Shavings, how deep?

[heartofwisdom]

My first week of mucking for minis and I think I'm doing something wrong. It's like an Easter egg hunt, I have to rake around to find the little poo.

I fill up a wheelbarrow with a ton of shavings and only 1/10 poo. Either I need another rake or my shaving bed is too deep.

:

any advice appreciated.

 

[justaboutgeese]

You need a different pooper scooper. One that allows you to pick up a forkful and shake the dry shavings back into the stall. If the shavings are too deep it makes it harder to find the wet spots as well. They are available at TSC or basically any farm store. A good one runs less than $20.00 and you will save that in shavings in no time.

 

[Farmhand]

First of all, do you have mats down under the bedding? If you do, we only put a light layer on top of the mats. Just enough to cover them. How old are the horses, are they stalled for long periods of time. They don't have to be SUPER cleaned, mostly get the wet spots and the POOP you can see. If you take your fork you can sift through the shaving and find the bigger pieces. You want to leave a little in there to help keep their hoofs "moist" so they don't "dry out" from to dry shaving. At least that is the way we do it. I'm sure you will get a lot of different opinions. This works for us. We only bring the babies and one Older Mare in for the night. Others stay out 24/7 except for "severe bad weather" they all have run in shelters outside with straw in them.

:

 

[hhpminis]

I think you need to come to my barn and practice! :lol:

Geese is right, the fine tine forks are the way to go. If you dont have a store near you that carries them, I know Valley Vet does.

In answer to your depth question, it depends on what type of flooring you have and how cold it is at your place. I have concrete with thick rubber mats. I only bed the back half of the stall with about 4" of shavings. By only bedding half it does several things.

1) they eat on the bare mat and dont consume shavings while sifting, although those lips do work pretty good to find that last kernel of grain or leaf of hay.

2) Cuts stall cleaning time way down as you only have to clean half the stall

3) teaches them to be a bit cleaner as they go to one area of the stall rather than anywhere that suits there fancy. They typically will not urinate on a flat surface as they dont like the spattering so they go to the shavings.

Happy scooping!

 

[Marty]

Queen of Horse Manure at your service.......VAROOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMM

How much shavings did you put in there anyhow???????hehe

Ok how big is your stall, and how much shavings did you put in?

Let's start with that.

For instance, I have 10 X 10 stalls.

I use two bails of shavings in each during winter. It fills the stalls up very well and makes it deep to help keep them warm to cuddle in. One bail would be about equal to one very full wheelbarrow load, if you are using a wheel barrow to put them in. Now, in summer, I won't use that much. I will only use proabably one bail to keep it cooler for them.

Now as everyone has said, you need a manure fork.

Then, you search for poop.

Then, you scoop it up into the manure fork, and shake it around on the manure fork like you are sifting it. The shavings will then sift out, and you will be left with the poop!

Yes you will do some hunting. If you have a lot of shavings, it will take you some time to locate them. Not to worry, they won't bite, but they might try to get away. Some are very sneaky though so you have to outsmart them. They will be still and and wait for you to find them. Trust me, they will turn up eventually and that is when you sneak up on them real quiet like and go in and scoop them up and go "gotcha"!!!!!!!!

Fun! :aktion033: :aktion033: :aktion033:

 

[shane]

HI, WHAT I DO IS RACK ALL THE SHAVINGS UP THE BACK WALL AS IF IM THROWING ALL UP AGAINST IT,YOULL FIND THAT THE POOP WILL ROLL DOWN THE FRONT BIT OF THE HILL YOUR MAKING, PULL THE POOP AWAY AND REPEAT, THROW THE SHAVING UP AGAINST THE WALL AS IF YOUR THROWING THE WHOLE BED UP WHEN YOU CREATE A HILL ITS STARTS ROLLING POOP :bgrin

 

[heartofwisdom]

The stalls and run in are 8x8 with rubber mats. I used 2-3 bags of shavings the first day, about 4-5". I'm using the Miniature Easy Fork II. Maybe I haven't got the hang of the shaking yet. The pole expands but I still feel like I'm bending over too much--and I'm only 5'2. I'd like a longer pole. I can teach my 6 yr old to muck with the mini fork.

