This popped up in my FB feed this morning. Looks like a great idea but seems a bit pricey at $895. Anyone have this, or something similar, or a DIY version?
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It seems like one of those gadgets that sounds like it is the best thing ever but you soon learn that it requires a very specific situation to work well and not cause more frustration than just doing it the old way.
One of the things I wonder is, how easily does it empty? Do you have to shovel the contents from the random spot you empty it into the manure pile because there is no good way to dump it into the manure pile?
I look forward to hearing if anyone has first hand experience with it.
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100%. However I watched the video and it matched the circumstances I have in my sacrifice area, which is also a small riding ring. I wouldn’t try it on my pastures, it’s too small and I’m not sure it would work well on pasture grass. But for the sacrifice area where they spend about 12 hours, pulling it with my mower would be perfect! The price is off putting though for what it seems to be: an uncomplicated metal box. I’m considering taking a picture to a welder and see what they might come up with, but it would take a bit of time to call around etc.
Anyway I’m really curious to know if anyone has experience with this thing.
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I saw that or something like that on Facebook. I too wonder how well it works. My area is not perfectly flat and about $900 sounds like I will be using a fork and tractor bucket. I would love for SOMEBODY ELSE to buy it and report back.
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I had a DIY version made out of a garden cart and it doesn’t work perfectly if the terrain is rough. My horses are on pasture
All year so there are hoof ruts here and there and the manure gets pushed into the ruts. It’s better for picking up dried poop as it kind of smooshes fresh poop. I paid $500 to have the cart modified and I don’t really use it because my horses are out 24/7 so there’s always fresh poop. I could see using it if you had a setup where the horses are off the pasture for a few hours and the poop has a chance to dry up. I’d give you a deal on mine if you are close to Ottawa.
It doesn’t look like it holds very much?
Not near you, but that’s an interesting idea
Aaaaaaand I want one 
We bought one and much deliberation on how well it worked. It arrived and we were a bit disappointed as we were led to believe it was American-made. It was actually made in China of pretty low quality and came in flat-pack pieces with poor instructions. We later learned that these are a cheap copy of the original Paddock Blade which have been going for a few years in the UK and Australia.
Long story short we ended up returning the scoop and tow (which wasn’t easy) and buying the orginal. It arrived in 3 days and was a much better heavy-duty build being made in Texas. Even better it needed NO assembly. It works like a dream and their customer service is fantastic. The company owner even came out to visit us!
We used it to remove rocks from our pastures too, which has really helped my colts reduce hoof bruising, we also noticed a heck of a lot less flies compared to harrowing which is what we did before.
Buy one but but the right one and you’ll never look back!
we bought one it wasn’t good, then we bought the original paddock blade, it’s awesome!
Where are you located and what kind of dirt do you have? Do you use it on thick grass in paddocks?
I know picking poop is healthier for the horses, but I have too many horses and roomy fields to do it by hand. Not enough hours in the day! Ha ha I do run the chain harrow over the ground to break up poop, fresh or dried. This product sounds interesting.
Maybe they would take my Newer brand manure spreader in trade. Another manure handling device that did not live up to its hype for me.
We are in Texas and have a mixture of hard compacted dirt a sort of clay and grass pasture. Our grass is pretty thick. We keep our grass at about 6-8 inches and it work well in that.
Honestly I get it, we had EXACTLY the same issue haha! we are a boarding facility with over 30 horses. The fly reduction has been huge and our FEC’s have dropped considerably.
Which brand was that? It’s so annoying when you buy something that isn’t fit for purpose!
We bought the Scoop n Tow and tried it out yesterday. We have turf in good condition and the grass is short. We have hills. The conditions were dry. It does 2 things, picks up manure and debris, and spreads a thin layer if it doesn’t get all of it. We used our tractor. We found it works better if you can drive faster. If you hit a piles at speed, it pops up and gets more into the back. The bar in the front middle is a hindrance to getting the manure further into the back. It fills great about 1/4 full. I suspect the pasture blade is better since it doesn’t have the center bar, but we wanted the wheels. And this was cheaper.
To dump it, you can extend the tow bar as leverage or if you are young, strong, and uninjured, it’s easy to flip it over.
I’m happy with it, but I’m going to try driving faster next time. I had been doing a combination of mucking and spreading prior to this, so it works for me. I wish it didn’t have the center bar, but it’s not as heavy duty as the pasture blade, so i think it’s necessary for structural support.
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I have (had) both the original Paddock Blade (and I do mean original as they are an Aussie invention, and we bought it from the inventor) and a homemade Scoop n Tow knockoff.
We sold the blade recently and kept the scoop - I find it holds more, drags better, and is easier the tip. The blade was a PITA to tip over. Both pick up rocks (good) and skip over divots in the paddock (annoying), and if you accidentally run it over a patch of sand…… get out the shovel and start bucketing because you will not tip that out for love nor money.
Both have been upgraded by a stickfork on the back of our tractor which negates all of the above and scrapes our paddocks nicely - no sweat equity required.
I kept the scoop to use as a pull-behind sled for moving things around in a pinch.
The paddock blade was awesome for moving 3x4 round bales around - you flip the attachments to pull it backwards so it doesn’t scoop anything, and you can sled stuff around, which also smears and breaks up any manure piles you run over.
Probably the only issue we had with the blade was User Apathy.
Would you explain what a stick fork is?
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here that is a harrow
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It’s not a harrow. The tines bounce over the ground, they do not dig in.
After using it, my paddocks look like they’ve been swept with a broom.
