Speeding up the barn chores

[red_mares]

[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]

[QUOTE=Wonders12;8618423]It’s not.

I just cannot imagine that.[/QUOTE]

I can imagine it. A friend had 15 horses, feeding them - hay, grain, water - took 30 min tops. A bale of hay in a cart at one end, threw a flake or two in each stall going down the row. Grab a new bale half way down. Leave hay cart at that end of the barn.

Then get the wheel barrow with grain in it. Throw grain in a similar manner. Return wheel barrow to center of barn.

The hose was long enough to go from one end of the barn to the other, so it stayed on which ever end you stopped at.

The barn was not fancy, but super efficient. It took a little longer if you had to throw hay from the loft or refill the wheel barrow from the grain wagon.

When I was doing stalls, it took about 2.5 hours, and most of those horses didn’t get turned out. I wasn’t getting paid much, so if I worked quick I almost made minimum wage.

[kcmel]

I am also soooo slow. And I only have 2 stalls, and one horse poops in one corner. But I am also really slow cleaning my house. The other day I swear I just swept a couple of rooms and vacuumed a couple of rugs and it took me 2 hours! Needless to say, my house is not very clean!

[horsenut_8700]

We have 16 on the property and it’s very possible to feed, turn-out, clean stalls, and prep in about 3 hours. Our set up is efficient and everything is set up to be easy

[trubandloki]

Thank you OP for posting this thread. You (and the other posters) are making me feel much better about my barn routine and how long it takes me.

[QUOTE=mountainhorse;8617855]

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.[/QUOTE]
I will second this idea. This is what I do. I have three horses and I built up enough of a net supply now that I can make enough nets for them for the week (right now they get them once per day at night time, during the day they are out on round bale). It is so much easier to simply grab from the pile of already made hay nets. It also means I am only cleaning up the mess of making hay nets once per week.

[QUOTE=BeeHoney;8617865]
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.[/QUOTE]
I think paddocks needing picked or not picked depends greatly on the set-up, climate and footing.
If I did not pick my paddocks daily I would have such a muddy mess. Add that my paddocks are way too close to my house to want that mess right there.

@Calvincrowe;8618010

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.

Well said.

[Florida_Gator]

Another option is to buy one of the bale-size Cinch Chix hay nets and put a whole bale in each stall. I only keep 1 of mine stalled and a bale in the net lasts him a long time. It’s much much easier than loading a small net twice a day!

[DHCarrotfeeder]

[QUOTE=Palm Beach;8617902]
I will never pick out paddocks. I drag about once every week or so. [/QUOTE]

Check local and state regulations. This was always discouraged, as paddocks have no grass cover to help consume the nutrients. In some areas it’s becoming illegal.

[SMF11]

[QUOTE=Florida Gator;8619525]
Another option is to buy one of the bale-size Cinch Chix hay nets and put a whole bale in each stall. I only keep 1 of mine stalled and a bale in the net lasts him a long time. It’s much much easier than loading a small net twice a day![/QUOTE]

I was going to suggest this too. Who wants to mess with Haynes twice a day??!

[Frog_Pond]

Thanks for the stockpiling haynets suggestions. I’ve noticed that my guys are happier now that I have a few different types of nets/feeders, too. I have two PortaGrazers, a Nibble Net 2" & a Freedom Feeder 1" haynet. The horse that used to wig out & scrape his lips & gums when faced with a Nibble Net has learned how to use it and now prefers it. He can even manage to eat out of the 1" net for the minis after being exposed to it for 6 months. So, in addition to speeding up my routine, there seems to be some sort of enrichment going on.

[mountainhorse]

(Side note: ) How do you like the PortaGrazers, compared to the nets?

[stb]

mountain horse, I have both NibbleNets and Porta-Grazers also. I use the Porta-Grazers at home and the NibbleNets when I trailer out. I love the Porta-Grazers. I used to use just the NibbleNets but one of my horses spent so much time violently wrenching the hay out of the nets I got worried about his neck. The Porta-Grazers are super easy to fill and the horses seem to rate their hay consumptiion better with them. They just seem more relaxed when they are eating out of the Grazers.

[Xanthoria]

[QUOTE=SugarCubes;8617787]
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! [/QUOTE]

Automatic waterers will likely pay for themselves in time savings pretty quickly.

My barn also puts hay in a deep triangular wall mounted feeder in the stalls, which saves waste and allows hay to be thrown in without opening the stall door. You could also build a hay feeder in a common paddock fenceline and load it with bales once a week so the horses can help themselves.

They also pile up pelleted bedding (a week’s worth) under the hay manger. Then you can just grab a couple forkfuls as you clean the stall, saving trips back and forth.

I probably wouldn’t blow the aisle daily, and as other said, prep a day’s worth of beet once, vs 3x a day.

Why not time each task and see what takes longest. For example, doing aisle blowing every other day might save you 5 minutes each time, or up to 20 mins a week. Messing with the water hoses another 5 mins/day - 35 mins right there. Doing beet once vs 3x a day saves maybe 10 mins/day - 70 mins/week. Haynets vs a hay feeder station they share might save you 5 mins a day too- 35 mins/week.

So that’s over 2.5 hours saved per week, or almost three full days of chores! Have a margarita