Simple Deflector Controls Spread Of Manure

Simple Deflector Controls Spread Of Manure MANURE HANDLING Equipment 33-2-33 Adding a homemade deflector to his New Idea 3909 manure spreader helps Jesse Barley concentrate the spread of manure in the field and keeps it from kicking up in the air and blowing forward on windy days. Barley uses the modified spreader to form compost piles. "It worked so well that when I bought a second spreader, I made a deflector for it, too," says Barley. "My brother-in-law saw it and wanted one for his spreader, so I made another." Each deflector is made from a 1/3 section of a 28-in. dia. plastic pipe. The arc of the pipe just clears the beaters on the spreaders by a couple inches. To mount the deflectors, Barley first attached 3-in. long pieces of 2 by 3-in. angle iron to the side of the spreader where he wanted the front edge of the deflector to rest. He then attached a 2 by 4 to the lower (front) edge of the deflector, both as reinforcement and as a base to be attached to the angle iron. Lengths of 1/2-in. bar stock bent into L-shapes support the rear edge of the deflector. The end of the long leg is bolted to existing holes in the body of the spreader, just behind the beaters. The short leg of the L is bolted to the edge of the deflector. A furring strip attached to the upper (rear) edge of the deflector helps stabilize it. "When the manure is wet, it will stick to the inside of the deflector and the furring strip keeps it from sagging," says Barley. "I mounted pieces of plywood between the spreader sides and the curve of the deflector on one spreader, but left the spaces open on the other two with no impact on the spread pattern." Barley and his wife stable horses and remove the manure three times a day to control odor and flies. Manure is carried to a spreader which, when full, is used to mix and stockpile the manure through the winter. Each spring the previous summer's compost is spread on pastures and fields. Barley then uses the spreaders to move the winter stockpile into place for composting throughout the summer. He uses a skid steer with pallet forks to mix and turn the compost twice. Then he rebuilds the pile using the skid steer bucket. By spring it's ready to spread. Barley notes it's often hard to see where fine dry compost has been spread. "Thanks to the deflectors, it's easy to see the spread pattern from each pass," he says. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Jesse Barley, R.D. 5, Box 43, Tyrone, Penn. 16686 (ph 814 684-0462; jesse.barley@gmail.com).

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