Speeding up the barn chores

[SugarCubes]

For only having two horses to take care of, I feel like barn chores take me forever. It takes me 45mins-1hr to finish everything…which seems like entirely too long for 2 horses. Here is my current routine, any tips to speed things up or am I right on track with how long this should be taking?

Horses live in stalls with 24/7 access to attached paddocks. I presoak beet pulp for the next meal, so in the AM I just add grain and smartpak, mix and feed. While they are eating, I refill haynets, fill water (I have large large tubs in paddocks that only needed to be refilled a couple times a week) and pick the paddocks. As soon as they finish eating, I lock them out in their paddocks (or if it’s nice I throw them in the pasture) and clean their stalls. I remake beet pulp for lunch. Lastly, I dump everything in the manure pile and blow the aisle.

If I have to add shavings, this usually puts me closer to the hour mark…if they stayed in their paddocks most of the night and stalls aren’t bad, I can be finished in 40-45 mins. I only have a 3 stall barn, and everything is right there. I really laid it out for convenience so I’m surprised things take me so long. Maybe I’m just super slow!

What are your best time saving tips and tricks?

[2ndyrgal]

I’m not sure with picking paddocks and cleaning stalls and doing everything “right” daily, that you could get it down to less than 45minutes-1 hr. it would likely take the same time for 1 horse or 3 horses (ask me how I know) Mine are in 12/out 12 (though right now it’s more like in 17 out 7 (spring grass), I’m a “pro” and don’t fill hay bags and it takes me about 20 minutes “if” I don’t do the aisle or have to walk out and fill the water trough. If they come when I call. You aren’t slow with how you are doing things.

[Parrs_Gold_Bar]

You just have to be economical with which chores are done on an individual basis and which are done in bulk.

For example: when you bring the wheelbarrow to a stall, before positioning it in front of the door, I always pull the water bucket and place it just outside the door. Do this for each stall while mucking. Then when you need to dump buckets, you can just walk down the aisle and pick each one up as you go, instead of having to pull each one off the wall in the stall.

Do not clean each bucket individually while cleaning that stall, just pull them and get them all ready to do together.

I assume while the hose fills the tubs, you are picking the paddocks, not standing around waiting

If I ever finished up one chore but was waiting on something for the next (ie: you’re ready to clean stalls but the horses aren’t done breakfast) I’d just crack and door and start mucking while they eat. There’s never any idle time while cleaning a barn!

[Garythesquirrel]

I have two horses and it takes me about the same amount of time. That includes sweeping, hay nets, setting up feed, etc. When Mr. Gary cleans and feeds it only takes him about half the time but he doesn’t do all the sweeping and tidying up and setting up feed that I do.

[mountainhorse]

I would also look at how you are cleaning the stalls, how long of a chunk does that take of your 1hr? Honestly, it doesn’t sound like too much time-perfectly normal, and doing it correctly is worth the time!

A few notes-look at type of shavings-sometimes the larger flakes make it much tougher to clean out/sift out. I like bedding deeper with smaller/finer flakes to allow for quicker skip outs.

Like above said, no idle time: while water is filling, pick paddocks, or start in stalls to be close to water.

I also skip out stalls as I can throughout the day if I am around. If the horses are in, and right before I head out, I see a fresh pile or two in a stall, I get it then-not wait for it to be spread out or covered which takes longer to get later on. It does make a difference to stop by the stalls and skip out once or twice during the day if you can, especially with fewer horses. I keep a rolling muck cart (I call it a skip, but whatever you like) with fork in it, in my aisle to cover the skips. Wheel barrows are great for daily mucking out.

Turnout is also a great option. If it’s nice and your horses can handle 24/7 turnout (more so if they can handle it physically-not get too fat or too much grass metabolically), go for it, even if it is only a day here or there. Having a day ‘off’ stalls can help if you are feeling a little burnt out. Grazing muzzles can be a good friend if needed.

I would suggest doing the lunch time beet pulp prep while you are making feeds and at the beet pulp bucket, not after horses are out.
Think of everything that needs to be done at each locale-feed stuffs prep while you are in the feed room, etc.

