The poo picking thread - next up - the horses, do they help?

Jane&Ziggy

Jane&Sid these days!
Apr 30, 2010
21,920
10,010
113
63
Surrey Hills
Lots of us do it but it doesn't often get a mention in dispatches. I poo pick more than I ride at the moment. So I thought I would start a thread about this essential activity!

To begin with, let's play the numbers game. Tell us something about the field you poo pick - how big is it? Sloppy or flat? Long grass or short? And how many beasties do you pick for? How many barrows? How often? What's their poo-per-day production?

Lots of other things we can discuss too - we can introduce them later- like what equipment do you prefer? What's the best part of poo picking for you? What's worse, a windy rainy day or active jackdaws?

And what are your ideas?

The numbers game

So I poo pick the fields that my horses are in 3 days a week; my livery mate Suzi also does 3 days and we outsource Mondays! We have 2 fields of about 3.5 - 4 acres each; the 4 horses, my 2 boys and her 2 girls, have between half a field and a field and a half depending on the time of year. At the moment they have the whole of my field and a strip of hers, which is our winter grazing.

Right now I'm getting just under 2 full barrows a day, so each horse is producing half a barrow of poo per day. It's more in the spring and in the cold when we feed lots of hay.

And the birds are a bloody NIGHTMARE at the moment, but more about them later!

Let's hear about your daily chore :D
 
My 2 have a 4 acre field thats split into 3 at the moment, its poo picked every day and i get around a full wheelbarrow a day so each horse is half a barrow full and like you on a nice day i can see the birds far enough thanks. The field is on a slope but they have loads of grass so have had to section it off for now but im sure once the winter really kicks in it will be split in half.
 
Mine are split into 3 paddocks, the bigguns have about 1/2 acre each (we are still on summer rations) and I would guess hanks is 1/4 acre, they are all pretty flat and short grass. I poo pick daily and take just over 1 big barrow off, Jess poop's about 1x per hour avg. so I expect 22-25 piles per day, Ed has a lower ratio and I expect 15-18 per day. I have surmised the difference is down to the shear amount of bulk Jess packs away each day, she will eat double the hay that Ed does currently. Hank normally produces 2 big piles as he makes little studly mounds :p
 
I poo pick the arena first thing in the morning cos they go in and out of it all night long. Normally there are approximately 12 poo piles with the odd one inside each stable. I am incredibly anal about the arena and poo pick every evening too with my torch. I cannot go to bed knowing it's full of them!lol
They only go into their paddocks atm for four hours. They are sharing about four acres fenced off individually and those get picked once a week. Stormy gets hers done a bit more as it is smaller than Chloe's (had to keep it small cos of her leg).
I love a good Zinger Tower pile to get onto the fork and into the bucket in one go!lol
 
Oooh and have to say I much prefer the school as it is flat and dead easy to clear, unlike the field which has knobbly bits!
 
I have to poo pick the fields (they have over 20 acres which is harrowed every few months) but I do poo pick the school when I have ridden in there. Ben does about 5 poos per session - takes me at least 2 big scoops to pick up. For a horse who lives on grass alone, he can certainly poo!
 
I pick twice a day, not because I'm anal about it just because it's easier to pick and remove two half barrows than one full one!
Belle is on a flat paddock and does any where from 10 to 12 poos in 24 hours, anymore than this and she's gaining weight, but I think consistency is more important than number, I do like them to be nicely formed lumps with a firmish consistency, not to sloppy and not too hard, funnily I was talking about poo to my fellow liveries just the other day and said then, seriously only horsey folk would even begin to understand our fascination with poo! :)
As for equipment, can't wait for that thread :eek:
 
  • Like
Reactions: Jessey
I poo pick in the evening on BST and in the mornings on GMT.... The three boys are separate from the two girls and I get anything between 11 and 19 from the girls, depending on how foggy it is and how thorough my friend was the night before, I aim for about 15 out the boys as my other friend comes along shortly afterwards and does her two ponies... We don't tend to worry over numbers too much but we do try and keep an eye on numbers to split it so that no one gets lumbered with more and we can check when they are eating too much/not enough... So ours are cleared daily - on a Saturday when I do all the boys there is a big loaded barrow worth and the girls probably do a barrow and a half a day?

The fields are all sloping, the boys winter one the worst and the grass is very long at the moment so it is hunt the poop and I failed miserably in the fog the other morning.. Once the girls have hay in their shelter the mornings are easier as they are inside or in the vicinity of the shelter.. Boys dont have enough room to poop in theirs as three of them wedge themselves into a 10 x 10 shelter :eek::oops:

I use a plastic fork with a modified handle that has been shortened as doesnt give me elbow ache!

Why do they never poo in front of you when you are collecting for a worm count?
 
