Monday, February 10, 2020
Pasture Vacuum
Keeping a clean pasture is vital to herd health. This process can take hours of your day, depending on how many animals you have. John was set on getting a pasture or poo vac to make the job easier but several breeders said that the vacuums weren't worth the money. The general consensus was that you spent more time unclogging them than actually being able to use one. After doing considerable research and speaking with an Alpaca rancher that has some 80 alpacas who owns two vacuums that he swore by, we decided to bite the bullet and get one.
We purchased the Trafalgar pasture vac. We bought the smaller of the two models almost a year ago and we couldn't be happier with it. Best equipment purchase we have made so far!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wOplt-Ww4U
http://www.danzigbros.com/Trafalgar_Paddock_Vacuums_horses_camelids_cleans_.html
The Trafalgar pasture vac not only saves us considerable time every day, it picks up poo better than we ever could with a rake and shovel. It is also a back saver. This particular vacuum has a fan that keeps the hose from becoming clogged. It empties into what looks like a large trash can. The end product is pure pellets that are easily dumped around plants and trees for fertilizer.
We've not had a bit of trouble with it. The Honda engine always starts,, but definitely works best with non-ethenol fuel. The only thing we've had to do is replace the hose. ( John is incredible rough on equipment) We found a 5 inch diameter leaf vac hose online that worked wonderfully.
Our justification in spending the money on this big purchase was, that if it could save just one of our alpacas from a deadly parasite infestation, is was well worth the money.