Digging through frost?

[shvl73]

When our horse died, the small excavator cost $300.00 to rent for a day. I bought a backhoe, so I wouldn't have to rent again and wouldn't be at the mercy of not being able to get one on a Sunday, at night, etc...
So this brings me to this. A few of our pets (family members to us) are quite elderly. My thought is, if one dies during the winter, it would take a larger rental unit to get through the frost. Has anyone used a hammer drill or demo hammer to break up the frost, to enable you to use your own backhoe? Is this a foolish idea? The frost usually isn't that deep out in the field.
Would one of these work? Harbor Freight Tools - Quality Tools at the Lowest Prices

or this? Harbor Freight Tools - Quality Tools at the Lowest Prices

or finally, one of these two: Harbor Freight Tools - Quality Tools at the Lowest Prices
Harbor Freight Tools - Quality Tools at the Lowest Prices

This the only reason I can think I would need one for, so I'm hoping the HF units might be OK.
I have a generator, so electricity wont be an issue. I recall the guy that pumped out our septic tank one winter had a Bosch demo hammer, the big stand up kind, and it went right down through the frost quite well. He had about a 3" chisel on it.
I checked at HD and just the rental on a good demo hammer was over $100 a day.
Thanks for any input you guys can offer.
Torin

 

[scott_vt]

Mornin Torin,
The last chisel link that you posted looked pretty substantial to me. I have never done anything like that but I would think it would work, and as you say your septic guy used something similar and it worked fine ! As you know some winters the frost is not bad especially if we get any amount of snow cover before the real cold weather arrives ! For $400 I dont think you can go wrong with that unit.

 

[ToadHill]

Plan ahead, cover the "plot" with sever hay bales and the ground under them won't freeze.

 

[Unregistered2013]

ummm.. ever consider cremation?

 

[dirtworksequip]

Sounds like an awful weak excuse to buy a new toy. Place a few hay bales on the pet cemetary and forget the hammers.

 

[kensfarm]

Large farm animals are composted above ground.. ask your local ag agent about any laws that may be in place.

 

[shvl73]

Plan ahead, cover the "plot" with sever hay bales and the ground under them won't freeze.

We hope they live through winter, you just never know. They are all in good health, just that some are old. When she buried one of her chickens, something kept trying to dig her up. I ended up re-burying it deeper with the hoe. She's a bit protective of her birds and considers even those "pets" and having them dug up is not good.

 

[shvl73]

ummm.. ever consider cremation?

She won't hear of it. They get buried at home.
I don't even want to think what large animal cremation would cost.

 

[shvl73]

Large farm animals are composted above ground.. ask your local ag agent about any laws that may be in place.

If I told her that, I'd be the one composted. We're in a very rural spot and all the horse people we know bury on site.

 

[midlf]

If I told her that, I'd be the one composted. We're in a very rural spot and all the horse people we know bury on site.

We have two horses and two hogs buried next to our "barn". It is not legal or code to bury large animals here but the previous owners said "too bad" and dug. He made the comment that both horses had to choose to die in the winter. He dug through frost with a backhoe. The hogs were supposed to be raised for meat but acquired names and became pets before they could became bacon. They were somewhat reluctant to tell us about this.