Mucking out tips for the uninitiated!!

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doolally_tap

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Jun 3, 2007
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My part-loan horse has started to come in every night for the winter - so here-on-in the work starts.

Forgive me for being really dense - but I need some tips for speeding up the process of a full muck-out, fill haynets and prepare feeds. It took me aaaaaages this afternoon to get it all done.

Up until now (my share started this summer and he lives out 24/7) I have just been skipping out from when he's in the odd hour or two.

Any tips for a muck-out routine that will help me speed up. Today I took so long doing my jobs that I didn't have time to ride him before I had to collect the kids from school.
 
What bedding are you using?

I always prepare Speedi Beet the night before and store it in my locker so I just tip it straight into the bucket. I take a new bale of hay as soon as the previous one finishes and store it outside my stable so I just chuck it over the wall every evening when she's in.

My method of mucking out is to lift out the poos on the surface with a shavings fork (whether on straw or shavings), rake the top layer about to look for hidden poos and again lift those out. If you're removing the wet every day, this raking the top layer will help you find the wet as it will be heavier so grab a shovel and haul it out. If you're deep or semi deep littering, lay the dry top layer back in place and you're done :)
 
a pair of thick rubber gloves and a skip!!! :)

poops removed by hand and edges of wee dug out then lifted with a fork (on shavings)

I have enough sugar beet soaked for a couple of days - it lasts fine in this weather!! We have just moved yards so I have all my shavings and feed really close to hand. Nets done first so that they can be soaked if they seem dry or dusty...then drip before hanging them up
 
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it took me ages to start with as well, i was knackered!! :o

I switched to shavings and use rubber gloves and a trug bucket - found this quicker than a fork.
 
I've bought lots of feed buckets and haynets for my boy and I just make up a weeks worth of feed and nets in one day which saves me time the rest of the week.

Can't help with mucking out - mine is out pretty much 24/7 and only in for feed/groom/ride so he just gets skipped out everyday and a proper muck out once a week if needed.
 
Using straw - if it were my decision I would switch to shavings but it's the owner's decision. She likes a nice thick bed for him, banked perfectly up the walls.
 
erm well I will post how Pibstar taught me to do straw. It took me (a novice who had NEVER done it before) about 45mins. First take out all the poos with a fork. Then move the dry from the top to a pile on one side. Get all the wet out from underneath. Spread the dry 'old' straw from the pile you made earlier. Firm up the banks and add any where needed. Then last of all, get four flakes of 'new' straw and spread them out, fluff it up and hey presto!

But if you are pressed for time (especially with Pibstar's Mollie) you could remove the poo, and she does wet at one end of her stable so get all that out then add some fresh straw (that would probably take about 20 mins as opposed to the super thorough muck out that I described above)

I really hope that helps, although I am not that experienced only having mucked out twice (ever!) I just wanted to include what I was taught by a very helpful fellow NR. :D :D
 
take out all visible poo and wet with a fork and then start using your fork to bank up all the straw from the bed into one of the banks removing poo and wet as you go. (banks are normally fairly clean themselves. Wet is heavier and looks wet on straw so should be easy to tell wet from clean by weight of the fork. poo will fall down the banks and can be removed from the bottom of the bank as you go. when all straw is banked on one side of the stabl then sweep the floor. (i normally do this and then leave bed up to air until bringing in at night) before bringing in at night just lay the bed again, re-do your banks and there you go.

mine live out 24/7 now but the above is what we used to do when i worked at a livery yard.

NB remember to swop the side you bank up on every other day or so so you clean under ALL the banks;)

should be able to fully muck out a straw bed in under 15 minutes if you work quickly. It takes me 40 mins to fully muck out 3 shaving beds
 
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Totally agree with Nazdaq and laceyfreckle about mucking out. My girl is on straw and I kind of skim off the dry from the top and put in a pile, after taking out poos, then work downwards. If they are on a concrete floor then try getting hold of a floor squeedgy thing-piece of flexible rubber attached to a thin bit of wood with a long handle. Bit like a window squeegy but for floors- commercial cleaning companies use them but I have seen them in hardware shops. They sweep a floor clean in seconds rather than the repetition and time with a brush.

As for the rest, make up whatever you can on the weekend-haynets if you use them or in to Ikea blue bags if you have a rack so you can just pick up tip in and go, bags of straw if you are working from a big bale, feed in tubs you just tip in to the bowl and make sure all the tools etc are as convenient as you can get them and always in the same place! Make sure all gates etc are easy to open/use and the route to the muck heap is as clear as possible. Rugs in the right place and set up to go, headcollar in a convenient place etc etc. I work to a very tight schedule and have learnt from bitter experience of being late for work that little things make a huge huge difference not only to my stress levels but to the time it takes. :)
 
rubber glove and bucket for poos, turn banks over, look around for wet (i don this by grabbing a fork full and turning it over it its wet i take it out - if its dry i chuck it up) pull down, new bedding, feed and put haynet up (i do feeds in advance!
 
I can do a full straw bed, inc nets in/feed/water/balls in 10minutes.

For the mucking out - rubber gloves and a skip. You'll quickly learn how many piles of poo there should be for the average night - Daffy does 5. That means you can find all 5 and remove by hand prior to getting the wet out.

For the wet I use my brush. Basically, brush all the dry straw to one side, if you don't do it too hard, you'll be left with a wet pile of straw, and a nice clean outside of straw. Fork the wet up into the barrow. I use a shavings fork, just because that's what I have, and it is easier than a four pronger.

