# What to do with horse manure?



## aspin231

I strongly suggest composting your manure if your area allows it- and check regulations in your area, some have some freaky rules about manure.

This is a good reference for composting: Tip: How to Compost and Use Horse Manure

Good luck! You can sell the compost too if you're not interested in gardening.


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## HorsesRForever

Thanks for the reply 

I read that article, but it just seems so difficult to make! I'm horrible at construction 

I like the idea though, but wouldn't it stink up at first? Also, doesn't manure needed to be mixed with like a bunch of nutrients and hay? So, what do I do with manure after I put in a compost, like how would I sell it? Is it safe for gardening? Sorry, I'm such a amateur at this poop business. However, I am determined to get better


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## Poseidon

I work at the barn I board my horse at 3 days a week. We use a manure spreader attached to a John Deere 300x Loader that we spread out in a field next to the barn. Looks very similar to this model: http://images1.americanlisted.com/nlarge/new_holland_manure_spreader_2500_archdale_nc_14175327.jpg


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## Saddlebag

For the pasture I just drag an old box spring (from a bed) with an atv. It does a good job of scattering the manure, the sun kills any worm eggs and the nutrients are returned to the soil. Barn cleanings, a small dump garden cart with a hitch is handy. To compost the manure just throw a plastic tarp on the ground then start piling. Try to do it so the oldest stuff will be around the perimeter. Gardeners are often happy to come get it. Rhubarb loves horse manure.


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## PaintCowgirl

a sh*t slinger and a tractor and it fertilizes the fields. we have a giant one because we have to clean the barn out from 500+ head cattle too. i use a bob cat with a bucket and scoop it into the slinger and head to the fields. typically not on plow ground, but hay ground.


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## MangoRoX87

I dump all our manure around the base of the trees at my place. Also, we stacked up rail-road ties in a square shape, with one open side and dump stuff in their too. It's currently full, so we have to use the trees XD 
I'd even just pile it up in a corner of your pasture.


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## Left Hand Percherons

Putting manure in the trash is an expensive and wasteful way to get rid of it. Manure has valuable nutrients beneficial to your land. 1 ton of manure will have about 10# of nitrogen. Might not sound like much but over the course of a year, one horse can provide free fertilizer for 3-4 acres that you would be paying upwards of $200 for otherwise.

You can compost but it isn't necessary. You can buy a tractor and manure speader but it isn't necessary either. You can take your freshly gathered poop and dump and rake it out on the field. Spread it out so it's a thin layer (1/2 inch) so it will dry out faster and it won't burn or choke out the grass. With 20 acres, you will break down the property into smaller areas that you can rotate through. Dump the poop on one area and leave that area fallow for a month or so until the poop disappears. Let the grass grow than move to the next area. Any poop you add is going to improve the quality of your soil as it will add humus that will hold more water. You're probably 99% sand that isn't the best for growing grass. Manure with alot of bedding and hay is better to compost because those products are not going to break down quickly without heat and moisture.

Keep in mind that the link on the compost bins is for WA. You don't need to cover your piles unless you are going to get too much rain and your piles become super saturated. The piles heating up in the sun are going to decompose faster. A good compost pile has no smell or flies.


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## FlyGap

Great tips guys.
I just scatter it. I also compost what gets left in the barn in a small mixed pile and use it in my gardens.
If you just want to get rid of it instead of composting/scattering and you are going to gather it up anyways... Put an add up at the local Co-op or garden center for free manure. People will come get it.
Throwing it in a dumpster would be nasty/expensive and in a lot of areas they wouldn't take it.


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## maura

If you have 20 acres and 1 horse, you won't have much of a problem. 

If the 20 acres is subdivided/cross-fenced, rotating the horse from one paddock to another will mostly eliminate the need to harrow or break up the manure, though it is still good practice. 

If you are keeping the horse in a stall part time, or have run in sheds to clean out, the manure spreader, either pulled by a tractor or ATV, is an excellent solution. 

You can also dig a simple manure pit, or keep it in a pile. Not as efficient as true composting, but it will still break down and make excellent fertilizer, and keeping it in a pile or pit will keep it off the grazing. 

Anything you do (simple pit, pile, etc.) to speed composting will pay off as people will absolutely haul composted or aged, rotted manure away for gardens.


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## iridehorses

I have mine on 18 acres and I brush hog it 2x during the summer. That takes care of the field. The paddock area is picked up and piled. I run an ad on Craigslist and people come for the free fertilizer.