Oh yeah tools, on short grass I use a regular metal tine'd shavings fork, long grass a pooper scoop and in the winter when I dont get enough daylight to do it daily and I've put rounds out (because its centred around those) I use a leaf rake to pile it up then shavings fork it on tge barrow unless its really wet then its a pitch fork for the bulk then back to SF.
 
I have two paddocks for 3 horses, I get 1.5 barrows out daily. For the last few years the old sharer used to do a Saturday (both paddocks) I would do both paddocks for the rest of the week, with help on a wed from my hockey friend who brings her autistic boy up to spend time with the horses.

This year I have a new sharer and her/her hubby are keen to do it every day they go up, so 3 times a week they do it, plus my hockey friend still comes, so I feel like I'm getting off hugely easy this year!! (So far anyway, but we have only been poo picking 2 weeks as they get harrowed in the summer)
 
Well I don't have to do it, being on livery, but on the odd occasion I'm about I will lend a hand, as I find it quite therapeutic and it's got to be good exercise.

There are about 10 acres on the main part of our yard, split into 4 paddocks, with approx 1 horse per acre. Poo picking used to be done every day but, bearing in mind she has to pay staff to help, YO now finds it more efficient to do once a week, using the quad and a trailer. She has to empty the trailer at least twice.

I hate doing the long grass bits, it's back breaking trying to get the poo out of there. We use metal shavings forks and YO takes her ragwort digger along too, so she can grab any as soon as she spots it.

What I have observed from my paltry efforts is that mares seem to produce more, and messier, poo than geldings!
 
I share a field with 8 other horse owners. We only have to poo pick in summer. I think there is 3/4 of us who actually do it and the others never do which is very frustrating.

Over summer I was doing between 3-5 full barrows a day 6 days a week. Then a few horses left and some of the other horses started coming in at night so I got it down to 1-2 barrows a day. Now the field is far too wet to get a wheelbarrow across so it will be left until it dries out now, the rain seems to wash the poo away.
 
Summer months I was doing it daily. But now with the dark nights I'm about 2 -3 times during the week and both Weekend days.

I poo pick for 3, my two plus the girl I share a field with horse - not going to get into that on here!!!

When they are separated and I'm only doing my two I get half a Barrow a day (that's Peds out 24/7 and B during the day) when they are all in together it's a Barrow and a half to two barrows. (Friends mare poops like nothing on earth! I swear she's part elephant!)

Not sure on field size but it's a paddock that is just over 1/4 of the whole field (which isn't huge) they tend to poop along the fence line and have a patch left of centre where they like to poop.

Peds always does one soft poo a day and the rest are normal. B's look not unlike soaked fast fibre and fall apart as soon as you start picking them up!!

I love seeing the field all cleared of poo but dislike being the only one that does it!!
 
So what do you like to use? I have a cheap wheelbarrow but I think an expensive one might last better :p. I like a poo scoop with a long handle so I can lean on it to keep it still, then when I use the collecting fork I can use both hands, which minimises the elbow fatigue in my right arm.

I usually use the flat side of the fork unless it's the dreaded long grass in which case the tines help.

My friend and groom Carol prefers a short handle on the scoop and she likes to use a little long-tined rake for collection. My livery mate Suzi likes a giant scoop and a short handled fork. Everyone is different in my experience!
 
I have the same barrow I bought when we moved yards years ago, it had a flat tyre so took it to my favourite garage in town whereby they sorted it. I use my fynalite fork, it's pink, long and very useful. I have only had it about a year. My previous fynalites became a liability when two of the prongs became entwined and then pinged into my finger:eek: (I was pulling poop off it). At night I hold my torch on top of the fork handle, otherwise I get dizzy:oops: if OH comes helping and holding the torch. I just cannot go to bed knowing there may be a pile I've missed in the school.......:p
 
I love my poop scoop. Not sure what its called but it has a huge scoop and the rake is more like a metal leaf rake. I cant use the normal ones now as they just feel so clumsy in comparison. My old shares owner bought it for me as a thank you gift when I got Oscar. My barrow is just a bog standard b and q plastic one. Its been upgraded with a puncturless wheel and had a few repars but still going strong after six years.
 
I have the same barrow I bought when we moved yards years ago, it had a flat tyre so took it to my favourite garage in town whereby they sorted it. I use my fynalite fork, it's pink, long and very useful. I have only had it about a year. My previous fynalites became a liability when two of the prongs became entwined and then pinged into my finger:eek: (I was pulling poop off it). At night I hold my torch on top of the fork handle, otherwise I get dizzy:oops: if OH comes helping and holding the torch. I just cannot go to bed knowing there may be a pile I've missed in the school.......:p
You need a head torch mrs. Makes life so much easier.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Trewsers
newrider.com