I also do hay nets (slow feeders), but I prep nets in advance to just ‘grab and use’ in my daily chore. I sucked it up, bought a bunch of them, and fill all the nets I have at once-usually twice a week-. I keep my filled nets where I have hay, out of the way.

Depending on how often you feed with nets, keep a weeks worth of hay nets already done and ready to grab.
It takes longer to prep, but I usually have one-two days a week that I set aside certain misc. chores, and hay net prep is one of them. I do nets for 3 horses, and so I want to have enough nets to cover a weeks worth of hay feeding for them, done.

It’s great to have them all prepped also for when I have to go out of town,…nets are done and all my farm-sitter has to do is grab a net and hang.

[BeeHoney]

Good horse care does not need to be overly complicated. It is possible to provide great care without soaking beet pulp, using haynets, using smartpaks, picking paddocks, and while keeping horses outside 24/7 when the weather is good.

The most important factors to good horse care: fresh water, good quality abundant hay, proper amount/type of feed, safe facility/safe fence/adequate turnout, and shelter in extreme weather. Obviously proper vet, farrier and dental care and deworming.

Why the beet pulp? It seems to me that a beet pulp based high quality commercial feed would be a better idea. This would streamline your feeding routine.

Next, lock those horses out of their stalls unless there is a reason they need access (bad weather). Many horses will use an open stall as a bathroom, and for no other purpose. So give them access to the stalls only when it seems to serve a purpose.

Is it really necessary to pick the paddocks? Seriously, that’s nice and all, but unless your paddocks are extremely small, that’s something that most farms do not do–it’s completely impractical. Most horses avoid eating in the “rough” areas where they relieve themselves.

If your horses are eating three times a day, then are haynets really a necessity? I find dealing with hay nets annoying, though useful for some horses on diets. It’s much easier just to toss out some hay into a clean area of the paddock (or if it is raining into a clean corner of the stall). The few crumbs of hay you may save $ on are probably costing you just as much or more in time.

[Palm_Beach]

Put your clean barn clothes on before you go to bed.

OR

In winter, you can pull your bibs/overalls on over your pjs. Don’t forget to swap out your slippers for boots. :yes:

[Palm_Beach]

I will never pick out paddocks. I drag about once every week or so. I also spread the soiled bedding directly onto my pasture - add 21-0-0 at a half cup per stall and you are good to go. I do rotate pastures, so the ones being spread are not occupied. I drag them good and wait for a good rain before I turn back out on them.

So I am never moving manure twice (ie, composting then spreading) and I am also fertilizing as I spread and oh yeah I add lime to the spreader as well. So one trip with the spreader does it all, instead of 3 trips.

[Calvincrowe]

I do the same…in about 30 minutes each, AM and PM. I turn out and toss hay that I set up the night before in muck tubs, clean stalls (pelleted bedding makes that go quickly…and I’m fast and efficient), I sweep aisle, and soak BP–which is faster actually than scooping up feed, and I’m done. (Well, I feed my hens and the rabbit, too). I can do my AM routine in 20-30 minutes, max.

At night I pick the mud-free gravel paddocks (which is essential), clean water buckets in stalls/refill, check and refill outside water. I set up AM hay at night, when I also prep stalls for the night by putting in hay and beet/grain/smartpaks.
I think moving quickly is the key–being efficient, wasting no motion, not having to walk back and forth because you forget something, having a routine. I deep clean on Sunday afternoons when I have time. During the workweek, I just can’t spend an hour out there. I do a visual check of fences, gates and horses both AM and PM–looking for any issues that need my attention.

[SouthernYankee]

Everything for morning chores is set up the night before. Right now morning chores take about 15 minutes for 2 horses (1 being on stall rest). Evening chores take a little longer (30-60 minutes depending on how much I want to piddle). I have a large dry erase board in the feed room outlining what everyone gets for each feeding. It helps a lot, especially if the Fiancé decided to ‘help’ feed…

Beet pulp is still soaked 1 feeding before, AM feed is pre mixed in extra color coded buckets so all I have to do is pour beet pulp into the needed buckets then dump in stalls. Meds and SmartPaks are already mixed in with grain.

