[SallyintNorth]

This time I'm looking for input on equipment for poo-picking.  What barrow for one, and what scooping-up device for another.

The barrow we are using is an evil little narrow solid-wheeled thing.  I want to get a more suitable one but don't quite know what I should get.  One wheel?  Two?  Four?  Big squishy air-filled tyres, or unpuncturable?  How large?

We have to trundle around a reasonably large area at present.  The current field is relatively level and an easy surface when not muddy.  When we do get several days' rain then the mud is a pest; we're on clayey soil here.  There is one paddock that's on a bit more of a slope, so I'll need to bear that in mind when planning payloads.

Mostly we're piling the dung near to the field gate to rot, and will barrow it to where it's needed when it's rotted for a while.  However, sometimes I am asked for a few loads here or there about the spot, so the barrow should be capable of being trundled on other surfaces too, including tracks which have some stones on.

Oh, and being a community, any barrow I buy will probably get 'borrowed' and used for some other purpose from time to time, so ideally we'll get one that's reasonably robust.  (Although buying a very lurid one, or painting it, and making sure everyone knows that the bright pink one is pony poo only, is possibility.)


At present our scooping device is a flat scoop and a pair of rubber gloves.  I bend over, the younger lady who helps kneels down.  With around 30 heaps a day to pick up, I think we'd both appreciate something we can use from a standing position!  The only thing I've found in our local stores is something I can only describe as a long-handled forked dustpan with a longhandled large potato masher.  It looks as though it would do a good job, but it weighs a ton!  I'm not sure I'd find it less work lifting that when it's full than the bending over!

The fields are decent grazing but a little tufty, so anything that needs a flat surface isn't going to be terribly useful.

What do you folks use?

[sabrina]

I use my stable barrow which has a light body and one wheel. I find my metal barrow with two wheels a pain in the backside when picking up the droppings. its much  harder to push about the paddocks and I am picking up after 5 ponies. I use a proper scoop for the job which safes bending. You get them online or animal feed stores.

[SallyintNorth]

I use a proper scoop for the job which safes bending. You get them online or animal feed stores.

Thanks, Sabrina.

There seem to be various types and I don't know which type is best. Some are probably better in stables, some on sawdust, etc.  You couldn't find a link to one like the one you use, could you? 

Or alternatively, which of these do you think would be best? 

http://www.tanks-direct.co.uk/equestrian_products/saddle_carriers,_tack_packs,_tubs,_barrows_and_more/tubtrug_tidee_manure_scoop_and_rake?gclid=CKGEq4b08NACFW217QodEWcIMA


http://www.saddlery.biz/stubbs-stable-mate-manure-collector-higher-height?m=configurable&265=6605&aid=65945&gclid=CPOdr5b08NACFc6_7QodCxMN4A

http://www.discount-equestrian.co.uk/fyna-lite-skip-scoop-rake-collector.html

[pharnorth]

Hi Sally, you'll soon be reminiscing about when everything was done with a tractor!  The poo pickers on your link are ideal and do the job. I tend to use the back of the shovel to push it is and I can't imagine who used the short handled ones as even the long handled ones make my back ache and I'm only 5'4", so get the longest handle you can.

As to wheel barrows after many year of using builder barrow sizes I now use the mega  2 wheel ones Mole valley do a JFC large tipping one. They are pricey but push a lot easier, are better if you have a dodgy back and you can get more in with less effort so worth every penny  IMHO. 

Happy poo picking

[YorkshireLass]

I can't get on with the long handled potato masher/half bucket type! The weight distribution is all wrong, somehow, and I still have to stoop (and I'm not tall).

Is there a local tack shop where you can go and handle some of the kit?

[farmvet]

Have you tried a plastic sledge? it's much less effort than a barrow

[SallyintNorth]

Have you tried a plastic sledge? it's much less effort than a barrow

Where would I get one large enough for a pony's daily output?  Googling just gets me kiddies toboggans

[CarolineJ]

Be wary of too big a wheelbarrow if your land slopes - my neighbour bought one of the big four-wheeled ones and found that she couldn't get it back up the field if it was more than half full, which sort of defeated the purpose of buying it.

I have a large-ish plastic barrow that holds about 20 and a plain old shovel.

[Buttermilk]

I like the poo scoops with long handles, my friend prefers the short handled ones, we are both the same size.  We both ditched the two wheeled barrow as being too awkward to manoeuvre and use a single wheel one.  Hers is a bright yellow afair with JCB written on its side while mine is an elderly metal affair.  I do not like the wide and shallow barrows.

Best of all is a quad bike and trailer.

[SallyintNorth]

Best of all is a quad bike and trailer.

But... but... but don't you have to keep getting on and off again to drive to the next heap?  And don't you have to shovel twice, once into the trailer and then again to tip it out?

[Rosemary]

Have you tried a plastic sledge? it's much less effort than a barrow

Where would I get one large enough for a pony's daily output?  Googling just gets me kiddies toboggans

Get said dung producer to pull it 

[pharnorth]

About to start the quad and trailer experiment myself and it is a tipping trailer so no wont have to shovel it twice.

[SallyintNorth]

Have you tried a plastic sledge? it's much less effort than a barrow

Where would I get one large enough for a pony's daily output?  Googling just gets me kiddies toboggans

Get said dung producer to pull it 

Well, I'd been wondering about panniers, but a sledge might work better.  Need to be bigger and sturdier than the kids' toboggans, though.

[farmvet]

I was going to say pop into your local shops to see a range of sledges... but I see you're in Cornwall so doubt they stock many! If you get a rubbery type plastic rather than brittle you can drill through & attach the top off a plastic type wheelbarrow / a storage box/ trug. You don't want it too heavy/ high though.  I just used 2 something like this
which were easy to pull when full.
http://www.tesco.com/direct/snow-speeder-plastic-sled-red/381-3441.prd?skuId=381-3441
Now my 2 run in 200 acres so no more poo picking....

[Buttermilk]

Best of all is a quad bike and trailer.

But... but... but don't you have to keep getting on and off again to drive to the next heap?  And don't you have to shovel twice, once into the trailer and then again to tip it out?

I cheat and ride sidesaddle between piles. Yes I shovel poo off but I end up with a neater muck heap. Using a barrow I still have to shovel the product to make the heap.