How do you dump a barn full of water buckets?

[Fred]

Since I do most of the work myself, I am conscious of labour management and water conservation. So, after I do the stalls, I dump the buckets into the empty wheel barrow and take that out to water the trees etc.

I use a bucket of hot water with the addition of a lug of cheap mouthwash* to scrub the buckets. If it is dry and sunny out, I prefer to let the buckets (and feed tubs) dry outside in the sun.
They get refilled when they go back in.

• When my MIL died, we found about 20 bottles of opened mouth wash in her house. She had early stage dementia, and would buy it, open it, and then buy more.
  It seemed a shame to toss it out, and I came up with the idea of using it as a safe barn disinfectant.
  I use it to wipe down the hoses, clean the buckets and tubs, and sprinkle on the floor after sweeping, for a ‘minty fresh’ smell.
  It really cuts through the gunk in the buckets quickly and easily.

[CFFarm]

Unless the auto waterers now tell you how much water has been used somehow, I never liked them because I couldn’t monitor how much water a horse was drinking. Do they have some kind of readout now?

[sid]

[QUOTE=CFFarm;8300507]
Unless the auto waterers now tell you how much water has been used somehow, I never liked them because I couldn’t monitor how much water a horse was drinking. Do they have some kind of readout now?[/QUOTE]

Nelson’s have that option on some models, I think.

[Another_Poster]

Is it possible to let the horses drink the buckets down a little bit so you aren’t dumping as much?

That would save water which is in constant shortage and also save labor and time.

[Gainer]

Yep, I use the Rubbermaid wheelbarrows for everything! I have 3, I like them so much better.

They’re also much easier to use in the winter…they’re easier to push/pull in the snow than a regular wheelbarrow. They’re about $150, but worth every penny.

They don’t rust and are quite sturdy. Hard tires, too, so no flats.

[SonnysMom]

[QUOTE=CFFarm;8300507]
Unless the auto waterers now tell you how much water has been used somehow, I never liked them because I couldn’t monitor how much water a horse was drinking. Do they have some kind of readout now?[/QUOTE]

I brought a friend to a farm for a clinic and the waters had useage meters. I think it is an upgrade.

[Jarpur]

We have the Nelson automatic waterers and love them (they’ve worked without problems for 15 years), but don’t have the usage meter. Our horses are out in a paddock or in pasture much of the time, drinking from a common trough, either with or without a float, so I figure I already don’t know exactly how much each is drinking.

However, when I do need to hang a bucket, I love my EquiFit CleanBucket: https://www.smartpakequine.com/pt/pt/pt/pt/equifit-cleanbuckets-5896, which was a gift. This bucket doesn’t build up slime or gunk, IME, so it’s way easier to keep clean than the usual Fortiflex, Little Giant, or rubber ones. Even with our hard well water, there is barely even any mineral build-up.

I realize that a barn full of these would be expensive, although far cheaper than Nelsons, but think it might be worth it in terms of labor cost. I only wish these people would make a water trough. Oh, and I have noticed the horses prefer drinking out of this bucket, compared to one of the ordinary ones.

[Wonders12]

Hmmm, maybe I’ll get 1 or 2 of the EquiFit CleanBuckets and see how they do. I’m not a huge fan of black buckets, because I like to easily see all the way into the bottom, but if they’re better, they’re better!

We don’t actually get too much gunk around the edges buildup. It’s more just the water gets yucky if it’s only topped off. We skim hay off the top, but grain particles, slobber, and other stuff are too small to get rid of without dumping.

[Pally]

Besides the rubbermaids that have been mentioned, Smartcart wheelbarrows, which aren’t bolted down to the frame, also work well for carrying loads of just water. Be warned that if using a traditional bolted on wheelbarrow, it will leak through the bolt holes. There can also be trickle through if dumping it on the shavings, if things get too saturated. Nonetheless, it’s a good method.

I’ve found that if you are using buckets, having a water tap and short hose at each stall (out of the bratty horses’ reach!) is a surprisingly large labor saver. No more dragging out the hose multiple times a day, you can usually have them filling as you sweep up your stall front or bed down or whatever. It also ensures the buckets get filled as soon as they are empty - maybe not a big thing for a barn where all horses go out all day - but in a show barn where workers get called to do a million different things and are easily distracted (yes I am describing myself here) it’s too easy to take too long getting to those few horses inside at the time.

[Jarpur]

One other thought, then, if it’s the many small particles that concern you. For my paddock trough, I use a net meant for tropical fish tanks to get the small stuff out, which buys me a few days before I have to dump and scrub. The nets are pretty fine mesh; they don’t last forever, but only cost a little.

[moving_to_dc]

I didn’t read all the replies, but this is my method:

I move down the aisle dumping the buckets into a big dual wheeled wheelbarrow. The duals make it much more stable when the water sloshes around… When wheelbarrow is full it gets pushed outside and dumped on the ground rods for the electric fence.

Buckets get gathered up and lined up outside by the outdoor spigot. Disinfectant gets poured in the 1st bucket, that bucket gets filled, scrubbed, water dumped into next bucket and next bucket and next bucket. I scrub with a rag because I have found it gets the nooks and crannies in a bucket better than a brush, and is quicker. Buckets all get rinsed individually, and flipped upside down on the concrete walkway to dry, so they don’t gather dirt/grass on the lips.

