Manure Harvesting Tips & Tricks

Title meant to be amusing--but I do really need some good ideas for making a future project (next week maybe) easier, logistically.

So we will have two (2) citified women of average strength (and a 6 y.o. girl tagging along!), a large white (alas!) pickup truck, and the opportunity to harvest clean cow manure about 30 minutes away from the nascent homestead.

There are a bunch on not-so-smart ways we could do this, involving tarps and 5-gallon buckets--what are the ways to make this as easy as possible? What do you do, or what would you do?

Park as close as you can, and shovel directly into the truck if possible. (I’m assuming there is no machine to load the truck?) If you are doing five gallon buckets, only fill them to a manageable weight. No reason to break buckets, or your back. Carry one in each hand for balance. I wouldn’t recommend a tarp, except for under and/or covering your load. Keep your eyes on the prize, and try to enjoy the work.. you are earning it!

Is the manure already removed from the barn? If not, depending on the bedding used it may be helpful to use a heavy hoe to chop into solidified layers. In this case I also recommend pointed shovel and manure forks that will make it easier to bite into the material.

Cristobal Cristo wrote:Is the manure already removed from the barn? If not, depending on the bedding used it may be helpful to use a heavy hoe to chop into solidified layers. In this case I also recommend pointed shovel and manure forks that will make it easier to bite into the material.

I am pretty sure we will be collecting it out of the field with shovels. I will ask, to double-check though!