[TrotTrotPumpkn]

Daily Pickers....may I presume you are not in heavy snowfall areas? I wonder what the best management is during the winter when there is snow? I know we have to give up on cleaning dog poo at some point because it freezes into the snow and we can't get it. I assume this is a "bigger" problem with horse piles.

[Calvincrowe]

Daily Picker in the land of eternal rain here! I love it when the poo freezes, so much easier, but then, we don't get snow often. The rain creates its own problems--melting poo. You really need to get to those piles ASAP when it is deluging for hours on end, or it turns into a liquid nightmare. On those rare occasions when it does snow, I just leave the piles and get them as the thaw occurs. If I can pick them up off the snow, then I do that.

[trubandloki]

Daily (or twice daily) picker here. Three horses in a (guessing and I am bad at estimating distances) 75'x120' sacrifice area with a round bale this time of year. I can not imagine how gross it would be if I did not pick every day. For reference our soil is a mix of clay and rocks (we breed rocks, I swear) with crushed stone over it.

Oh, and I use a head lamp or lighted baseball hat this time of year to do my night pickings.

When it is snow covered I do the best I can and as soon as it melts off I get out there and clean. The manure makes things too muddy if it is left.

[msj]

Definitely getting manure up when it's raining is a pain because it weighs twice as much as dry or even frozen manure.

Frozen manure isn't hard to get up IF it is on the stone dust in my paddocks BUT if it's on the dirt/mud part and has fallen into a frozen hoof print, it's a royal PITA!

With snow, if you can get it the same day before too much snow accumulates on it, it's not that bad. I'll be honest though, sometimes you need a steel fork rather than the plastic ones. I have several plastic forks with a tine or 2 missing.

When I worked I had a lot of fun (NOT) trying to clean up the manure piles from the frozen snowcovered paddocks.

[MistyBlue]

Daily Pickers....may I presume you are not in heavy snowfall areas? I wonder what the best management is during the winter when there is snow? I know we have to give up on cleaning dog poo at some point because it freezes into the snow and we can't get it. I assume this is a "bigger" problem with horse piles.

We get snow...some winters there's at least a foot on the ground all year and some winters we'll have less snow or big melts in between.

I still pick daily. It's not tough...I just swap from wheelbarrow to a muck bucket on a plastic kids' sled. I walk around the paddock with the sled sliding along next to me and pick piles. The sled is actually a LOT easier than a barrow, lol! Finding piles is easy...dark crap on white snow. Or if it's been snowing heavy all day while they're out, look for the poop holes in the snow. Or follow the random trail of hoofprints...you can tell the ones that lead to piles because that trail just ends, and returning hoofprints back to the hay/barn/water. Still takes 5 minutes and has less muscles used.

Only time it's a pita is the few piles from first thing in the morning that got snowed on all day. No trails to follow, no poop holes in the snow. So those may not be found until thaw, but they can't turn into mud under snow. They get kinda preserved.
And a couple winters ago we had a 4' blanket of snow on the ground for weeks and weeks. A few random piles were missed because 4' of snow comes up to my chest. I can't walk through that. But only a few piles were missed because I have short horses and they couldn''t get far in it either, LOL!

[oldpony66]

Actually, picking piles ON TOP of snow is great. It's the ones that get frozen down onto mud or urine spots. I have a good ol' fashioned heavy snow shovel that I use to knock these loose (saves me tines on the fork). Sometimes they don't knock loose easily and those just have to wait for a thaw. Most of them really do break free though.

OP, containing the hay will help tremendously. I know before I did slow feeders/racks there were times when the majority of my wheelbarrow was trampled peed-on hay.

OK, Crone... "tubtrug poop-purse and mini futurefork" ?!?!? I had to open a new tab and google all that!!! Learn something new every day.

[JSwan]

How do I maintain my sacrifice area?

I
pick a little, drag a little, pick a little, drag a little, pick pick pick drag a lot pick a little more
pick a little, drag a little, pick a little, drag a little, pick pick pick drag a lot pick a little more

[trubandloki]

It's not tough...I just swap from wheelbarrow to a muck bucket on a plastic kids' sled. I walk around the paddock with the sled sliding along next to me and pick piles. The sled is actually a LOT easier than a barrow, lol!

This is only true if you find a sled and a muck bucket that are willing to cooperate and stay together.

It is very frustrating when you pull your full muck bucket over a small bump and your sled gets really light because your muck bucket is now laying on its side next to the bump.

Keep muck bucket fit in mind when shopping for a sled, that is all I am saying.

[MistyBlue]

Yes, very true Trub! I have 2 plastic sleds...one is too narrow for the bottom of the muck bucket and it will fall off. And that's enough to make a person crazy.

The round saucer ones work really well, just add a pull rope if it doesn't already have one. I was able to find a regular sled wide enough, so I use that. It's only wide enough for the muck bucket in the front of the sled, the back end of the sled narrows a bit. But at some point I'll replace it with a saucer sled.

Oh, and if your manure pile is downhill: don't think you can ride the sled and bucket down to the manure pile for fun. It never works out like you picture it in your head. The upside is that at least the manure you get covered with is frozen.

[trubandloki]

Oh, and if your manure pile is downhill: don't think you can ride the sled and bucket down to the manure pile for fun. It never works out like you picture it in your head. The upside is that at least the manure you get covered with is frozen.

Oh! Good information to have. I can so see me trying that.

Now to shop for a saucer.