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Leaf vacuum instead of pasture vacuum?

I got the Worx that supposedly is a universal fit. Maybe it is but it comes off pretty easily when you are trying to vacuum poop in the pasture. Maybe the B&D that is specific to the blower would work better.

Susan O,
Did the hose disconnect from the blower or from the bag/can topper? It seems that a little manure-specific engineering could make this work, even if for only mini horse manure.

I also came across these two products:

The Bean Machine (designed for alpacas and llamas)
http://www.thealpacarosa.com/beanmachine.html

The same company’s adaptation for horse manure:
http://www.thealpacarosa.com/beanmachine/horsemanurevac.html

The prices for these do not include the cart, and they are still more than I’d prefer to spend. (I’m both lazy and cheap…)

I hear you, sister :rofl:

That stuff is gardening GOLD! I just shovel, collect, and compost in a pile. Then, using the tractor to turn it, I get this beautiful soil for the next season’s garden. I love it when it’s aged to the point where it smells like soil. In arid climates, you have to water it down to help it decompose. In fact, you could probably dump shoveled snow on top to help add moisture.

Plus, dry manure dust is so unpleasant. I get the desire to find an easier way, but there’s so much there to help things grow (pastures, too!). Anyway, sorry for the outburst. I just rub my hands greedily this time of year when wheeling the aged soil into the garden and thinking about tasty fruit and veggies.

moonlitoaksranch I totally agree! I’m a crazed gardener, so our black gold, aka mini magic, is a prized resource. I have numerous garden beds filled with antique roses, shrubs, northwest natives, small trees, perennials, and veggies, and what I don’t use amends the soil in my sister’s even larger gardens… The end use is never in question — just the method of collection. I’d like to spend more time working WITH my horses than FOR them, and more time nurturing my garden than raking and shoveling poop.

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So I’ve debated on how to make this “gold” people speak of and I’ve concluded that it’ll be a ton of work in my climate. It’s that dry. It seems so many can just turn a pile on occasion, and I’m super jealous. I’m not a gardener by any means but it would be cool to have legit nutritious compost to spread on my pastures. But my pile is just a tall pile of dried out crap. Can’t water it this time of year, because it’ll be a block of dried crap. Snow will just sit there until it blows away :frowning: I think I need an honest to god compost bin in order to make gold. And I’m pretty sure once the poop turns to dust, I don’t think it has compost potential. Which is quick around here. And I do believe you could still compost vacuumed manure.

Lots of water, which may not be an option for you. I’m sorry.

It’s ok. I have a compost bin in mind to build in the future. It’ll certainly be labor intensive. Maybe once I’m done with school I’ll be more willing to take on something else that takes time :joy: though keeping moisture content right will be a task here. 8 months of the year it’ll be an ice cube.

You can use the dry, powdery manure to make manure tea. Take a 5 gallon bucket and fill 2/3 with water, then fill to the top with manure. Let it steep for several days, stirring now and then. Before using, dilute to a light tea color. The resulting brew is excellent poured or sprayed on foliage or poured directly at the base of plants.

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I used to use the manure for my vegetable garden. It really improved the soil when it composted. Then one year I learned a new word “Grazon”. All of the sudden the 20+ tomato plants started twisting and contorting and died. I had no idea what was wrong but it turned out the hay I was feeding at the time - the hay fields had been treated with Grazon. It took several years for that stuff to get out of the soil.

I quit using manure. Then last year I had the affected plants AGAIN even though nothing in the garden had been exposed to Grazon. I could not figure out what was going on because it had been years since I put stall cleanings back there. Finally I discovered the culprit. I had an opened bag of all purpose fertilizer in the barn from the prior year. That was the source of the Grazon. I proved it by applying the fertilizer to plants in pots up at my house. They were fine but started contorting a few days after the fertilizer. I don’t know how in hell that fertilizer became contaminated with Grazon .

So - be very careful about using manure. Compost it and test it before you contaminate your whole garden because it is extremely hard to get rid of. And be very careful about what your hay grower is using on his crop!

I’m sure my hay suppliers get tired of me quizzing them on what herbicides they use on their fields, but the better farms/dealers (typically those that also test their hay) can usually give me a clear answer. I If they cannot, I buy elsewhere. No problems to date.