How cool you use cover half the mat and they go on the mat--they can actually be potty trained!

Thanks for all the advice.

 

[rabbitsfizz]

Rubber gloves and a muck bucket- one of those light weight, soft ones, or even a plastic sack will do. Pick out all the worst by hand and then go after it with a proper shavings fork- one that lets the shavings drop through and the poop stay, when I had to use shavings because the mare had heaves, I used a metal one, the plastic I could not get on with at all.

I use this method with straw, which I more usually use, and I take 15 mins to do three stalls, (just the mucking out, not the whole taking it to the dump bit as well!!) I never take more than one barrow load a day and every one is clean as a whistle. Try it, you cannot beat the "Glove and Grovel" method, honestly

 

[Becky]

Ditto the Fine Tines manure fork from Tractor Supply! Woody Pet also carries these.

With this fork, you just sift the bedding and the poop stays in the fork. Now some horses are just messy in a stall and scatter all their droppings everywhere! Some are neat and just use one area (gotta love those!). My stalls are 8 X 8 and I just bed the back half with one bag of shavings. It also really helps to use a finer shaving. I get mine at Tractor Supply. The big, fluffy shavings are pretty, but you do waste a lot when trying to clean a stall. Much harder to clean, in my opinion!

 

[RobinRTrueJoy]

I can't believe I read this thread after 35 years of mucking!

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: LOL!!!

Happy Mucking!

 

[Christine]

We love the stall mats man oh man saves so much time and keeps everythign clean. We too use the smaller fork, but we use rice hulls they are TINY so they slip through thus we waste less they cost the same as the shavings and they absorbe much more than the shavings do of the urine and then we sprinkle Sweet pdz on the mat where there was urine. But I think the mats have mad all the difference in the world!!!

 

[wantminimore]

The stalls and run in are 8x8 with rubber mats. I used 2-3 bags of shavings the first day, about 4-5". I'm using the Miniature Easy Fork II. Maybe I haven't got the hang of the shaking yet. The pole expands but I still feel like I'm bending over too much--and I'm only 5'2. I'd like a longer pole. I can teach my 6 yr old to muck with the mini fork.

How cool you use cover half the mat and they go on the mat--they can actually be potty trained!

Thanks for all the advice.

I have a Miniature easy Fork too. When I first got it I was a little disapointed. It looked to me that it was made for really short people. It took my 9 yr. old to show me that the handles expands, what a relief, lol. I personally don't like that fork, the tines aren't long enough for me.

 

[zacharyfarms]

I bought the mini forks also and use them to pick up dog poop.. :bgrin They are useless for horse poop even mini horse. I do like hpminis and put down shavings only in a corner which they have pretty much trained themselves to potty pretty much in this area. I clean this out totally daily. Interestingly in my stallions houses they do not require shavings at all..they go outside to potty as everyone has outside access to closed paddocks. But the girls are a different story they think I love to collect their poop and know that is true because I come back and get it everyday.. :lol: When I am picking up the driveway going to the barn they will follow me and add to my collection right next to me so I know how much they love me by making sure I know that they are adding to my collection..

: I also use PDZ for the wet areas prior to putting down the think layer of shavings. We use to deep bed but frankly I still swept it up and wasted tooooo much bedding. I frankly think deep bedding and being unable to get all the wet out contributes to respiratory problems. IMO

 

[Roxane Martin]

I'm with Marty in using 2 bales of shavings for a 10 x 10 stall. I try to have an area swept free of shavings in the front where they come in and eat. (We put hay on ground.) However since they can go in an out of the stall in the winter, they end up dragging the shavings around a bit.

I bed deep in winter for two reasons--

1. I only have time to really strip the stall on the weekend, so it's gotta last thru the week. I pick up the poop pretty much daily, but the pee will soak down thru and still mainly be dry on top. If it's wet to the top, I can get that during the week and drag some dry into that hole. All the wet gets stripped out on the weekend.

