Post-winter manure clean-up in a wooded pen .. WWYD?

[Bebe_Falcon1]

I love the place I board, but manure management is non-existent - which is a fact I’ve reluctantly accepted as the care otherwise is excellent and the BO goes above and beyond in other ways. Now the snow is gone, however, it’s clear that the pen (which is a large wooded area with no grass) needs some help. I could spend days out there mucking into a wheelbarrow (which has been my method of dealing with it in the warmer months when it’s not been covered by snow and/or frozen to the ground), but as my pony is only one of the SEVEN “manure makers”, it doesn’t seem like a great use of my time. As a boarder, what low-cost but highly effective tools can I employ to make this chore easier?

Thoughts so far include a battery-operated tiller/cultivator (which would theoretically churn/break-up the older drier manure into the soil but may not do much for the heavier, fresh stuff):

Greenworks 40V 10-Inch Cordless Cultivator, Battery Not Included, 2800100...

… or some kind of lawn tractor or ride-on (?) with some kind of attachment (?) to push or move manure into one of the two existing piles in the pen. Or taking an old chain link gate and dragging it around behind me (but by the time I weight it down with something, will I be able to still drag it?). Access to this pen is via a small gate (measurements for which I’ll have to grab tomorrow).

Budget is ideally $500 and under only because this isn’t my own property and it will probably be redundant if/when I ever move said pony. Can anyone help me find my unicorn of a manure management tool?

[luvmyhackney]

Following this thread as picking the pasture is my most time consuming task.

I’ve been exploring making a diy paddock blade. I can build it out of wood for around 200.00.

Or somehow figuring out how to use my box blade.

[LCDR]

I had ideas up until the $500 budget.

Do you have a friend with a small tractor with a loader and box blade. you might borrow for a day or two?

Or just spend the $500 to hire someone with proper equipment to knock it out for you in a day? Just to give you a cleaned up area as a starting point for the future.

[NancyM]

Is the pen their only enclosure for the year? Or do the horses rotate to other pastures? If they rotate, just harrow the manure, it breaks it down and turns it into fertilizer, and thick grass will grow through it. Worm the horses adequately.
With snow and freezing temperatures in winter, removing manure is not possible in pastures. Embrace the manure for It’s natural role in the environment. It’s a valuable resource.

If there is no pasture rotation, then it is just a manure filled pen. Pasture rotation is the key to success.

[ShenanAnna]

If you’re using machinery, try not to cut or otherwise damage the trees’ roots.

[Simkie]

How big is this area?

Just with what you’ve written, it doesn’t sound very large. Not large enough to support seven horses and leave the manure in there to break down, without it turning into a muddy mess.

Organics break down into a sponge for water. This is great in your garden, but terrible in a place where you don’t want mud.

Manure needs to come OUT. Does the barn owner have a tractor? Will they let you use it?

If not, even taking one wheel barrow of manure out every day is better than nothing. Focus areas where horses hang out and by the gate.

[trubandloki]

I agree with what @Simkie has posted above. It needs to be removed unless you want a mud pit.

Now, there are exceptions to this but since you are talking about snow cover I doubt you are in one of those areas (where it is so dry that adding manure to the existing soil does not really cause any problems).

I will say that one wheel barrow load a day will probably not make a dent in this. You need to take out one more wheel barrow load per day than they are making currently. This is how I chip away at the winter mess when it is exposed in the spring, one or two extra trips per day. Seven horses are likely making more than one wheel barrow load in a day.

[Bonnie2]

Sounds like it would be better for the manure to be removed. I pick mine up with a 4x4 and dump cart. Does the BO have any equipment you could borrow? Anyone around who would be happy to pick poo for $? Good for you for caring!

[goodhors]

My friend uses her lawn mower and the grass suckling trailer to clean her winter pastures with. She disconnects hose and sucks winter poop piles into the leaf/grass collection trailer. Husband drives mower to the piles, she directs the hose. They dump trailer in their far away pasture dump area when it gets full.

She only has one horse, but pastures are not cleaned over winter as poop freezes to the ground. Can NOT get it off the dirt! This method of paddock and pasture cleaning works very well, grass regrowth covers everything. Even one horse produces a LOT of manure when you cannot pick it up or drag the ground for 4-5 months to break things up! Her grazing areas, front paddock, all look beautiful using this “sweeper” method. Best of all? Almost no fork work or tub hauling on your body!! Your barn owner has to spread bedding someplace, dumping the sweeper trailer there means no tub hefting to empty trailer!

I do not know the cost of sweeper trailers for lawn mowers, but it might be worth spending a bit more than your budget for the convenience of using such a machine! Perhaps finding a used one could be much less expensive. I would think that the sweeper and hose could do fresh manure as well as old manure, to keep the turnout cleaner. No old manure that holds water will reduce mud areas too.

[2DogsFarm]

You say “wooded”
Could you rake manure around the base of trees?
It will compost, feed & not kill established trees.
Add removing 10 or so wheelbarrows worth to wherever this barn puts manure & it should help.
I dump stall cleanings - including manure - on my vegetable garden in Fall & it composts over Winter. I just turn it over & plant in the stuff come Spring.

