[Womble]

OK, I'll admit it. I am a serial user and abuser of buckets.

I've been through them all from the reused licky bucket to the orange B&Q bucket to the expensive but hopefully worth it builder's bucket...... but they all seem to either crack or lose their handles far too quickly for my liking.

So, good people of TAS, please help me in my quest to find my forever bucket. (Or perhaps help me to compile a bucket list of possible candidates). My ideal partner in buckethood will be robust but still reasonably lightweight, and standard bucket sized (about 14 litres). Looks and personality are unimportant.

Thanks in advance!

Womble.

[silkwoodzwartbles]

Have you tried the flexible tug trug style? I've got some old ones from my horsey days that are still going strong.

[Backinwellies]

They just dont make them like they used too!!!


Just befriend a local decorator and collect his old paint pots with handles  (large plastic ones) ...... not they wont last forever but you will have a free supply of replacements.


Alternatively I just love an opportunity to sing 'theres a hole in my bucket dear Liza'  ...... if you are too young to know this look it up!

[harmony]

Modern buckets are rubbish and expensive. If I do treat myself to a new one I pinch where the handle goes through the bucket to prolong the time before the handle comes out and wont go back in. I buy round lick buckets and find they are pretty long lasting as water carriers.


My oldest buckets I bought in 1997. They were called Jumbo buckets and were marketed as unbreakable. I did lose the handles at some point but the buckets are fine. They are used for horses and pigs. They get kicked and rolled but they wash off and go again. At the time I think they were somewhere between £5 and £10 but they have been worth it.

[doganjo]

You obviously don't take care of them as well as you do your Zwarbs 

[Dan]

Stubbs Jumbo. It's 25 litres, but you don't have to fill it. We've had one for 20+ years and it's still going strong.

[Womble]

You obviously don't take care of them as well as you do your Zwarbs 

Let's just say that a B&Q bucket can't stand five Zwartble heads being inserted simultaneously 

I did date a trug for a while, but she cracked up pretty quickly. We also have some feed bowls made from recycled tyres which are bomb proof, but too heavy to be my ideal bucket.

Recycled licky buckets could be ok but the lick we get comes in square tubs without handles. I have rescued round ones from ditches before (we grow tomatoes in them), but I don't want to use them with the sheep in case we import orf or whatever.

[member=1]Dan[/member], thanks for the Jumbo suggestion. My forever scoop is a Stubbs one that has done 10 years so far - well, until I lost it last week  . It turns out they also do a 14 and an 18 litre bucket that's similar, so they're currently on my bucket list.

Any more for any more? 

[Backinwellies]

Am sure this thread should be called
                              Add to my Bucket list!

[Steph Hen]

It’s here
https://www.engelbert-strauss.co.uk/container/building-bucket-7200090-5278012-0.html?ItemOrigin=SEARCH

All their stuff is great. Unless you want to buy women’s curvy shaped overalls and clothes. My builder bought some as he claimed my buckets were better than any he could get.

[chrismahon]

We buy €1 buckets from a DIY store chain called Weldom. They look just like the ones in the link below and we haven't broken any yet. Only drawback is the lack of a handle grip, which with that shape of wire, can't easily be retro-fitted. I've put fuel pipe on some though.

[Rosemary]

Stubbs Jumbo. It's 25 litres, but you don't have to fill it. We've had one for 20+ years and it's still going strong.

[member=1]Dan[/member] you beat me to it 

[Womble]

^ Awwww, finishing each other's sentences. How cute  .


Edit: [member=28951]Steph Hen[/member] thank you for that link - they look excellent for the price. I've just ordered four buckets, a brush and a shovel from there for the price of one Stubbs bucket. I will report back in due course to say how our first date went  .

[PipKelpy]

I'm the same but with wheelbarrows!

By beloved died last year, whilst lugging A load of Mary's poo to the muckpile. Didn't help that I have the tendency to fill above capacity!

It was a B&Q builders barrow, orange, bloody thing only lasted 8 years. 30 quid it cost me in 2012! I don't know, just can't buy quality these days!

A barrow, like a bucket, HAS to feel right, balanced! I did go back to B&Q the next week to get a 2nd but it was wonky! It's seemingly impossible to find a nice barrow for what you want these days, they are all standard sizes. I bought a well-known "suitable for equestrian use" one. Useless. Obviously horses don't poo!

I loaded this snazzy barrow full of you know what and struggled to get it to the muckpile. Why? The weight in the pan, pressed it down onto the tyre meaning pushing became more of a chore than usual.

My 2 current farm barrows, both with the wheel pan support but so bulky. Yet I have an older 90litre model with wheel pan support, that is similar size to my orange barrow. But I don't like it. It doesn't feel right when full of muck.

Some folk are fussy about buckets, me, wheelbarrows (and hats! I used to crochet woolly hats but now due to my hands, I buy them, beanies with visors or trapper hats with visors (I have sensitive eyes!) I'm getting old!

[landroverroy]

You obviously don't take care of them as well as you do your Zwarbs 

Let's just say that a B&Q bucket can't stand five Zwartble heads being inserted simultaneously 

I did date a trug for a while, but she cracked up pretty quickly. We also have some feed bowls made from recycled tyres which are bomb proof, but too heavy to be my ideal bucket.

Recycled licky buckets could be ok but the lick we get comes in square tubs without handles. I have rescued round ones from ditches before (we grow tomatoes in them), but I don't want to use them with the sheep in case we import orf or whatever.

[member=1]Dan[/member], thanks for the Jumbo suggestion. My forever scoop is a Stubbs one that has done 10 years so far - well, until I lost it last week  . It turns out they also do a 14 and an 18 litre bucket that's similar, so they're currently on my bucket list.

Any more for any more? 

Why are you letting any sheep put their big thick powerful heads in your bucket - let alone 5 Zwartbles?  In my experience there isn't a man made substance produced that will stand a stupid, thick, food obsessed  sheep pulling one way and a ST man pulling in the opposite direction. 
The solution is simple Womble.  Buy a cheap bucket and keep the sheep's head out. That way your cheap bucket will far outlive the most expensive receptacle because nothing will stand this pointless daily tug of war.


At feeding time you pour the food into a trough and don't let the sheep anywhere near the bucket. You've only got 5 sheep for heavens sake so how difficult can it be to hold the bucket high enough so they can't reach? I've managed it with 50 sheep at a time and I'm only 5' 4". (I assume you are considerably taller.) The trick is to have sufficient troughs scattered about - with 50 sheep I needed 9 troughs, well apart. Then I had a small shovel in the bucket. Obviously you can't initially pour feed from the bucket into the trough because it's full of sheeps' heads and the food will go everywhere. But you can manage to get a scoop between them and thus a small amount of food into the trough,  and simultaneously all 50 sheep (or 5 in your case) will attempt to get in the trough. This will divert their attention for at least 3 seconds from tripping you up, and allow you to race to the other 8 troughs (or 1 in your case) and to tip some food in each trough before the sheep (who are always one trough behind) get there. If you're fast enough you can then fill all troughs in complete safety and the sheeps' heads do not need to be anywhere near the bucket, and the bucket will last for ever.


            SIMPLES.

[Backinwellies]

. Then I had a small shovel in the bucket. Obviously you can't initially pour feed from the bucket into the trough because it's full of sheeps' heads and the food will go everywhere. But you can manage to get a scoop between them and thus a small amount of food into the trough,  :
            SIMPLES.

Expense of a scoop??  ....... what is wrong with a hand?  ......  1 handful thrown towards nearest trough works whether you have 2 sheep or 50 ......