Thinner and Better Manure Spreading ???

[Stocker Steve]

I located a lot of manure for $7/ton delivered. I plan to spread it per the soil grid test to bring the P up to snuff. The amount needed really varies, but most areas need 2 to 4 tons per acre. What is the best way to spread it thin and uniform?

 

[Nesikep]

a GOOD manure spreader.. duh! just kidding.. If it's composted, you'll need a spreader that has a pan under it or the loose compost will fall before the beaters spread it. We have an IH manure spreader thats pretty good.. I drive about 3-4MPH at 3/4 throttle, makes a swath about 20 ft wide... I probably get 750-1000 ft out of a load before it starts to peter out. If it's pretty soupy, you'll need a gate on it too. I don't think there's any other reasonable way to spread the stuff

 

[Aaron]

Find someone with a box spreader on a tandem truck and go to town. I always thought it would be a good sideline job. Can move mountains in one day.

 

[hayray]

Manure and composted matter are all I use and I can tell you that a manure spreader, espcecially with a upper beater and swath overlap work well enough. You won't get the perfect and as scientific of a spread as when using granulated fertilizer and spreader but when using organics you are generally not spreading at the same low rates either but rather using numbers in the tons per acre. Also, generally not able to meet soil test requirements with manure that you can with granulated, you spread based on a different approach.

 

[AllForage]

Worse come to worse, use the spreader then go back with a big fine drag or something.

 

[Nesikep]

we found we had limited results applying manure to an established field.. now we only manure when we reseed, except of course when the field gets grazed the cows do it on their own and we harrow after. Our climate is so arid that it dries everything out so fast... If you have a milder climate it may work better than it does here.