I don’t always feed in hay nets (I have the big Tarter hay baskets) but when I do I have enough to measure out 24 hours worth of hay so I just have to do it once a day (PM feeding) then swap out the empty nets for full nets. Hay is pre measured out in the evenings and put in piles in the feed room (I can drop the hay into the baskets from the feed room when I just have 2 horses at the farm) or put in the wheelbarrow to distribute as needed in their lots.

Stalls don’t take long since I do a quick run through in the morning then a more thorough run in the afternoon, paddocks only get picked in the afternoons.

Water is topped off in the evenings and since they have free access to their stalls from their paddocks I put 20 gal tubs outside. This keeps the water from getting dusty and I only have to top it off about every 2 days right now. Once a week it is dumped and scrubbed clean (during the weekends).

[Hilary]

It’s the stall cleaning and paddock picking that is taking up your time.

I have 2 horses - it takes me about 10 minutes. When I had 4 horses it took the same amount of time. But that is because they live outside, only coming in to eat their grain - hay is fed in a rack or on the ground outside.

So I have no stall cleaning, and no paddock picking - they have a large pasture. On weekends, I blow out the aisleway and get things looking more professional. I do not have a picture perfect barn every day. Do not visit me on Fridays. Saturday mornings I have time to futz around in the barn and clean things up and it still doesn’t take me too long but when I do have to keep them stalled for whatever reason, and therefore clean the stalls, suddenly I am spending 45 minutes on chores.

Then there are days when I spend all day in the barn doing those once a year things like sweeping the hay mow, using the tractor to clear the mud in the barnyard etc. But it still beats an hour every day.

[Calvincrowe]

If you have large pastures vs. small gravel sacrifice paddocks or small pasture your routine will definitely be very different! Sounds like OP and I are set up very similarly. Due to size of my farm (3 acres for horses, total, including where the barn is) I have gravel sacrifice paddocks that open onto a smallish pasture (1 acre +/-) that my two can share. So the suggestions of spreading manure or not picking paddocks really isn’t applicable here.

[Tory]

I have to admit that my two mares and one filly make my barn chores super easy.

Stalls have attached all weather paddocks with peagravel on top. None of the horses like to go to the bathroom in their stalls unless the weather is horrible. Everyone has an area where they poop, so picking up manure in the morning takes all of about 10-15 minutes. The food is prepped the night before so feeding is quick.

DH likes to do the barn chores in the evening when I’m riding. And when I’m done we usually just putz around awhile with the dog, so I don’t really keep track of time.

But the three tidy girls make things very easy:)

[SugarCubes]

Ok, I guess I’m not as slow as I thought! Great suggestions already that will definitely help!

Yes, I definitely thinking the stall/paddock picking eats up the most time. Unfortunately, I HAVE to clean the paddocks daily, I spent a pretty penny putting mud-free footing in them and I want it to last, which means picking up poop and hay daily!

I do multi-task, I’m picking while tubs are filling, etc. I do like the idea of getting several more haynets and filling in advance. Currently, I have two per horse so one is filled and waiting, and I can swap it for the empty one, but then I still fill the empty one so it’s not really saving me time. I do have the giant nets that hold enough hay to last them all day, which saves time not having to refill. I would throw piles in the paddocks, but again, don’t want hay mixing with the footing, and one of my horses just rolls in his hay, pees on it, and sleeps on it if it’s not in a net !

I’m definitely going to keep locking them out of their stalls when the weather is nice, the stall cleaning is a time suck. I use pelleted bedding, so the stalls are usually pretty easy, and if they’re in I will pick up whatever piles I see when I’m down at the barn throughout the day.

I was talking to my friend who takes care of 19 horses and she feeds, turns out, and does 19 stalls in 2hrs…how in the world is that possible?!? I must be an anal stall cleaner or something…

[stb]

I have 2 horses at home and I spend about 45 mins to an hour on morning chores. The horses are out in the drylot unless the weather is bad, but I do pick the dry lot daily. Evening chores are much quicker as I just dump feed and add hay to Porta Grazers as needed. I take care of water buckets in my morning routine.

