Mowing is takes time, no way to do it any quicker. Manure pick up outside of the stalls, I bought a manure vac but found it didn’t speed things up, makes it easier but still takes as much time. Dealing with DUST IN THE BARN; I don’t know how to minimize it and it takes over quickly.
Definitely mowing and weed-whacking, followed by manure cleanup in the dry lots. Arena maintenance can also be time-consuming. Stalls when the horses are in (rarely).
Mowing pastures is the biggest time suck. Two thing you can do: get the widest mowing deck you can, and layout your pastures to minimize the # of turns you have to make. A long rectangle is much more efficient to mow than the equivalent SF in a square shape.
Getting a Newer manure spreader has been the best farm purchase I’ve made. Eliminating wheelbarrow trips to a pile (that’s appropriately far enough away from the barn) cuts a lot of time and physical effort.
I concur on the value of getting water to where you need it, but also be creative with fencing layouts-- find the right cost balance of both getting water to the pastures, but also getting the pastures to the water, if you will.
[QUOTE=GoForAGallop;7732852]
I have to haul water to my barn once it gets too cold for the hose. (Even when draining it.)
It is the bane of my existence. It is only 100’, tops, from the back door to the barn. I only have three horses. Every year there is at least one break down moment, where I slip in 2’ of snow, dump hot water all over myself (which then promptly freezes all over my clothing), and then sit there sobbing my heart out.
I’ve had them home 10+ years now and still haven’t found time to put a water line in, so it’s my own darn fault.
But that’s my suggestion. Frost free hydrants everywhere. So many that you’re tripping over the darn things.
I am building a new barn next fall, and there will be water access at every single point you could need it. If I never haul a bucket again, it will be too soon.[/QUOTE]
! Purchase containers with lids/caps so no spilling! I bought gas containers for this purpose.
So I was a big fun-hater on the thread you reference OP, but my horse chores take very little effort. I don’t have a barn. Horse and donkeys are on dry-lot or pasture. I can turn the run-in into a stall if I need to, or subdivide it (tape).
Mowing takes the most time. Mowing around no-climb is harder than just under a fence rail, imo. I did raise my no-climb 6" for mowing purposes when I installed it too. Also, do yourself a favor and round your corners if you can so you don’t have to weed-wack the area the mower can’t get.
As stated, have a spigot right by where the tank is if you don’t have auto-waterers installed. I have a grounded, outdoor plug-in a couple feet away.
Currently I bring grain/oil out from the house. When I get the run in done, which is off the dry lot, I am building a little storage thing off the side. There I will hang my halters, shovel, rake, and keep a metal garbage can for the grain with oil on a shelf. So I will only have to walk a couple feet to grain. Something like this: http://www.houzz.com/photos/2481997/Small-Storage-along-the-side-of-a-house-traditional-garage-and-shed-orlando
I pick my dry lot daily, except now that I’m on crutches and I’m just letting it slide. Takes maybe 10 minutes for a horse and two donkeys.
Maintaining my compost piles by hand is a chore. Eats up a morning once a month. Skid or tractor would make that much better.
I’m stealing my dad’s 4 wheeler this weekend and dragging my pasture. Will also make feeding hay a breeze. I don’t plan on returning it. LOL. He uses it twice a year to put in and take out his dock so…
If someone has a great way to fill a small-hole net please share.
Finally, I set my fencing up so I don’t actually have to touch the animal to move it from field to field, I just have to open gates. I also put in big 14’ gates everywhere.
I hate reeling/unreeling the hose to fill water buckets, because I have to sweep first so that my hose doesn’t get icky when I’m reeling it back in. And yes, I’m aware that I have OCD issue. 
Too funny about cleaning the hose. I do get incredibly messy but I just suck it up.
One big time saver is to simply not care about the unimportant things. I’m fine with the corners of my pasture being a bit shaggy. I only weedwhack under the fenceline along the backyard so it looks pretty. And to be honest, I only do that when people are visiting. :lol:
Well I am heartened to read that a few of the biggest time consumers are weed whacking, mowing, dragging, and hauling water. I won’t have to deal with any of that, what with dry lots and the warm climate. I will be leaving the areas outside of the paddocks natural except for a few strategic spots of xeriscaped plantings, and I have a list of native plants which I want to incorporate. No lawn. Well, that’s the current plan anyway. No stalls to clean; horses will have 24/7 turnout and I think I will be emulating Blume Farm’s run in idea rather than a barn because I won’t be able to build a barn right away. Will still have to pick up manure and compost it.
Thanks for all the input everyone, keep it coming!
I run my farm by myself and work full-time plus, so I designed it accordingly. I’ve spent my life working in barns, both boarding and private, and am grateful for the lessons learned!
I live in a relatively mild climate, like SoCal (lived out there as a kid, still lots of family there), so honestly, #1 time-saver?
NO BARN. Seriously. Don’t want it. Wasn’t even using the one at the last farm I boarded at. I don’t stall my horses, I want them moving at all times.