I prefer to fill the buckets in one location and carry them to the stalls vs. dragging a hose to each stall. I can usually carry a pair of buckets to a stall, hang them, and return to the filling location while the next bucket in line is being filled, without it overflowing.

*Any really nasty bucket, or bucket that has been poo’d in, gets to sit in disinfectant for 15-20 minutes minimum instead of a quick scrub out.

[cmdrcltr]

Well, it does mean lugging, but we recycle by tossing the “dirty” water in the indoor arena. Of course, you can’t just upend it in one spot.

I wonder if you collected it all in a wheelbarrow if there would be an easy way to recycle it on your farm rather than just dumping it in the manure pile. Although, watering the manure pile can be good for composting, too.

[dexhol]

We replaced everything with the CleanBuckets as well and they really do make a difference. We dump them everyday, but scrubbing is not needed near as often as it was. I do the wheelbarrow thing most of the time as well, or dump in the washstall if there’s not lots of hay in them.

[betsyk]

I timed it this morning. 25 buckets in 15 minutes, and I didn’t use the Rubbermaid because it was AWOL and the other wheelbarrow leaked. Watered all the flower beds… Out of the 25, maybe a handful at the most could have used some scrubbing or wiping out. These are the buckets that get dumped daily and aren’t refilled until the horses come in. Barn 2, where my horses live, buckets only get topped off and I dump and scrub my own about once a week. They were gross, and I did them last Monday. I vote for the daily dump out and let dry method.

[Mukluk]

Our two horses drink out of 70 gallon muck buckets (never used for muck of course). I let them “drink them down” a bit then use a 5 gallon bucket to take out as much water as I can and then dump the rest into another 5 gallon bucket. As I am in CA (serious drought) this water is used to water plants. I scrub buckets with a scrubby pad with plain water (and that water also goes to the plants as does the final rinse water). Then refill. Seems to work well for me.

[Nestor]

It depends on the barn’s set-up. I’ve done it a few different ways…

Where we are now, every stall has a hose and shut-off valve for water. So I start at one stall, dump buckets into a muck bucket on a cart (actually for soaking another horse’s hay, but then I scrub it and rinse it out at the end of cleaning water buckets), but I make sure to leave a few inches of water to scrub and rinse with, then rehang. I fill those buckets while I work on scrubbing the stall next door, so I can keep an eye on them to not overfill, and work my way down the aisle. This particular barn has drains in the aisle, so every few stalls I dump the muck bucket into the drains.

At previous barns with just one hose, I’d dump and scrub them all at once, or in sections for a large number of horses who are stalled, and then refill as I clean stalls. If I’m dumping a bunch, then the wheelbarrow is a must, and then I can wheel all of that water away to a safe place. There’s a trick to getting the hose to stay in the bucket (by wrapping it around the handle on the bucket a specific way that I’m not eloquent enough to describe), but this means you don’t waste time. If you’re really good, you know to leave the nozzle near where you want the water level to be, so that when the bucket is almost full, you no longer hear the water gushing, and that’s your sign to go shut it off and move the hose over.

Dumping, scrubbing, and refilling water buckets for my trainer’s 10 horses, with 2 buckets each, takes me 20 minutes with decent water pressure. I’ve done it faster with more horses and better water pressure.

A BIG help is scrubbing them every day. And I honestly can’t stomach when they don’t get scrubbed every day, because water should not be brown. Our horses seem to agree, as they noticeably drink less if the buckets aren’t as clean.

In the winter, I cut them down to 1 bucket per horse, in order to keep the water thawed easier (much easier to keep warm water coming to 1 bucket that they are drinking from regularly), and that of course helps with time management, too!

[Horseychick87]

I have two methods.

1. I have seven water buckets and they get changed out daily. The used/ dirty one gets washed and allowed to dry I the sun, then added back to the stack. This is okay for one or two horses, but over that number gets hard to manage. But it can save time if you have a routine worked out.

2. 2 sets: I would have two sets of buckets per horse, again it can be time consuming once you get over a certain number of horses, but is more manageable than 7 buckets per horse. What you would do is just remove the dirty bucket and hang up the clean one then clean them and let them dry. This way the horse always has water available.

I’m not a fan of automatic waterers, I’ve seen horses break them and get cut up, so I’m a bit leery of them. I don’t know what brands they were, but I’ll pass and use buckets.

For the buckets that don’t get gunky as fast I’ll use something like a small pool skimmer type net and strain the buckets to filter out small particles and keep the same water so long as the bucket is not grimy/ slimy.

When the water is done with I’ll strain it again and use it to water the arena or plants or pastures is needed. This reduces the amount of wasted water and helps to keep the water/ electric bill down. You can get the water tanks that attach to an ATV or tractor and spray it evenly over the arena surface.

[walktrot]

The barn is attached to the indoor, so we dump water buckets in the indoor to help keep the sand moist and cut down on dust. We are in Maine and on wells, so we can’t water the arena, much as the b/o would like to.

[suzy]

Another wheelbarrow fan and scrub buckets with minty mouthwash rather than toxic stuff like Clorox.