[DHCarrotfeeder]

[QUOTE=SugarCubes;8617787]

What are your best time saving tips and tricks?[/QUOTE]

That seems quick to me. But we keep 11.

It’s certainly worth considering the quantity of horses in your time estimates.

Do you spend (any?) time looking for things or moving things around in your daily routine? If so, put each tool or item in a well located place and be absolutely ruthless about ensuring these things go back to their place. We have a 20 stall barn and walking up and down to find something or retrieve it wastes a good minute or two. It’s easy to spend 20 min a week just retrieving stuff.

Look at the chores that take the most time, and research ways to go faster. Look at the chores that involve moving stuff, and consider ways to reduce it.
Look at the micro-events that occur during your chores that happen repeatedly, and optimize them because in quantity, a few seconds of time will add up.

At the end of the day, a 3 horse barn will consume about the same amount of time as a 2 or 4 horse barn because you’ll spend time much of the time transitioning from one chore to another.

[Wonders12]

[QUOTE=SugarCubes;8618088]
I was talking to my friend who takes care of 19 horses and she feeds, turns out, and does 19 stalls in 2hrs…how in the world is that possible?!? I must be an anal stall cleaner or something…[/QUOTE]

It’s not.

I just cannot imagine that.

[2DogsFarm]

OP:
Your setup sounds pretty similar to mine.
2 horses with free access to stalls & paddock/pastures 24/7/365.

I use pelleted bedding but nowhere near the Mfr’s suggested amount of 6 bags per stall.
If I’ve stripped a stall - happens once a year, maybe - I rebed with 3 bags.
Otherwise I pick daily removing manure & any thoroughly soaked bedding - has to have darkened in color - the merely damp stuff gets mixed with dry.
This way I usually add a bag to each stall a week, sometimes 2 if the weather is nasty & they are spending more time in.
With this amount of bedding, both my horses will lie down to sleep - pony goes flat out - as evidenced by bellies full of shavings & “bedmane”.

My daily routine is:
Pick stalls
Feed hay
Refill water - buckets get dumped, scrubbed maybe weekly < And No, they are not gross
Feed grain = measure oats, mix in supplements & dump into feed pans
Curry both with added time for de-mudding if they have chosen to bread themselves
Dump wheelbarrow
Sweep aisle

All of this takes me 20min tops - make it 1/2h if I strip/rebed stalls or if they have gotten especially muddy.
Repeat at PM feeding & for last check - around 10P - I will pick stalls, add hay, refill water & de-mud if I can’t stand the way they look & to keep lower legs as clean/dry as possible.

As long as the weather is decent & dry I pick the sacrifice area. Once the rain starts or snow falls this does not happen.
Since putting down geotex base with gravel in this area 3yrs ago mud problems are gone.
Some shallow-rooted weeds/grasses are popping up, but my footing & that for the horses is solid & mud-free.

Honestly 1h is not so awful unless you need to shave time to get to work or?
Barn chores are relaxing to me for the most part.
I generally finish up by spending time sitting on the bench outside the front of the barn, enjoying the morning quiet & dispensing cookies.

[SugarCubes]

Well, I finished everything today in 30 minutes, thanks to some great tips! When I fed last night, I refilled haynets for this morning and filled the trough in the pasture, and I quickly picked the paddocks again. PM chores only take me 5 mins, so I figured it’d be smart to do more in the evening to shave off time in the morning.

I also took your advice and locked them out of their stalls until dinner, so each stall only had one pile in it this morning (Isn’t that the best sight to wake up to?! Clean stalls!!!).

I do love barn chores most days, and there are times I’ll putz around the barn for hours, but it’s nice to have a quick, effecient routine for when you DO have to get through them in a hurry!

[SugarCubes]

[QUOTE=Wonders12;8618423]
It’s not.

I just cannot imagine that.[/QUOTE]

Blows my mind, but I know she does it and the barn always looks fantastic! I’ve filled in for her on occasion and it takes me 4 hours. This barn barely uses bedding though, so to be fair, she’s just quickly stripping each stall and pulling down more banked bedding. But still, she’s superhuman…