Manure Clean Up

One of the reasons for keeping large livestock is for their valuable manure. Both the sheep/goat and donkey manure gets used in the garden as fertilizer, with much of it being processed via composting. But how does it get from the pasture? 

I don't maintain very many large animals, currently just a small flock of sheep (10), one donkey, and 6 goats. While they have access to several areas, they tend to spend much of their time in one area. It's a favorite lounging and sleeping area, thus also a popular pooping spot. That makes gathering the manure a tad easier for me.

So, the poop has to be gathered in some fashion. While there are manure forks sized for horses, the tines are a tad far apart for picking up smaller donkey "balls". And forget using a fork in sheep & goat manure, they tend to pass nuggets the size of raisins. 

So, what to do? Hand pick up? That's backbreaking and slow. So I opt to use a pooper scooper, like what's made for dogs. But since they aren't available locally, I have my own version. 

Ace Hardware sells a brush rake in the gardening section and a dust pan on a stick in the household area. Put the two together and I have a pasture pooper scooper. No bending over. The rake gets the little nuggets. The dust pan holds just the right amount without getting to heavy. 

While I could use a five gallon bucket to hold the manure, I opt to use old feed sacks. They work fine for me. Plus they are easy to drag behind me as I clean up. No heavy bucket to carry.