We aren't superhuman, we just have a very good team and a good system!
 
Last edited:

BSL

Well-Known Member
Joined
5 April 2010
Messages
1,666
Visit site
I can turn out, muck out (flax on rubber mats), sometimes full sometimes skip out muck only, do hay nets and waters in about an hour for four. Give or take 5 mins.
 

L&M

Well-Known Member
Joined
7 March 2008
Messages
6,376
Location
up a hill
Visit site
15 mins for my lad - everything very close by and he has rubber matting with a small shavings bed.

However if turnout included, then add another 15 mins as he is in the furthest away paddock!
 

ILuvCowparsely

Well-Known Member
Joined
5 April 2010
Messages
14,457
Visit site
I had my first day today, did 7 stables (full muck out, water, hay) shadowing someone in 4 hours we also turned out and brought in, I've pulled the muscles in my back

Hope your hand and shoulders better soon x

Thankyou

GP appointment tomorrow hopefully steroids into hand
 

only_me

Well-Known Member
Joined
7 June 2007
Messages
14,038
Location
Ireland
Visit site
It takes me about 15min to muck out (also deep litter on mats), do water (a big tub trug thingy and fill 2 very large haynets.

Timing is everything though - i muck out first - if in morning will set a day bed & in pm put bed down. Remove net, then water. Take wheelbarrow, nets & buckets to tap. Quickly clean bucket & leave for hose to fill on half power. Then empty barrow and then fill nets. Then while bringing nets back to stable turn off hose. Tie up nets and bring water over :)

morning muck out normally takes 20mins to do all that & pm 15, if horse is in 24/7 as he is incredibly messy - mucking him out when in full time is more like a scavenger hunt!!

Leaving buckets to fill while doing other things is a good time saver :)
 

Fools Motto

Well-Known Member
Joined
30 June 2011
Messages
6,592
Visit site
At one of my old jobs, if it took me longer than 15mins per box, then I was 'being slow'. (boss's words, not mine, some days I felt so insulted. Amazing that I lasted 3 years there!) Some on straw, some on shavings. Worked up a sweat! Some days as little as 4 were in, but generally about 8. (mostly TB mares).
I like to think 20 min for a good muck out.
 
Top