We hired out a project at the end of last year in order to get rid of our falling apart pallet manure bins. We hired a crew to make us a nice monstrosity of a poo bin out of concrete. It's three bins that are wide enough (ugh, will get into that later) to accommodate my front loader. My desire for the concrete was so I didn't keep gouging the clay bottom of the bins like I did with the pallet system and so I could have something that would last longer. We also wanted to come up with a lid system to keep the rain off the manure because that shit gets heavy when it's wet!
When it rains and it rains a lot here, the manure gets so bogged down with water that I can't use my manure spreader. I've gotten around that issue by taking big scoops in the tractor and trying to drop little piles of manure throughout the fields and then later go over it all with a harrow to spread it into fine particles that will feed the grass versus smother the grass. It works decently at least. I would just prefer to use my mini manure spreader and get the job done in one step and consistently spread; you know, and use the piece of equipment I paid money for!
I transferred all the manure still in one of the pallet bins to the concrete bin once it was able to receive the manure. We didn't have lids on yet so the manure still became water logged and I had to spread using my front loader and harrow system but at least scooping the manure from the bins is much easier with concrete bins.
Initially I was having major issues with getting the front loader into the bins without hitting the sides, each bin is smaller than anticipated due to during construction the supports bowing inwards so I have very little wiggle room for the front loader. The first bin is the most narrow and my husband still plans to go in with a tool to cut out some of those bows and make it more user friendly. The other two bins work well now and I certainly have become more precise in my operation. I have a solid base of gravel that had evened out the surface leading up to the bins since one tiny bump or dip in the soil made the tractor lean just enough that the tilt left or right was magnified at the front loader end of things. It's still a tighter fit than I prefer but it works and Steve can get the bins adjusted as we go.
We now have lids on all three bins and I've noticed that when I transferred the manure from bin 2 to bin 3 that it was a normal poo moisture content, it will hopefully be good for using our spreader again and not bind up the mechanism like our saturated peanut butter poo of the past. I'm all for making some of this "farm work" easier. It's just amazing how much manure comes from two equines. I luckily can spread it on my 3.77 acres and reuse the nutrients for the soil but I'm curious what others do to manage manure. I've been at places that just pile it up in a huge dung heap or others that have it loaded off by I guess companies that then compost it? What do you all do with your horse manure?
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Right now we are using it to fill in hallows and to create a path in our "trails" in the woods. I am very envious of your system, but we lack the FEL, the spreader, and the $$ for the concrete. Most of our local haul-away services have stopped hauling away, so I am not sure what else can be done.
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