2. My boys still love to lie down and take a mid-day nap and I want them to be able to do that. I think a deeper bed is more inviting to do that. Also, they can then enjoy a nice roll in the shavings, especially if it's frozen mud outside.

You need the basket type fork and use the "shake" method others have described.

Have fun! :bgrin

 

[Sandee]

We had big horses so I had the big forks and regular shavings. So I know that switching to the finer shavings (Easy Pic or something like it) and using the fine tine fork is the best way to go! I use less shavings, although all my stalls do have mats, and it might be harder if you have a soft dirt or sandy floor to use the fine shavings. But the fine tine fork will work good in sand too as I use it to clean out my round pen which I occasionaly use as a turnout pen. So fine tine fork definitely.

:

 

[Joyce]

I have wood floors in my barn covered with rubber mats. Then I put about a inch of shaving over 3/4 of the stall and use a child's garden rake and take into a shovel so I'm actually throwing less shavings away. When all stalls are done I go thru and throw clean shavings where it is needed to bring back to the inch.

This may be clear as mud as I'm not good at explaining.

Joyce

 

[OhHorsePee]

I just started using guardian bedding and I am in love! We have been giving it a "test drive" on my heaviest wetter and it is fantastic! With the straw bedding I have to strip every other day but this stuff is like a dream come true. I do have to get a tighter tined fork but I am saving time and money with this stuff. Once I am totally switched over I will be a straw free woman(except for foaling) which makes me very happy!

Fran

 

[Sanny]

For us the rubber stall mats have been a HUGE help. We have 10X12 box stalls and I strip the stall completely when I clean, sweep it out, and then use just enough shavings to cover the BACK half of the stall. About half of one bag of shavings per stall. The front half is kept swept clean and is where I put their hay and their feed pan. I've tried using deep bedding and just picking out the poop and wet spots and like you I always felt like I was wasting a lot of shavings because I always ended up taking out a lot of clean stuff. They do choose to go to where the shavings are to poop and pee and every horse has a different preferred spot. One horse that I just love - my neat freak mare, poops AND pees right in the front corner very neatly and as close as possible to the stall door so for her I put shavings down in that spot in addition to the back part of the stall. I wish she would train the rest of the horses to do this. When I clean I scoop out her little area that she uses and the rest of the stall hardly ever needs to be stripped and swept. Usually only when I've left the door open and another horse goes in there and messes it up. I have a couple of messy boys that make a total pigstye of their stall...someday I need to put a camera on them so I know what exactly happens when I leave the barn.....poop and pee everywhere, shavings trampled everywhere and all over the front of the stall where I DIDN'T put it, wasted hay strewn around, water splashed all over, etc.

I just strip it all out and don't even try to save any of the shavings.

 

[faithfarm]

I'm with Joyce on this. I use a plastic snow shovel and a small rake that looks let a yard rake made of plastic and only about 8 inches wide (available at Lowes). I rake the poop into the shovel and from there into the wheelbarrow. With a little practise you can flip the stray balls into the shovel without loosing any shavings. The shovel works great on the wet spots and will get all the wet shavings out. I used to use a minifork but couldn't get the wet spots out and that is where the smell comes from. I spray the spots where I took the wet shavings up with Stall Fresh (available from Jeffer's) and the barn smells pretty again. I use fine shavings about 1"-2" deep and cover about 2/3 of the stall leaving the front with bare mats which I sweep with a broom. I chose this route because I live above the barn and leaving soaked shavings in a stall means we have a stinky house.

 

[heartofwisdom]

I use a plastic snow shovel and a small rake that looks let a yard rake made of plastic and only about 8 inches wide (available at Lowes). I rake the poop into the shovel and from there into the wheelbarrow.

What a great idea. I'll try my snow shovel tomorrow.

I ordered a fine tine fork today.

Thanks.