Any ingenious ways to get this done? I’m going to buy a 75 bushel spreader. It holds 10-15 full wheelbarrows. It will have to sit outside the barn.
Did you build a ramp? Other ideas? Photosent would be great!
Thanks.
http://eventingnation.com/two-days-as-a-working-student-for-sinead-halpin/
Here is what Sinead Halpin’s barn does…
I’ve seen where instead of building a ramp to the manure spreader, a barn actually dug a ‘drive through’ ditch of sorts (concrete reinforced on the ground and walls) that at the deepest part allowed the manure spread to be level with the ground. It was amazing. More expensive to build? Yes. Infinitely easier to use? Yes!
I’ll try to find a photo.
Another post on it I came across:
http://www.chronofhorse.com/forum/showthread.php?268588-Spin-off-from-the-manure-spreader-threads-What-about-ramps-for-them
I just clean into muck tubs sitting in my Rubbermaid wheelbarrow and dump. It’s not ingenious but it is easy.
Hmmm. Not hard on your back with the muck tubs?
well, I don’t think so and I have a fairly bad back but my spreader is also not super high on the sides. and since the tubs are in the wheelbarrow it involves more tipping than lifting.
Following because I am interested in some of the creative ideas people come up with.
I was at a barn that used a ramp to a spreader (just like the first one mountainhorse posted) and I must say I probably had one of my worst injuries from it. It had just rained out and the ramp had wooden slats to help with grip. The ramp was quite steep and I slipped going up (and I’m really not a clumsy/weak person, but that ramp was like ice!). Not only did I fall back right on to one of the slats with my knee, I also scraped my whole shin down it. Then the wheelbarrow tipped back ontop of me as well. Quite the sight! I chipped a piece of my knee and it still hurts me to kneel on it to this day. My leg was also about 3 times the size of the other one for quite some time (I have some nice scaring and a dent in my shin now). I would never build a manure ramp like that. I couldnt imagine how it would be like after snow/ice…
Now I have been in a few barns that have a raised floor and the manure spreader is parked below. You just have to dump the wheelbarrow/skips inside and they are just wonderful! No ramps, easy peasy!! I don’t have any pictures of it though 
We use manure baskets in manure carts and dump the baskets in the spreader, that the sides are not very high.
Just don’t fill the buckets so full you have to strain to lift and dump them.
Or use the FEL on the tractor to dump the buckets in the aisle and then drive to the spreader to dump it in there.
No higher you need a ramp, you could make a little hill you can run up, then dump on the spreader right below it.
The wall to keep that half hill from collapsing could be a few railroad ties, no need to concrete it, until you know that is what you want to do.
Ramps are the devil. I’d rather put my back out slinging muck tubs than risking my neck on a wet ramp. Of course, the ideal situation is if you can dig the spreader spot down lower than your surrounding area so instead of people using a ramp, the spreader backs down a ramp. Of course that isn’t always possible, but even getting the spreader 2 feet lower would be that much less grade on your ramp.
Don’t know of any easy and or really cheap way to go about it. Ramps work fine if they are designed and engineered/built properly. The length of the ramp on the majority I have seen are too short. So the pitch, grade is too steep like the one in the linked picture.
They are not hard to build properly with a couple of basic tools and a few hundred dollars in materials.
[QUOTE=SmartAlex;8951982]
Ramps are the devil. I’d rather put my back out slinging muck tubs than risking my neck on a wet ramp. Of course, the ideal situation is if you can dig the spreader spot down lower than your surrounding area so instead of people using a ramp, the spreader backs down a ramp. Of course that isn’t always possible, but even getting the spreader 2 feet lower would be that much less grade on your ramp.[/QUOTE]
I second that ramps are the devil, to be avoided at all costs. Accident and injuries waiting to happen. How about a manure loading dock, so that you dump from ground level, while the spreader as at a lower grade? Something like this: https://fairhopefarm.wordpress.com/2011/06/18/the-loading-dock/
http://blackburnarch.com/2014/08/07/exploding-manure-and-other-barn-fire-hazards/ Another loading dock, where spreader would be lower than ground level. Third photo down
It’s a real issue. On one hand, cleaning the barn needs to be workable, and it certainly is easier to dump muck down into a lower spreader. However, I do think it is tricky to build this type of thing (ramp or “loading dock” or “drive through pit”) in such a way that it is workable. You need to imagine being able to use it safely in snowy/icy/rainy/dark conditions. You also need to imagine horses getting loose and make sure it isn’t something that a loose and nutty horse could use as part of a suicide attempt. Those are some definite design challenges.
[QUOTE=BeeHoney;8952421]
It’s a real issue. On one hand, cleaning the barn needs to be workable, and it certainly is easier to dump muck down into a lower spreader. However, I do think it is tricky to build this type of thing (ramp or “loading dock” or “drive through pit”) in such a way that it is workable. You need to imagine being able to use it safely in snowy/icy/rainy/dark conditions. You also need to imagine horses getting loose and make sure it isn’t something that a loose and nutty horse could use as part of a suicide attempt. Those are some definite design challenges.[/QUOTE]
It it’s easy to build if you have a the right terrain or are doing a bunch of excavating. I have one along the lines to of the last one I posted. I’ve thought of building another smaller one opposite end of the arena from the big concrete one. In this case, I’d build one like a boat dock off the side of a hill, sink posts, like this: https://diysmallwoodboat.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/build-a-boat-dock.jpg?w=530 Easy to fence it off.
An uphill ramp comes with all sorts of safety issues too. Pushing a heavy wheelbarrow uphill on slippery wood, bowing boards, snowy, icy, rainy, darkness can cause all sorts of injuries.
ramp is easy if you put asphalt strips on it
[QUOTE=fordtraktor;8951666]
I just clean into muck tubs sitting in my Rubbermaid wheelbarrow and dump. It’s not ingenious but it is easy.[/QUOTE]
This. Don’t fill the muck tubs 100% if making them lighter makes the job easier
How is your barn set up?
Mine is a center aisle, and I just drive the spreader through the barn and muck directly into it. Saves time, saves your back, but certainly depends on how accessible your stalls are.
I’ve done the wheelbarrow/ramp/spreader pit thing a@ nd have no intention of doing that again. Yes, the aisle is blocked while I muck. I muck fast.
We just dump the wheelbarrows into a pile and use the FEL to fill the spreader when we have enough for a full load, or an area that needs manure spread on it. This also allows the manure to “compost” for a while so it is more beneficial to the soil vs. “fresh” manure/bedding.
We NEVER EVER EVER store any manure in the spreader, even for a day or two. The spreader gets used, hosed out and put away. The acids in manure and bedding will eat the metal in the spreader if it is left to sit…
[QUOTE=Color of Light;8952355]
http://blackburnarch.com/2014/08/07/exploding-manure-and-other-barn-fire-hazards/ Another loading dock, where spreader would be lower than ground level. Third photo down[/QUOTE]
That is a photo of a composting set up, not a dock.
Sadly, my center aisle has an arena on one end that you couldn’t drive through. We have a big pile outside now. It’s ugly and smelly and bad for flies in summer. I don’t think I have ground that would work for the pit style, wish I did.