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## Delfina

You most likely will have zero chance of selling it. I always giggle whenever I see someone trying to sell their "fabulous horse manure compost" on Craigslist because there are 30 other people desperately trying to give it away before they have to pay to haul it elsewhere.

I use an arena drag and spread the manure around the pastures.

I am extremely rural and there is no trash service except for dumpsters. So every other Tuesday (dumpster empty day), I fill up whatever empty space is on my dumpster with excess cow/pig/chicken manure. Particularly the pig poop... STINKY!! I pay a monthly fee on the dumpster full or not-full so I don't have a problem filling it up. Tractor bucket to fill it, shovel the manure in the bucket, dump the bucket in the dumpster.

Garbage truck comes today so I cleaned out the chicken coop, it's fenced to keep coyotes away and in a moment of non-thinking used a tiny gate, so I rake their coop contents into feed bags (coop is raised, so just set the bags under the big door and rake the contents in), then pile the full bags in the tractor bucket and go dump them.


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## Dreamcatcher Arabians

I put the barn manure in long, low piles at the rear of the property. It takes about 2 years to turn into 'Black Gold' for fertilizing if you do nothing to it. I will occasionally take a stick and poke holes in the pile and pour a bottle of Pepsi or Coke into the holes to add sugar and create a little more heat to speed up the composting. It doesn't stink, it doesn't attract flies. I also have a couple folks from town who come out and take the composted manure to fertilize their gardens and in return do a chore or 2 around the place. 

The pasture manure gets 'dragged' to break it up and spread it. I don't normally have too much need to do that, but because of the drought, the poo is drying out and not breaking down as quickly as it would if we were getting our usual rain and humidity. When I lived in the desert, I'd drag 2 or 3 times/week, here I drag once every 2 weeks during drought, maybe only 2 or 3 times/year when it's normal weather.


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## Corporal

I've lived with my horses in the back yard for 11 years now. I do NOT own a tractor...yet (got my eye on one, though..ship needs to come in.) I just have a couple of grain shovels and a couple of wheelbarrows and lots of elbow grease. I am also a gardener and I have researched both aging manure for amending my soil AND removing manure to keep down my horse's parasite loads.
Here is what I have discovered:
1) Do NOT spread manure on pastures where your horses graze.
Manure and Pasture Management for Horse Owners: Managing Manure by Spreading on Cropland or Pasture
Pile it into mounds and let the heat produced during decomposition kill the eggs _before_ you spread on your pastures.
2) For garden use it takes 4 months for horse manure to leach out the acids that burn most plants. Roses, for example love it spread around them fresh. Gardeners (like me) mix it with soil to create and grow microbes which, in turn, continuously break down the refuse into usable compost which fertilize their vegetables and flowers. I do NOT have to buy Miracle-Grow. It only works once anyway.
http://www.livingthecountrylife.com/gardening/putting-down-horse-manure/
THIS article conflicts with the advice I've read and gotten from my gardening forum friends. I've NEVER burned my crops with 4 month-agred manure, just FYI.
http://www.almanac.com/content/manure-guide
3) If you get busy--_who here has time on their hands?!?!? I want YOU come over to MY place and help *me!!!*_ lol--and forgot your manure pile, it will turn into dirt in about one year.
4) Fluffy pine shavings take 5 years to decompose, BUT they provide what gardeners call "tilth" and help to break up garden soil, so they're beneficial, too. Sawdust, used Equine Fresh, and fine pine shavings break down sooner and gardeners can use it bc pine isn't toxic, like other woods are.
5) Gardeners will take your stall waste, including straw. Provide them with empty grain bags to bag it. They're mostly all plastic, now, and they can roll down and duct tape the tops to prevent messes in their car. All stall leavings help gardeners, but some complain that they get oats, corn and grass seeds which sprout next to their tomatoes. Tell 'em that the money they save taking away your horse's leftovers can be spent on "Preen", or on plastic covers left on the bake the soil for about a week and kill any unwanted seeds in them. Gardeners take straw or hay and mulch and cover delicate seedlings with it--nothing goes to waste in the...waste.
6) NONE of the parasite's eggs that hatch in my garden beds make their way to my horse's mouths. NONE of the parsite eggs that hatch in my garden beds eat my vegetables and flowers. They hatch out there and die there. Good riddence.
Hope this helps you!! I didn't know what to do with all the manure, either, 10 years ago. =b


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## gunslinger

I love my newerspreader.

