Manure spreader

[Simkie]

@ayrabz

I hope things get better for you too.

Things are great for me, thanks! I appreciate your thoughts!

And I thanked everyone and was appreciative of all of the help. My comment on this thread began in agreement with OP that the newer spreader is just not one to use an FEL to load. Its more designed to pull thru the barn, use as a wheelbarrow and go right out and spread fresh stall pickings or fresh paddock pickings. We were in complete agreement. I mentioned I wished there was something easy to scoop and load with that wasn’t another tractor/expensive item, but there was not, so I have mine hauled out once a year or as needed. that was all.

Oh…well, no. You said:

I wish there was a 'mini FEL/shovel thingy I could buy.

and

maybe someday there would be an easy on the back way to simply get the spreader filled for repeated runs

And there are sooooo many things that do that

I’m terribly curious what sort of magical thing you’re envisioning, though, that’s not a tractor or expensive! There would certainly be a market. :yes:

BTW, those smaller buckets on the little loaders are probably just about the right size to dump into the newer spreader!

[ayrabz]

and again…THANK you so much Simkie!!! I responded well to each of what you linked saying how great and I wish. I responded to one that the description mentioned it was an early 1970s product. I’ve ‘TRIED’ to explain I don’t want a mini tractor…my property is better mowed with a garden tractor. and it can easily manuvere and pull the Newer spreader. I was saying it would be great to have something separate to scoop and fill that wasn’t needed the investment of a tractor/riding machine. I admitted!! I don’t know of anything. but the newer spreader is best filled with a shovel or manure fork. with piled manure/compost thats very heavy and difficult. And Thank you so much!

[lenapesadie]

@Simkie

ATV with a loader?

https://www.wildharemfg.com/atv-equipment/atv-front-end-loader/

You can get a FEL for little tiny “garden tractors” AKA mowers, too:

https://www.littlebuckloader.com/

I think those would be super handy on a little farm! We are probably going to get a big tractor with FEL (man wants one) but these might be a good back up plan! I wonder if I can find one to go on a side by side…

[Simkie]

@lenapesadie

I think those would be super handy on a little farm! We are probably going to get a big tractor with FEL (man wants one) but these might be a good back up plan! I wonder if I can find one to go on a side by side…

They’re pretty cool, right?

Do you mean like a gator? I don’t know if I’ve seen a loader for those, but I’ve definitely seen snow plows…so maybe?!

Around here, we have a “compact” tractor (23 HP?) with a 4’ bucket and it’s SOOOOOO handy. Once you have a loader (ever a little one!) you’ll wonder how you ever lived without it! :yes:

[ayrabz]

lenapasadie…aren’t the ATV ones cool??? I think if you have enough acreage to utilize/need the big tractor with FEL that is a MUCH better way to go. I really did think about an ATV because of the ‘new’ FELs they began some years ago. My barn builder/fencer is also a farmer with 300 plus acres in hay each year, and ALL the toys to work with…huge tractors, huge excavators and skid steers and smaller items, etc… anything you can think of. . I ran the ATVs ‘for’ a small FEL by him way back when… and he advised against it for weight in the bucket issues vs. wheel base and stability. And I KNOW its hard for everyone to understand, but as this farmette is laid out, I have NO use for a fun vehicle like an ATV…I have 300 ft. road frontage. all of it except driveway in the middle is in small paddocks/turnouts on either side, and then homesite and then ravine/woods/creek non useable. So, I’d only get to ride the ATV up and back a 150 ft. or so driveway. HAHAHAHA… I do that on the garden tractor to warm it up…so thats as good as it gets, I suppose.

[eightpondfarm]

i have a JD gator with an automatic dump. works great for me.

[carman_liz]

@Simkie I tried borrowing a friends compact kubota last weekend to load my newer spreader. It was too long and I ended up with a pile on the side on the spreader lol. It did help though and all I had to do was shovel the pile from the side into the spreader as my last “load” of the evening :).

@ayrabz, I don’t know your age or lifting strength at all of course, but I have found taking a regular sized muck tub on it’s side, and using a good metal rock type rake to ‘shovel’ my compost into the mucktub works great, and if the pile is a good size I can top it off easily with the same rake. Then I just have the spreader right next to the compost pile and 4 or 5 muck tubs quickly lifted n dumped into the spreader and I am off n spreading!

[ayrabz]

@Simkie : JUST for your Monday AM giggles!!! I FOUND IT! I’m gonna buy one of these, and make a big sign for the end of the lane that reads: FREE rides and digging and dumping for ages 7-10! one spreader loader full per turn. https://www.walmart.com/ip/Volvo-421152-Wheeled-Excavator-Digger/377156883?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=876&&adid=22222222227348131925&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=c&wl3=431170067234&wl4=aud-430887228898:pla-899081257828&wl5=9008452&wl6=&wl7=&wl8=&wl9=pla&wl10=112561772&wl11=online&wl12=377156883&veh=sem&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI2sWzuajS7AIVjeSzCh1s1wBwEAQYEiABEgIBLvD_BwE

[CM17]

Great comments everyone. I am leaning toward a Mill Creek 27+ spreader with a fines pan. I am fortunate to have a small tractor to load it, and like that I can use a smaller, more maneuverable vehicle to pull it. Should pay for itself in about 10 years’s time with fertilizer 😆😆

[Simkie]

@CM17

Great comments everyone. I am leaning toward a Mill Creek 27+ spreader with a fines pan. I am fortunate to have a small tractor to load it, and like that I can use a smaller, more maneuverable vehicle to pull it. Should pay for itself in about 10 years’s time with fertilizer 😆😆

Enjoy it, that’s a great spreader!! :D:D:D

That you have something to load and a separate piece to pull makes it sooooo much easier. We load and pull with the same piece of equipment, and it’s a hassle!

[monalisa]

I have a newer spreader that I pull with my 4-wheeler for 4-5 horses.It is perfect and so easy. I use muck buckets and dump them into the spreader. It is the easiest most efficient way I have found to do the work. We have a 50 bushel manure spreader too that we never use except when it snows and I can’t use the smaller one. It is a pain to hook up to the tractor so we really rarely use it.

[moving_to_dc]

@CM17

Great comments everyone. I am leaning toward a Mill Creek 27+ spreader with a fines pan. I am fortunate to have a small tractor to load it, and like that I can use a smaller, more maneuverable vehicle to pull it. Should pay for itself in about 10 years’s time with fertilizer 😆😆

I would encourage you to price compare a Mill Creek with a Pequae. You may save quite a bit of money… Quality of Pequea is as good as or superior to Mill Creek, they just don’t market to equestrians so they aren’t very well known.

[NaturallyHappy]

I have an 80 Pequae that I quite like it would prefer something slightly larger. Mill Creek makes a 97 that even comes in stainless steel (of course it is more expensive). Mill Creek is the only slightly larger one I’ve found. The rest jump to 125, which is too large for the parking space. Any thoughts?