Then I throw up the rest of the bed, if you want to be meticulous any pooey bits will drop down, and it also gets aired. I don't bother with bankings, but you can throw those up and just put more straw in that patch.

Daffy's water is supposedly automatic, but it doesn't work. I have three water containers, which I fill at the weekend, and I top it up daily. It normally needs cleaning out once a week, but if he dunks his food in I just have to spare the time to do it.

I do all his haynets in one go. I can get on average 6-7 out of a bale of hayledge, so that does me weekend-weekend. I do have a filler, which you hook the net onto and it holds it open, but I can do it equally well without. If you don't have the knack of holding a net open and filling it, it's a good way of doing it provided you have a wall to attach it to. He also has two decahedrons, for which I can chop the carrots at the weekend, I keep them in tupperware containers if I do that, then all I have to do is refill each ball in the morning.

Feeds I do as we go along. I do night + morning feeds every morning, as he's often fed before I arrive. If anything needs soaking then I'll put it to soak the morning before.
 
Wow Daffy Dilly - 10 minutes :eek:

It took me an hour today to muck out one stable, prepare two feeds, fill one haynet and change one water.

Think I'll time myself each day now (something I can use the stopwatch for on my mobile :D) and see if I can reduce the time each day. Hopefully by the end of the winter I'll be almost as expert as you - though 10 minutes is a bit ambitious for me I think. :o
 
on the odd occasion where i muck out friend's straw bedded horse, i proceed as follows ...

get marigolds!

locate poos and pick up wearing said marigolds. (a little skip is handy for this so you dont need to lug the barrow round the stable!)

once poos are picked

prod around with pitchfork, hunting for soggy patches (they tend to be hidden because soggy is heavy and likes to mooch round at the bottom!).

lift out soggy stuff., whilst shovelling dry matter up against the wall.

leave banks etc up and let it dry whilst you take a trip to the muckheap

put bed down again, top up with a couple of fresh slices where neccessary.

takes 10 mins or under :D

Julia
x
 
You have my sympathy - after 7 years of part livery Ive just switched to DIY for my two, who are reknowned as the dirtiest horses on the yard.

First day I got there 8.30am and left 2.30pm! (with no riding!) but in defence I was cleaning under the mats where dreadful things lurk.

Ive switched them from shavings to straw, partly for cost, but also partly cos I actually find it MUCH quicker to muck out. Im really slow with shavings.

My big tips (as I am now a lot quicker than Day1 - down to 30-40 mins per stable which is unheard of for these two) is:

Get a decent broom. Someone on our yard bags the only decent one and props it outside their stable but wont let anyone else use it even if theyre not ready for it:mad:. I need a good one cos I have mats, so squeegee wont work. havent cracked this one yet!

Accept something less than perfection - the horse wont care as long as all the wet and most of the poops are out and his bed smells nice and is comfy.

Work out an order to do things which means you get several things done while you are in one area of the yard. it's amazing how much time you waste wandering up and down.

Turn them out or tie them up with a haynet asap when you get there in the morning to stop the sh*&^y little monsters trampling the poops around.

Good luck and remember you will get quicker as you do it more cos you'lll be fitter and more expert - at least that's the hope Im clinging to.....sadly you'll also have muscles like Popeye, rosy nose and cheeks and a slight scent of dung if my experience is anything to go by. But you'll sleep well!:D
 
Unless you have to, don't use haynets, chuck the pads of hay on stable floor, then shake out before use. If possible fill your water bucket in the stable (after rinsing ) with a hose, If your water pressure drops when others are using water, get it done before others arrive - so much quicker.
Keep all your mucking out tools handy so you can grab and get stuck in. Never walk across the yard empty handed,I keep a bot knife by my bales to cut the twine, which is safer than a pair of scissors with kids about and less likely to 'walk'.
Echo the mucking out advice and investing in the best brush you can, it is really worth it.
If you have a day when you have more time mix and bag your feeds dry and experiment with the most effective order for doing the tasks then stick with it, that way you won't get half way home and remember you forgot to do the water.
 
i occasionally do the rubber glove poo picking thing, but its not so kind on my back so i use a snow shovel which I sort of kick underneath the poo until it falls onto the shovel, then fork up the clean working round and then over the wet. then i fork up the wet into the barrow and sweep the floor. i must confess i tend not to turn my banks, maybe at weekends - they are nice and solid and offer good support should he get stuck.

one thing i would say about straw is that i find its actually easier the thicker the bed. when the bed is thin he tends to mash it in more, and less wee drains away so theres more wet in the bed.
 
BB is such a dirty moo!

I have little routine of Sunday - Friday:
Feed buckets out & rinsed.
Haynet done.
With fork, I scrape off good straw, and find poo's (usually just trodden into each other)
Layer good straw back in "holes" where poo's once were! Put in 3 sec's of straw to make look pretty ~ spray new straw with dettol !

Saturday:
Feed buckets out & scrubbed
Auto-water feeder scrubbed
Haynet done
Chuck out virtually everything in bed, and put in 2 bales of straw to start again with.

You'll soon get quicker, I used to be so slow until someone said to me, I had the fattest, laziest, un-worked horse on the yard, but a gleaming stable and spotless tack.... Mmmm, got me thinking! :eek::D
 
Some good tips here, they should help you.
But dont worry too much, youll get quicker the more times you do it.
I use straw too but i have rubber mats so i only use a small amount at the back of the stable.
Even so, when i first had my horse it took me AGES to muck out,do the hay,water feed etc. But now i do it in about 10-15 mins.
Putting hay straight on the floor rather than in a net is definatly time saving if you can:)
 
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