Tips on cleaning stuck frozen poop from paddock?

[Emilia]

So, we just got our first snow and ice and it is not melting as fast as we would hope.

Thus, our paddock cleaning routine has temporarily transformed from a mere scavenger hunt into a regular archeological dig.

Does anyone have any tips, how to get frozen poop off the ground without breaking the tools in the process?

I wonder, if we should invest in a flamethrower? :lol:

Our standard equipment is manure fork (plastic). We have a metal fork to pick up poop in pasture, but it does not work for paddock well, because of minipoop. The tines are too far apart. (We do use it for regular size now even in the paddock.)

It is just so painfully long clean-up now.

Please, if you have any advice, it would be much appreciated.

Thank you.

[Laurierace]

Just wait for a thaw. Some battles aren’t worth the fight.

[NancyM]

Use a garden shovel, the regular variety of steel digging shovel that you would use in your garden, in conjunction with your plastic manure fork. Start with the shovel, bashing into the poop piles from the side to break them off the frozen ground. Usually easiest to do the entire paddock first with the shovel, then come around with the fork and wheelbarrow once everything is ready to be loaded.

Welcome to my life. Once we freeze in the late fall, we remain frozen until spring. “Just leaving it” is not an option.

I’m not complaining, because all stays frozen all winter, we have no mud, and the packed snow has the consistency of squeaky dry white sand.

[Showbizz]

I pick up what is either fresh or loose and leave the rest until it gets kicked loose or some thawing has occurred. Fortunately, we’re supposed to hit 40 this weekend and hopefully I can get some poop moved!

[merrygoround]

Wait for Spring.

[Mosey_2003]

Kick it :lol:

[Hinderella]

I wait for warmer days. NancyM, you’re in BC, so it’s too long a wait for you :). I also have a metal landscaping rake that I can use to get things loosened up. But just trying to pick it up is a nightmare, since the ground is both frozen & uneven, there’s no flat surface to run the manure fork along. I’ve been know to resort to just picking it up with my hands and chucking it in the wheelbarrow. After all, it’s frozen hard and my barn gloves are already trashed, right?

[HorsePrerace]

Use a hose.

[Emilia]

[QUOTE=Hinderella;7309796]
I’ve been know to resort to just picking it up with my hands and chucking it in the wheelbarrow. After all, it’s frozen hard and my barn gloves are already trashed, right?[/QUOTE]

Yes!:yes: I do it, too. I am just imagining, I am picking donuts. :lol:

Mosey, kicking hurts my toe. I need to invest in steel toe winter boots. Does anything like that even exist?

Thank you, all, for your input so far. I have to try the shovel. I have to clean, for our horses are delicate. They require a fresh set-up to lay it down.

[Wayne]

i’ve used an ice chopper. The one with a long ( 4 or more feet) wooden or fiberglass handle and a steel blade. If you can get under the piles it can loosen it enough to break it free.

[Manahmanah]

[QUOTE=HorsePrerace;7309819]
Use a hose.[/QUOTE]

That is a fine idea if you want to create a beautiful skating rink for your horses.

As all else suggested wait until spring. They are not going to get parasites from frozen solid poops.

[horsetales]

I cheat and use the tractor and the blade to pull it into 1 pile. That at least keeps the heavily used areas somewhat clean. I already have the blade on for clearing the driveway. Our sheds are matted, so I use a metal edged snow shovel and do during the warmest part of the day.

[imaginique]

[QUOTE=NancyM;7309478]
Use a garden shovel, the regular variety of steel digging shovel that you would use in your garden, in conjunction with your plastic manure fork. Start with the shovel, bashing into the poop piles from the side to break them off the frozen ground. Usually easiest to do the entire paddock first with the shovel, then come around with the fork and wheelbarrow once everything is ready to be loaded.

Welcome to my life. Once we freeze in the late fall, we remain frozen until spring. “Just leaving it” is not an option.

I’m not complaining, because all stays frozen all winter, we have no mud, and the packed snow has the consistency of squeaky dry white sand.[/QUOTE]

That’s what I do.

[Manahmanah]

They do sell metal pitchforks with close tines just like the plastic ones, you know.

http://www.tractorsupply.com/en/store/little-giantreg%3B-metal-durafork?cm_vc=-10005

[SuckerForHorses]

Hm, don’t kick it. You will regret it.

Use one of those landscaping rakes, the ones with short metal tines like this:
http://www.tractorsupply.com/en/store/groundworkreg%3B-16-tine-welded-bow-rake

They actually break up the poops pretty easily. Then use regular manure fork to scoop up and put into manure pile.

I’m in Vermont; everything here is already frozen, and in fact, it’s probably not even in the double digits here today. It was just below 0* when I woke up this morning. Until it’s -20, that rake does the job just fine.

[froglander]

Agree with the garden rake suggestions

Also, once you are done picking up the piles, if you turn it over so the teeth are pointing up you can use the smooth side in a kind of back and forth motion to smooth your paddock footing out. Keeping the footing smoothed out when things are frozen I think makes it easier to clean as there aren’t as many craters to dig stuff out of.

[RedmondDressage]

Ours were frozen solid for almost two weeks. I gave up and they’re horrible I’m just going to scrape mine with the tractor (ours are gravel so I can do that w/o tearing them up) now that it’s thawed. Unfortunately I won’t probably get to it until next week either thanks to a medical procedure that is going to take me out for the weekend. Thank goodness the horses have the field and aren’t stuck in the paddocks.

[morganpony86]

I spent 2 MN winters with a horse on strict stall rest in an unheated stall with a gate for a door, so I got really good at chipping frozen poop. I find the best time to do it is actually when it’s frozen; it comes up in giant chunks as opposed to the spring when it thaws and turns into a giant muddy mess. I actually did the entire paddock of my other horse before the thaw for this specific reason. I had the best luck with a long handled ice pick axe. A good swing that gets the pick right in the spot where the poop meets the ground and it’ll come up like magic.

[idtogo]

I use a pick axe as well! It’s a great workout and does a good job I sticking the poop so I can pick it up with the fork. Jealous of all you guys with tractors!

[Jackie_amp_Starlette]

I have one of those. The tines bend. My husband even welded bracing and they then broke. Not the best design

[QUOTE=Manahmanah;7309926]
They do sell metal pitchforks with close tines just like the plastic ones, you know.

http://www.tractorsupply.com/en/store/little-giantreg%3B-metal-durafork?cm_vc=-10005[/QUOTE]