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Barnmice Community -> Barnmice Forums -> Stable Management -> Shavings and tips on how to clean the stalls efficiently
Post Info TOPIC: Shavings and tips on how to clean the stalls efficiently
Beemagdane


Foal

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Posts: 2
Date: Feb 23, 2011
Shavings and tips on how to clean the stalls efficiently
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Hello all,

I am new to this forum and also new to horses.  My daughter adopted 2 horses last year and we are learning as we go.  We have just had Stable Comfort mattresses installed and are delighted with them.  Before the Stable Comfort, we bedded on straw.  I am in my early 60s and found the straw to be very heavy to muck out so we changed to the mattresses and shavings.  The straw just never seemed clean either and our Angel has the heaves and could not deal with the dust.

I am still finding the mucking out to be very time consuming and have come here to see if any of you seasoned horse-people have any tips for me.  I have a small plastic rake, a larger plastic rake and a fine-tine plastic rake.  The manure tends to crumble and fall through the tines no matter what rake I use.  Please, please help me here.  It is taking me an hour to work through a 10' x 15' stall and I feel that is too long.  Our Shady is very messy and wanders all around and through the manure, whereas, our Angel seems to go just at the back of her stall and does not play in the manure.

Any and all tips will be very gratefully received.  Telling me how to start off would be a help... I just go to the edges and start sifting through everything as I pile it up and then when I have it all clear in the middle, I flick the shavings back across the stall, finding tons of manure crumbs where I have to bend down and pick these little bits up individually.  Both backbreaking and time consuming.  Are there better tools I could get?  If so, please point me to the URL and I will buy whatever it takes to do a great job in a shorter time.  :)

Anyway, thank you so much for your time...  I look forward to all of the advice... :)

Me at the Funny Farm...

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justice


Grand Prix

Status: Offline
Posts: 532
Date: Feb 23, 2011
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Hi, Beemagdane, Welcome to the Forum : )

Bless you for adopting!


I am not familiar with stall 'mattesses' so can't advise other than generally. Regardless of stall flooring, the poo has to go, along with the wet.

The amount/type of bedding will directly influence the time spent sifting, as I am sure you have learned : ). Sounds like you have the right tools, maybe more bedding than needed? Are your horses turned out most of the day? Can they be turned out night/day unless bad weather is active? Less bedding/lighter work in these conditions. If not able to extend the out time, three to four inches is pretty nice. You can try setting up the stalls with the bedding in the back half only, hay/water/grain up front...

 Medium to lighter pine shavings are common in my world, many like outright sawdust or straw, which has already proven a non-option for you. Me, too... not a fan of straw. Peat moss and paper shreds have been utilized but there is not a lot of info out there on the pros/cons.

For fifty years, I have been "rolling my stalls off the wall", very similar to your description. This is a common and proven method so you are on a good path: ). I will first pick all the intact piles and anything obvious that fits on the fork, then go for the wet spot(s). Horses will present predictable stall patterns even in the seemingly random placement of their 'treasures,' including wet spots. The rest gets thrown, lightly so as not to break it up too badly, on the wall and picked thru. Those tiny little pieces are easier to pick up in bulk than one at a time; sacrifice a few shavings, you will sleep better, trust me : )

Every one has their own style, some more anal than others (not a bad thing unless y'gotta work with a retentive one ; ), but the bottom line is a clean stall daily. Find the settling rhythm in the tranquility of your chores, enjoy: )



-- Edited by justice on Wednesday 23rd of February 2011 01:12:58 PM

-- Edited by justice on Wednesday 23rd of February 2011 01:37:34 PM

-- Edited by justice on Wednesday 23rd of February 2011 01:40:36 PM

-- Edited by justice on Wednesday 23rd of February 2011 01:42:10 PM

-- Edited by justice on Wednesday 23rd of February 2011 01:43:32 PM

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"....there is no normal life, Wyatt, there's just life..."
Michelle Synnot


Yearling

Status: Offline
Posts: 11
Date: Feb 23, 2011
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Hey there.. I'm a self boarder with two jobs, I like to get er' done as fast as possible!

I usually start from the door, sift through that and then work my way around the edges. I usually clear the shavings away where the hay goes I feed in the back corner as we have hay holes in the ceiling. I also clear the shavings away from the automatic waterers as they tend to drip. A really big wheelbarrow helps, then you don't have to make so many trips to the manure pile.

I make a pile in the front right corner of extra clean shavings so I don't have to go back to the fresh shavings pile every day. I also don't bed deep.. as we have rubber mats, I don't bed deeper than the length of my hand.. the cost of shavings over the last five years where we live has sky rocketed and we save money where we can.

I don't really sift, I grab a fork full and half sift/ half toss, and then pick out what's on top. Some horses are messier than others. My two year old goes through shavings twice as fast as my 8 yr old. Some of them just grind stuff right in there. I usually strip the whole stall every 4 or 5 days depending on what kind of turn out they've had that week.

To save time I also make up tupperware containers with their grain rations in advance.

RCP5642BLA.jpg The mother of all wheel barrows, THE RUBBERMAID!!


The best stall cleaning blog post ever!!

http://retreadeventer.blogspot.com/2010/03/religion-of-stall-cleaning.html

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"One man's wrong lead is another man's counter canter"
barnfrog


Advanced

Status: Offline
Posts: 223
Date: Feb 23, 2011
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I should take about 10-15 minutes to muck out.  Even less if you pick up multiple times a day.  Have a muck bucket, pick the poops with http://www.google.com/products/catalog?client=safari&rls=en&q=manure+fork&oe=UTF-8&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=3894071269576866906&sa=X&ei=f1xlTeGzIIWisAO0td39BA&ved=0CDAQ8wIwAA#ps-sellers  and then move the dry over and pick the wet spot.  Ideally I have (extra) dry 'banked' against the wall (once a week) and pull a little down in.

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Beemagdane


Foal

Status: Offline
Posts: 2
Date: Feb 24, 2011
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Thank you all so very much for the replies... you have been more helpful than you will ever know. :) The entire stable was cleaned out today in 45 minutes and that included getting blankets on the horses and turning them out, doing the stalls, sweeping the aisle and scrubbing buckets. You guys are the best!! Thank you again. Lin... who now has a lot more time on her hands... :)

-- Edited by Beemagdane on Thursday 24th of February 2011 11:03:01 AM

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justice


Grand Prix

Status: Offline
Posts: 532
Date: Feb 24, 2011
Permalink Closed

Well on your way to becoming a VERY good maid : )

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"....there is no normal life, Wyatt, there's just life..."
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