[QUOTE=Sparky Boy;8952832]
It’s ugly and smelly and bad for flies in summer.[/QUOTE]
That’s why you need to turn it regularly so it cooks. That kills the fly eggs. There are virtually no flies on a compost pile.
[QUOTE=Sparky Boy;8952832]
It’s ugly and smelly and bad for flies in summer.[/QUOTE]
Not going to help with the smell or the look but I will say that Fly Predators do an amazing job of keeping the fly population on the manure pile down.
The best set-up I have used was where the back side of the barn was a natural drop off. The spreader was parked under a deck that ran the length of the spreader (with a stop block) and made emptying wheelbarrows easy. The ramp up was only a very slight incline. At the same farm, the other barn used a different spreader. This old spreader had no tailgate or beaters on it. We used a long plank as a ramp to push the wheelbarrows up into the back of it. This farm stockpiled manure (think manure mountain!) and spread only composted manure.
On my farm there’s no way I could dig a pit for a deck type dump- it would fill with water anytime it rained. My spreader also has beaters and I don’t want to remove them because we spread directly onto the fields much of the year. So muck tubs it is. DH just carries them, I push them in the wheelbarrow so A.) I don’t wrench my back carrying them and B.) I don’t have to lift them as far to dump. I don’t have enough horses in the barn to bother driving the spreader through and pitching directly onto it.
Whoever said not to leave manure sitting in the spreader is correct. But we do on a regular basis- that’s probably why my $425 spreader that we’ve had for about 12 years has had one new floor, 2 new chains and many many weld repairs. It’s on it’s last legs now- nothing left to weld to and it’s slightly buckled in the middle. The beaters act like they’re thinking about falling off, too (again, nothing to weld to!). Can’t complain though, we’ve probably only put about $200 in parts into it in that time. And we’ve got another oldie but goodie spreader waiting in the wings that could use another coat of paint before we put it into service. We’ll probably abuse that one as well.
[QUOTE=trubandloki;8952871]
Not going to help with the smell or the look but I will say that Fly Predators do an amazing job of keeping the fly population on the manure pile down.[/QUOTE]
And chickens do very well too. And they pay their way.
Denny Emerson’s Tamarack Hill Farm has a most ingenious manure spreader loader - it works on the same concept as a hay elevator (or reverse manure spreader) - you dump the manure into the chute at ground level, and a chain drive pushes the stuff up the ramp and dumps into the (parked in the right place) spreader.
I have not seen it in action but it looked REALLY cool! And saves a lot of human energy. I presume it’s electric though, so it’s not free.
[QUOTE=Hilary;8953071]
Denny Emerson’s Tamarack Hill Farm has a most ingenious manure spreader loader - it works on the same concept as a hay elevator (or reverse manure spreader) - you dump the manure into the chute at ground level, and a chain drive pushes the stuff up the ramp and dumps into the (parked in the right place) spreader.
I have not seen it in action but it looked REALLY cool! And saves a lot of human energy. I presume it’s electric though, so it’s not free.[/QUOTE]
This is how dairy barns are set up. DE may have converted lone to stalls or had a system built into a new construction. Major time saver!
Oh, and if you do build a ramp, plan for a landing. Probably about two feet between the incline and the edge. That will make dumping a wheelbarrow easier and give you and landing pad at the same level of the wheelbarrow.
[QUOTE=Sparky Boy;8952832]
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.[/QUOTE]
Can you back the spreader in from the open end? If you tighten up the bar on your tractor, spreaders are easy to back.
And it’s great practice for backing a horse trailer. I spent years backing our spreader down the 36 foot barn aisle every day.
[QUOTE=SmartAlex;8953054]
And chickens do very well too. And they pay their way.[/QUOTE]
My Jack Russells would love that idea!
The ramp seems like a good idea only if it is a gentle slope, I can’t imagine pushing a full wheel barrow up a steep one at any time of year. Maybe a combination of both, either finding a lower place to park the spreader or digging out a space to make it lower and building a lower more gentle slope ramp that is made of packed dirt rather than wood.
Can you lift muck buckets into the back of a pickup, back up to spreader and dump them in?
[QUOTE=Hilary;8953071]
Denny Emerson’s Tamarack Hill Farm has a most ingenious manure spreader loader - it works on the same concept as a hay elevator (or reverse manure spreader) - you dump the manure into the chute at ground level, and a chain drive pushes the stuff up the ramp and dumps into the (parked in the right place) spreader.
I have not seen it in action but it looked REALLY cool! And saves a lot of human energy. I presume it’s electric though, so it’s not free.[/QUOTE]
This type of set up has been around for years and years. Not that difficult to MacGyver but it is not cheap either. I’ve have known several farms that had the same rig. Works well but as told it can be a bit of a maintenance hassle. Can get easily clogged, the chain derails ect.
I would think if some has enough stalls to justify the expense of building on of these they should have a tractor with a FEL to muck into, dump into. Most barns used by large operations have wide center isle and enough head room to drive a tractor and wagon, spreader through to muck into.
Our 40 stall barn did as a kid and so did all of the barns I worked.
[QUOTE=js;8963818]
The ramp seems like a good idea only if it is a gentle slope, I can’t imagine pushing a full wheel barrow up a steep one at any time of year. Maybe a combination of both, either finding a lower place to park the spreader or digging out a space to make it lower and building a lower more gentle slope ramp that is made of packed dirt rather than wood.[/QUOTE]
As I said in my earlier post ramps work just fine if built correctly. If the height of the spreader is 36-40 inches the length of the ramp will need to be around 20+ feet to give a reasonably gentle,comfortable incline/slope to push a wheel barrel up.
If I was going to MacGyver something that didn’t take up a lot of space. I would build a lift platform. Buy an inexpensive electric winch and weld up a frame. A good junk yard should have some re-purpose parts to pick from.
Push the wheel barrel on to it, hit the up button, dump it and hit the down button.
Wonder if there would be a big enough market for one of these? Got my MacGyver mind going.
[QUOTE=gumtree;8964882]
If I was going to MacGyver something that didn’t take up a lot of space. I would build a lift platform. Buy an inexpensive electric winch and weld up a frame. A good junk yard should have some re-purpose parts to pick from.
Push the wheel barrel on to it, hit the up button, dump it and hit the down button.
Wonder if there would be a big enough market for one of these? Got my MacGyver mind going.[/QUOTE]
Oh, I love this idea!
Any ground will work for it. But, you have to have someone dig out a pit. I had one that I had to back my spreader in to, with railroad ties reinforcing it on three sides. To stop any worry about loose horses, we just put fencing on the back and far side, and had one rail on the side we dumped in to. The rail came out of slots while we were dumping our wheelbarrows down in to the spreader. Dumping downward is the only way to go. Invest a few hundred bucks now, or pay for your strained back or torn up knees later…
