I got to thinking while pushing that wheelbarrow on our daily poop pick up.....

How can horses poop 50 pds a day and their intake of hay be 25 pds or so a day?  How do they keep weight on when they poop twice as much out as they ingest???

First time I've ever thought about it in 40 odd years of horse loving, which is probably odd too

It probably just FEELS like #50. Also, remember that the water in the poop is heavier than the manure itself, both what comes from the horse and what comes from the weather. Summer poop weighs a lot less than winter poop, partially b/c I scoop up more ground per pile in the winter.

48northfarm:

It probably just FEELS like #50. Also, remember that the water in the poop is heavier than the manure itself, both what comes from the horse and what comes from the weather. Summer poop weighs a lot less than winter poop, partially b/c I scoop up more ground per pile in the winter.

LOL....it feels like 100 lbs!!!  somedays anyhow.  That is the number that is quoted pretty much everywhere in books and the internet when reading about horse care.

you are so right though when you say it's alot of water, cuz, the pile sure shrinks down as it dries and turns to compost.

I have wondered that myself.

Especially of the horse that weighs 1,100 pounds and I can hardly lift the BIG aluminum shovel full of poop he leaves in one pile.  Sometimes I can't fit one pile onto that big aluminum shovel.

He leaves a minimum of five of those piles in his stall every night --- he should not weigh 1,100 pounds.  I have a horse that is two inches taller and also weighs 1,100 pounds.  I can get 1-1/3 piles of his poop on that aluminum shovel; maybe even 1-1/2 piles.

Not only is something wrong with that picture, something is wronnng with this conversation --- thanks for bringing this up

 This is a very good point.  Star keeps her weight pretty much on thin air. She doesn't get fed much at all -- just hay, with a handful of Safe Choice to keep her somewhat entertained while Annapolis eats his meals since he takes forever.

Compared to the mountains that come out the other end, I certainly wonder how that happens.

 I do my best thinking while scooping the poops, lol! They're in cahoots, yuh know. They figure the more they keep us busy at this job, the less time for riding. 

The pump froze at the barn tonight. I had to fill a barrel from the house by hand. Now that's a 100lbs! I was thinking that I wouldn't be able to keep this up and tried the pump before I left, one more time and it worked.....grrrrrrrr!  Carrying water is worse than poo any day!

Missyclare:

 I do my best thinking while scooping the poops, lol! They're in cahoots, yuh know. They figure the more they keep us busy at this job, the less time for riding. 

The pump froze at the barn tonight. I had to fill a barrel from the house by hand. Now that's a 100lbs! I was thinking that I wouldn't be able to keep this up and tried the pump before I left, one more time and it worked.....grrrrrrrr!  Carrying water is worse than poo any day!

There's a lot of truth to that.  We got tired of carrying hot water to the barn a few years back and sprung for two heated stock tanks and heated buckets for the stalls.

I used to live on the OH/PA border and still chillingly remember the horror when things froze up.  I have always wondered how you folks in the areas with real cold manage your livestock.

 The OH/PA border was as cold as I ever wanted to be and is why I decided to retire to Middle Tennessee.  There's still below freezing days and still times when the ice gets too thick for the horses to break thru and they get shut in the front pasture, but it isn't never ending like it used to be.

 I tip my hat to anyone that lives where it's cold enough to put your horse in the cabin with you when you're moving cattle