Newer Spreader


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## trailhorserider

I pile it and pray the neighbor's haul it away. My "big pile" has been there about two years and I have a neighbor with a tractor who keeps promising to come and get it. I have tried spreading it, but as we live in Arid-zona (Arizona) it stays in little round horse poop balls and looks awful for several years if I spread it on the ground. My family hates it when I do that. :lol:

About the only good use I have found for it is adding to my round pen to fluff up the rock hard clay soil. The horses grind it in when I round pen them and the soil gets fluffier. Other than that, I pray the gardening neighbors come and haul it off. :lol: It should be excellent for gardening by now.


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## Druydess

I actually make compost and use it in my garden.. A harvest is already around the corner..


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## Lockwood

I'm rather lazy and cheap. 
I clean the manure up just fine, but I don't want to spend the money on a spreader, nor do I want to hassle with turning piles multiple times for hot composting, so I do the slow and cold method.

I pile it up, let the chickens have at it and forget about it until the following year when I need some organic matter to add to a new flower bed. Then I go looking for it. 
Whoops, the chickens did such a good job of scratching and composting for me, now I can't find it... time to start a new pile.


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## Celeste

If you stack it up, it composts itself. And horse manure doesn't stink. Except to city folks.........


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## Corporal

*Join a Gardening Forum*



trailhorserider said:


> I pile it and pray the neighbor's haul it away. My "big pile" has been there about two years and I have a neighbor with a tractor who keeps promising to come and get it. I have tried spreading it, but as we live in Arid-zona (Arizona) it stays in little round horse poop balls and looks awful for several years if I spread it on the ground. My family hates it when I do that. :lol:
> 
> About the only good use I have found for it is adding to my round pen to fluff up the rock hard clay soil. The horses grind it in when I round pen them and the soil gets fluffier. Other than that, I pray the gardening neighbors come and haul it off. :lol: It should be excellent for gardening by now.


Here's one that I'm on~
TheEasyGarden - Gardening Forum
I'm sure that some of my TEG forum friends who live in AZ will be HAPPY to take your pile away! =D


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## mmsmithsr

Hello, we have two horses on 1 acre and its getting pretty bad I have been picking it up with my wheel borrow and piling it up for for fertilizing for my front and back yard for this spring, but its is getting to be more then I can handle! I was wondering when it dries up some one told me to burn it, is that a good thing to do? and has any one else done that? and if so does it burn okay or not? Thank you for your help! Alisa


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## Loon Watcher

I use my horse's manure as fertilizer. It works really well!

You can ask someone to haul it away. Barns where they have 25+ horses, they give manure away for free.

I've never thought about burning horse manure. Cow manure, on the other hand, is good for long-lasting fires.


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## Captain Evil

I don't have any pasture, just an acre of wet and boggy woodland, with trails (not very good ones) running through it for Ahab to plod along. 

I used to have a big dumpster that got hauled away once a month, but that is 100 bucks, and we always have boats in the way that have to be moved, so it is a pain.

One barn I leased had a big hollow foundation pit from an old barn, and we just chucked the manure in there. Another barn we piled it up and it became gorgeous dirt.

Now I have a trailer, and I pile the poop in and haul it to the local cow farm, where the owner is crazy for poop. He has these worms, they're some sort of top secret worm and he is quite protective of them: they are red and over a foot long. I think they may be contraband worms. Anyway, he takes all the poop I can give him.

In the winter everything grinds to a disgusting halt. Snow covers everything, the manure freezes into concrete pile and can't be gotten up, and access to the cow farm is impossible. I'm thinking of spray painting all the poop balls gold and silver and selling them for Christmas tree ornaments.


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## SueNH

No construction skills needed.


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## Celeste

What if you dry it out, bag it up, and sell it to city folks to fertilize their flowers with..........


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## KatieQ

If you are in a rural or semi-rural area, like me, you can usually find neighbours who are willing to come and take the manure for their gardens. I keep mine in piles in the paddock and have a neighbour who comes with his tractor (with a loader) and picks it up fairly regularly. In the larger pasture I just spread it with a chain harrows behind the garden tractor and let it fertilize the pasture. I try to keep my piles consistently in the same spots and my horses have learned to go and poop there (most of the time).


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## Ryle

Do not spread uncomposted manure on a pasture/paddock that a horse is currently in or will be in shortly. While drying will shorten the life span of infective small strongyle larva they are still going to be on the pasture and able to infect horses for several weeks. Sunlight also doesn't kill ascarid (roundworm) eggs. These eggs can remain viable in pastures for up to 10 years or more. 

