Need advise... Cleaning horse stalls

[LJMasonWy]

Hi everyone... I have a '12 Bobcat CT 445 with a full cab that I love. It does almost everything that we need from moving large rounds hay bales, 3x3, 3x4 & 4x4 hay bales, arena discing and dragging and tons of other things, however, our horse stalls are 12'x12' with 4' gates and 5' door into the runs. I can scrape the runs with my Bobcat, but can't even come close to getting inside a stall to do a good cleaning - remove all manure and old bedding and scrape to bare dirt.

Does anyone have any suggestions for a small machine that I can use inside the 12'x12' box stalls and maybe haul a manure cart? I'm considering a small (S70?) Bobcat Skid-steer or something similar or even a heavy Garden Tractor if I could find one with a good hydralic FEL, but I am looking for suggestions from anyone that uses machinary to clean box stalls.

thanks!!!

 

[sd455dan]

I guess a little clarification would help-
can you get the skid steer in the stall??

Our stalls are 11' +- @ the front and 12' deep, i clean it with the Rhino tractor and the round tine manure grapple (shown in my avatar) and usually can do 95% of the work without picking up a pitch fork.
before using an open round tined manure grapple it was a real chore- that usually ended up with the floor peeling and pushing up like a 6"to 1' thick piece of carpet.
If you are referring to a stall that has only a small entrance, I think that will be a more labor intensive clean up job-and do not know what would work best. my sister uses the Bobcat S250 and it is a great around the farm machine...but her stall entrances are 11' wide and the Bobcat has a tined grapple also

 

[TSO]

What about a small SCUT? If you're happy with your Daedong (Bobcat tractor) you can grab another one (Kioti) in SCUT form. I believe (from memory) the cs2410 is the model. It will cost less than a skid steer, I'm guessing around $12k ... but I'm not sure if it will be able to lift round bales. I think the loader will lift around 1000lbs or so.

There are alot of SCUT options available too if you shop outside of Daedong. And if loader lift is a concern, I believe the SCUT lines from LS & Mahindra currently have the strongest loaders in that segment.

 

[whistlepig]

We built a three sided run in shed in addition to our horse barn and leave the horses outdoors year round. Most of the manure is on the pasture. What manure that is in the three sided run in shed is easy to get to with a loader.

 

[cpar]

I would look at the toro dingo, Boxer mini skid steer and the Bobcat equivalent. They can be a bit expensive but have a lot of different uses and for the size you wont be short on power.

 

[WM75Guy]

Urine will soak into dirt pretty deep. With bare dirt floors using a tractor or skid loader will pull out dirt with every pass, if you can get it into the stall without tearing up walls. You will have to replace that pretty often or before long you will have a floor with a dip. We have 6" compacted rock for a base and 2"-3" of cushion sand over that covered with 3/4" stall mats. We use fine shavings or sawdust pellets on top of them. I use a fork to pick up the manure or wet material, strip them every weekend or two. I use a muck bucket and cart in the door and empty that into the FEL bucket, then carry it to the dumpster. Getting anything else into a stall isn't possible. We built in late 2009, just replaced the stall mats for the first time, probably should have done them last year, they did get a little torn up from our 1400 pound horses. They cost $40 each at TSC, takes 6 per stall. They cut pretty easily with a good sharp utility knife and a straight edge, I used a carpenter's square.