So I have a open-sided run-in that is my center of operations. Half of it belongs to the horses and half is mine, LOL. If absolutely needed, I could pen a horse in there. I designed all of it (and the whole place) to be as versatile as possible.
http://www.teamflyingsolo.com/2014/04/im-not-dead.html
The best part is: me & the manure fork got a divorce, heehee! No shavings, no stall cleaning, I’m FREEEEE! I just drag the pastures/paddocks (paddocks attached to shed are about 3/4 acres and when I’m out of town, I keep shed divided so each horse is in his own space and feeder only has to dump grain into their bowls).
Daily required chores take about 5 minutes. Everything else can wait. I’ve got low-to-no maintenance fencing, I prefer riding on terrain and grass so NO arena to maintain (woot!), and the rest is part of the 30 year plan, haha.
Right now, the most time-consuming thing is bush-hogging due to all this rain!!! I use mowing for weed control and to keep the horses from making everything toooo patchy in whatever pasture they are in. But I’ve discovered that while I HATE lawn mowing, omg, what a pointless task…bush hogging is uber zen and I enjoy it a lot!
Snow removal. By far. Even with a snowblower, you still have to shovel around the doorways and scrape with a shovel under the gates. Once the snow starts coming, I have to pile it far away from the paths, because it will stay ALL winter, and it’s amazing how quickly you run out of places to pile it! My husband usually does the driveway with a combination of the snowblower & atv w/ plow, while I shovel the stairs, the deck, the doorways, the gates. That can take as much as 2-3 hours per day every day, depending on how much it has snowed.
I only mow the pasture 2-3 times per season (it’s a short season). I love mowing with the atv & pull behind mower.
[QUOTE=The Crone of Cottonmouth County;7732848]
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: when it comes to paddock poop, nothing beats the Gator fitted with a hydraulic dump-thing. [/QUOTE] Agreed, but, a garden tractor with a dump cart comes pretty close! I use a 21hp Craftsman with their polypro dump cart and it is just plain awesome for moving stuff around a small farm.
[QUOTE=Frog Pond;7734915]
Agreed, but, a garden tractor with a dump cart comes pretty close! I use a 21hp Craftsman with their polypro dump cart and it is just plain awesome for moving stuff around a small farm.[/QUOTE]
I pull the dump cart with the atv – which is a heck of a lot more comfy to sit on than a lawn tractor, imo! As I mentioned earlier, that’s also how I mow (which is also faster).
I hire out my snow removal for the driveways/parking area. It takes him 15 minutes on average with big equipment, and my annual bill maybe hits $100-$150. He only comes when we get more than 2" and will wait until the end of a multi-day storm if we want.
My husband leaves for work so early that this has been great for us. We usually only get a couple really big snowstorms in a winter and the rest is an inch here or there that we can take care of when we get around to it.
I haven’t used my snow blower since we moved here, but that will probably change this year having the horses home.
Bush hogging 30 acres. My tractor is too small, but I lease 30, own 7, so it’s not feasible to buy big equipment.
Moving them back and forth. Again, since I lease the 30, so it’s unreasonable to connect the two.
Picking poop - I have one up in the dry lot with laminitis. Hating picking poop. Right now, I’m almost happy when a kid gets in trouble, so I can make that the punishment!
I’m two weeks into using a pocket hose, and thus far - love it!
What Chores Require the Most Time on Your Farm? …the forty to fifty hours a week put in at the office to pay for the horse, barns, fences, feed
[QUOTE=saultgirl;7734834]
Snow removal. [/QUOTE]
Since the OP is in SoCal, I don’t think they will have to spend much time on this, hee. 
[QUOTE=wildlifer;7736498]
Since the OP is in SoCal, I don’t think they will have to spend much time on this, hee. ;P[/QUOTE]
Then she’s way ahead of the game! lol
[QUOTE=katyb;7736146]
Bush hogging 30 acres. My tractor is too small, but I lease 30, own 7, so it’s not feasible to buy big equipment.
Moving them back and forth. Again, since I lease the 30, so it’s unreasonable to connect the two.
Picking poop - I have one up in the dry lot with laminitis. Hating picking poop. Right now, I’m almost happy when a kid gets in trouble, so I can make that the punishment!
I’m two weeks into using a pocket hose, and thus far - love it![/QUOTE]
30 acres is a lot to brush hog! Is that your horses’ pasture? Maybe you could cross fence and grow hay on half, then turnout the horses on that half after it’s cut? It must take a whole weekend to brushhog!
Cutting grass and weed whacking in summer, plowing the seemingly endless snow in winter. Especially last winter, I think we plowed the driveway to barn practically every other day. It was madness.
Mowing, including bush-hogging. I also hate fixing fence.
I don’t pick manure from paddocks- the bush hog does a fine job of taking care of that. The reason they’re outside is so I DON’T have to deal with manure.
I don’t mind cleaning stalls, but I hate to water- especially the big tanks. I usually do something else while the tanks are filling. My goofy horses would probably cause a monstrous water bill if I had floats.