By spreading manure on pastures with horse's in them, you take away the horse's natural method for limiting parasite reinfection rates--not eating near feces. In general horses will select areas to defecate and areas to eat. This method of dividing available space means that they don't eat in areas where infective larva and eggs are likely to be. When we spread uncomposted manure, we spread the eggs and thus the larva all over and prevent the horse's from being able to selectively graze uncontaminated areas. 

Manure should only be spread on pastures when horses will be off of them for at least 3-4 weeks if the temperatures are very warm (over 85 degrees F) and the humidity is low. If the temperatures are moderate or the humidity is high then several months are necessary to allow significant numbers of small strongyle larva to die. 

Pasture Management for Parasite Control | TheHorse.com


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## Foxtail Ranch

I feed my equines a little whole barley and/or whole oats. The birds love to pick through their piles and spread the poop around. For whatever is left, I use a chain harrow to break it up and spread it out.


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## JAultman

If I may just piggy-back on this thread...

I've had horses for just 6 months now. NO horse experience prior to last September. I kept up with the manure cleaning through last fall, then winter hit... And now I have 4 months of manure knee-deep in my only paddock. It was pretty much impossible to stay ahead of in the winter, since it would freeze in the deep snow, then be buried in snow the next day.

So now I have (2 horses x 50 pounds/horse/day x 120 days = ) about 12,000 pounds of manure to gather and deal with, and it's a wet soupy mess right now. This spring came on hard, going from 20 degrees below zero to 50 above in less than a week. I feel terrible that the horses are trodding around in that cr*p, so I've been cleaning up as time allows. I'm sure you've all experienced it, but the manual clean up is really overwhelming.

Which brings me to this - what are your best tips for optimizing my manure management efforts?

Collecting: I don't have machinery, can't buy it. Are a wagon/cart and pitchfork the best tools?

Storing: currently I have a pile in the "back" corner of the paddock (paddock is only about 0.7 acres) Is this okay? Will I have fly and other bug problems? Would it be wiser to pile it in the woods somewhere? I want to keep it accessible in case I ever find someone who will haul it away for free.

"Disposing": I only have 6 acres. less than 1 acre is the paddock. about 2 acres is the yard where my kids play. The rest is heavily wooded and hilly. What would you recommend I do with the manure pile when it gets too big?

Thanks for reading this, and any tips you have are welcomed!


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## Celeste

One thing that I would do immediately is to fence in the wooded acres so that your horses have access to more land. They will hang out under the trees in the woods and make poop piles you don't have to clean. You can't keep letting them walk in poop if you want to keep them healthy. 

As for the mess you have now, you need to get it cleaned up. Maybe you can find some volunteer help. If there is nothing else to do with it, put it in the woods. Don't put it close to a stream or the EPA will get on your case.


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## JAultman

Celeste, thanks for your reply. I do have some of the wooded land in their "pasture". Also, for what it's worth, I'm not relying on the land for them to feed at all. I feed them hay all year. So for the paddock size... I see horses in smaller paddocks on ranches everywhere around me. I feel like if I gave them ten acres to roam, they'd just stand still 95% of the time anyway. If I keep that area clean (which I admittedly did NOT do this winter), is the size really a problem?

Still on that subject - as far as incorporating more wooded land to their pasture - is it hazardous to them if it's all tightly-spaced red pine? On average, the pines are about 4 - 8 feet apart, with substantial underbrush in some areas. Would they still use the extra space?

What does everyone do with their manure in the winter time? I don't know how I should have avoided this springtime mess, other than chiseling their crap out of the ice/snow every night. But when there's over a foot of snow and VERY cold temps November through March (typically), it just seems crazy to be picking up after them every day.

I am admittedly naive and probably pretty bad at this so far. I AM, however, willing to learn and get better. First thing will be cleaning up this mess, then worry about the big pile later.

Thanks again.


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## SueNH

TI'm in the same boat every spring with the manure. I do try to get what I can up before it sinks into the snow and freezes to the ground but a lot gets missed.
The utility sled makes it easier and I use right through mud season. I still have 2 feet of snow on the ground at this point. Was snowing this morning. Another storm is in the wings for next weekend. It will be at least a month yet before I see the ground.
My horses can wander 20 acres but they are older mares and once the snow is over a few inches they don't bother. In front of the barn it's a mess. I pick up what I can daily when I feed which is probably less than half of it but I try. Now it's just starting to melt so I'm picking up a little old and a little new each round. I don't risk frostbite for a few piles. I'll wait if the temps are insane.