My horses are out 24/7 with access to stalls & an area directly behind the stalls becomes a 8-10" deep swamp over Winter when I can’t/won’t pick it.
Horses were coming in with mud caked to their knees until I had a neighbor with tractor & blade scrape the mess away once we got dry enough weather.
Now I’m picking daily & horses’ legs are clean.

[Simkie]

@2DogsFarm

Could you rake manure around the base of trees?
It will compost, feed & not kill established trees.

Just to be clear, piling manure around the trunk of the tree (not what you described here, but could be taken as that) will absolutely kill a tree over time.

The root flare must be left uncovered. Mulch under the tree, but not up to the trunk.

[2DogsFarm]

I stand corrected.
The peach tree in my garden patch never seemed bothered by the “stuff” I piled around it, but it wasn’t solely packed manure. Lightened (aerated?) by the hay & shavings mixed in.

[Bebe_Falcon1]

I appreciate the input so far, thank you all for taking the time to respond. In the summer, two other boarders and I will pull out a few wheelbarrows a week to mostly keep things in check (and one has a mini that she uses to drag some of the lesser-used areas of the pen).

Seeing all the manure left behind after the winter, however, is daunting (hence the hope that I might be able to use some piece of power equipment to assist). DH thinks it’s silly to go out and buy a garden tractor to muck out a field that someone else is technically responsible for keeping clean (yes I get it, BUT!). He did suggest renting a mini skid steer for a day ($300) which sounds great in theory, but bearing that cost alone (where I’m not left with something tangible afterwards that has some resale value) doesn’t sit well with me either.

I think I’m looking for something that doesn’t exist, at least not within my meagre budget.

[Bebe_Falcon1]

@goodhors

My friend uses her lawn mower and the grass suckling trailer to clean her winter pastures with. She disconnects hose and sucks winter poop piles into the leaf/grass collection trailer. Husband drives mower to the piles, she directs the hose. They dump trailer in their far away pasture dump area when it gets full.

Yes! Something like that would be FABULOUS (said after watching this video, which has me all ):

Mucktruck Vacuum Video

Is there any machine independent of a lawn tractor that could be modified or used to pick-up pony-size poop (leaf vacuum or …?) even if it meant funelling it into a big muck cart that I then could wheel to the pile? I don’t mind the wheeling/dumping, it’s all the scooping off the ground that kills me. I’m not familiar with how the lawn mower and grass suckling trailer function together (although I’m now off to look it up).

[goodhors]

Anyone mulching trees, using old manure, bedding or any actual mulch, needs to make a DONUT shape around the trunk. None of your “product” should be touching the tree trunk itself. Anything piled against the trunk allows insects shelter, bird protection to infest the tree, not let the bark dry, opening tree to various health problems.

Mulching trees is GOOD for keeping roots under the soil moist, protected from any traffic over the ground.

Tree may take a LONG while to react badly to poor mulching methods, yet damage is still being done under things piled against the trunks. I hate going by Walmart tree plantings because all those new trees have mulch packed high and wide touching the trunks. Hard to believe so many nursery companies ALL get it wrong, in caring for those vast lawn and tree areas across the USA!

[trubandloki]

I totally get your frustration.

Does the farm have a tractor with a bucket? Can you use that to scrape it up and then scoop it and carry it away to a pile?

I am sorry to say that winter manure build up is a huge task. No easy answer.

[goodhors]

@Bebe_Falcon1 I believe the trailers are self-contained, suction unit is on them, could be pulled with any machine, lawn tractor or mower, golf cart, ATV, type things. My neighbor has sweeper he got within the last couple years, did not come with his mower. He collects enormous piles of leaves, can’t STAND a fallen leaf on his lawn! Ha ha You could ask someone selling the trailers what is needed to pull it. Maybe the BO has a mower or tractor to use for the project!

[Simkie]

@Bebe_Falcon1

He did suggest renting a mini skid steer for a day ($300)

So the thing about heavy equipment that’s not readily apparent is that it takes a good deal of skill to operate and scrape only the stuff you want gone. If neither of you has ever done that sort of thing before, there’s a steep learning curve. Not only will it take a LOT longer than you’d expect, but the result probably won’t be quite what you envisioned.

[SusanO]

Yes to this. I have a small tractor with hydraulics and a front end loader and bucket and even after a number of years I am VERY unskilled getting anything into the bucket. I admit it would be easier with a second person watching but it is not as easy as it looks. AND unless you have a larger bucket - one scoop doesn’t hold a whole lot. My horses have a large output daily so seven horses for several months - that is an uphill battle. I tried using a leaf blower/ vacuum into a large garbage can and that didn’t work very efficiently either. The dried poop blew all over the place and all over my face and the wet poop didn’t pick up. I resorted to just using an apple picker to scoop it up into the tractor bucket but I had to make multiple loads. Found the most efficient way was to scoop up and load into the manure spreader I drove around. If the piles are large and heavy this would not work as well.

[SusanO]

You need seven people, seven shovels/ apple pickers,a manure spreader and a tractor. One representative per horse. And a weekend set aside. Maybe cold beer too.