I actually have 2 of those utility sled. One I use to move hay, the other manure. Washing things out is kind of problematic in the dead of winter so I just keep it separate until I can use the hose with ease again.

It's probably a 40x40 spot that's been used heavily as a toilet spot. I've learned to not look up and keep raking and shoveling. Just concentrate on a small spot at arms length. When the sled is loaded I pull it off to my dumping area. Flip it and start again.

If I'm lucky I can get in there and really go for it before the ground thaws. I can load the sled to the max if I'm using the truck. I'm on river bottom land and it gets really wet in spots I can't avoid. I'd sink out of sight. So I get 2 or 3 days of clear ground where I can really attack and then it's back to pulling by hand until the mud dries.

Pine trees won't bother them a bit. Sap will come off their hair with cooking oil.

Sometimes a big hoe will chop out the frozen piles. Sometimes an iron rake will pull them loose.

You really do have to at least try to get some out all winter long. It's really bad for them to be standing in wet manure. I get less than half before it becomes one with the ice but that is that much less I have to haul in the spring.

Start raking. Don't look up. Haul away more than they produce daily and you will get there.

An ad on craigslist for free manure usually gets a few in the spring.
I've been saving my old feed sacks for the last few weeks now so I can fill them up and bring them to a few old neighbors who garden. My back won't take forking into the truck anymore.


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## JAultman

SueNH, now that was inspirational! 

Time to put the nose to the grindstone, and figure out efficiencies as I go.

I can make excuses all day about last winter, but it's behind me now. So next winter the cleanup will continue just like summer/fall, and I won't be stuck in this mess again.

Thanks again!

Last thing - what about piling it in the back of the pasture? Is that okay? 

I've already found one neighbor interested in some manure. It would be ideal to get enough "customers" to take away one year worth of manure every year! I'll use some in my garden, too.


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## mrwithers

I've been working with my county conservation district on a pasture plan and learned a lot recently about all this.
Someone already mentioned this but never spread raw manure on your pasture. It has to be composted first. The grass won't grow well in raw manure and most horses won't eat grass near manure. This is also why you should pick it up regularly from the grazing paddocks.
In heavy rain areas (probably where you live in Florida I'm guessing) you should cover the pile before it rains. All you really need to do that is a tarp but obviously the best solution is to build a manure shed.


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## SueNH

https://www.google.com/search?q=pallet+compost&safe=off&rls={moz:distributionID}:{moz:locale}:{mozfficial}&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=GGYIVciSA4u3yQTNlIKgCw&ved=0CAgQ_AUoAg&biw=1440&bih=751

Something I would do if I didn't have tons of room. No building skills required. And if you can position it where somebody can get in and out with a pickup you're in business.

Sounds silly but I also used to have a mini wheelbarrow, rake and shovel for my daughter when she was little. I got more work out her as a 4 yr old than I did as a teen.
Oh darn that link won't work. Just google "pallet, compost" and tons of neat pictures come up


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## Saddlebag

If you have a spare 45 gal. barrel, save the manure and old hay/straw and build a smudge in the barrel. The smoke will drive the bugs away. The air needs to be pretty calm for this to work. It's a cold smoke so may rise 15' in the air then settle back down. The ashes from the smudge are excellent for the garden.


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## Celeste

Maybe the link will work here. 

I find that the more area that the horses have to roam on, the less manure I have to shovel.


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## jenkat86

If you don't have tractors or heavy machinery, SueH's suggestion is great! You may try looking into renting a small tractor with a scoop, too. 

The property my horses are on is 40+ acres. Only 5 of those acres are fenced for the horses though. And those 5 acres are split in 2 areas. We use a Gator with a dump bed and dump the poo in the corn/bean fields, which makes up the rest of the property. When the fields are too muddy, or the crops have been planted- we spread the manure along a rather small grassy strip between the fields. We really only have about 3 good weeks to dump things in the fields. So that grassy area gets quite a bit of manure, but it's far enough away from everything that it never becomes a problem. In the dead of winter when the gator doesn't want to start, we use one of those utility sleds. It's a bit more work...but it gets the job done.


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## SueNH

The other lifesaver I use:










Easier on me by far than the wheelbarrow. I don't have to hold it steady and it has a dump bed that I just tip like a real dump truck.


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## Acadianartist

SueNH said:


> The other lifesaver I use:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Easier on me by far than the wheelbarrow. I don't have to hold it steady and it has a dump bed that I just tip like a real dump truck.


Stupid question... what do you call this thing? And where do you get it? I'm looking under wheelbarrow and under wagon - no luck


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