Muck spreading

We have been muck spreading for a few days now. We had to haul the cow slurry 5 miles by road and through town, 10 mile round trip and loads of traffic lights in town. We had 3 tankers on the go....3000 gallons, 2000 gallons and 1500 gallons. The large tanker has to stay on fairly flat fields and the smaller one is used on the steep hills and smaller fields. Cattle slurry is big business in Ireland and all these tankers are built in Northern Ireland. The 3000 gall is a high specification tanker with multiple fill points and the ability to empty from the front on downhills. it also has a pump to feed an umbilical pipeline system and rear linkage to carry an injector or dribble bar. The axle can also be moved hydraulically for better manoeuverability or better traction.The other tankers are quite basic.
My neighbours were also at slurry, they were spreading wet steep ground using a low ground pressure field tanker and ferry tankers with booms to empty their tanks over the hedge, thus keeping mud off the roads and saving the gateways. I got the picture just as he had finished emptying a load. All we need now is some heat to help the crop grow!
Sam

Samm, do you have any round-abouts to maneuver around on your trip to the field with the muck spreaders?

JimB

Yes we have 3 to go round...At least we are used to them , not like this guy!!!
Sam

How do you tip a tractor over?

you'd be surprised how easy it can be...once a trailer starts to go there isn't much to stop them, and the tractor hitch over there has not hitch pin to shear like on this side of the pond. The pick up hitch in the UK/Ireland is more like a pintle hitch, the weakest link in the hitch is the ring (providing wear is acceptable). And tractor in europe regularly travel at 25mph pull a full load (24tonnes UK - 53000lbs gross)

Around here many haul by semi tractor. What isn't hauled by truck seems to be injected with a drag line. Very few tankers hauled by tractors. They can inject using a dragline more than 2 miles long. If they need to, they'll put a pump inline to help give it a boost.

Very serious business here with lots of big farms. A few years ago the big megafarm was trucking manure more than 40 miles one way, with a semi driving past every 2-3 minutes in either direction.

Donovan from Wisconsin

This is what I used to drive hauling manure, JD4960 and 4600 gallon Jamesway tanker. Yours looks like a vacuum pump on the tanker, This Jamesway is filled by a pump at the pit. Most of the land that is spread isn't near a town One 80 acre field is almost in the town, with spreading right along their back yards. Boss is real careful when that field gets spread. Always need a north wind. Picture was taken a few years ago before the big pit was built. This one had to be emptied every 30 days no matter what the weather.

Ahh yes, the smells of spring!

4 wheeled tankers don't work here, we need the weight transfer to the tractor and the large diameter rear wheels to stop us from sinking. Also we are not allowed to spread on snow or frosted ground and we are only allowed to spread from the 1st Feb until end of Sept. EEC laws! We also use pipe systems, these tankers can feed the pipe if it is a long distance from the yard to the field, but we mostly pump direct from the tank to the 'umbilical system' One BTO pig farmer hauls with lorry(semi) tankers....His land is 25 miles from the farm. Slurry starts to get expensive when it has to be hauled with 'white' diesel!.
Sam

When I saw the big tractor squeezed between the hedgerows, I knew I wasn't in Kansas!

Smells like dairy-air.

Sam,
I was inquiring because when we were in the UK a few years ago, we caught up to a tractor pulling a discbine that was taking up most of the road and the tractor was approaching a small round about. The driver drove the wrong way on the round about putting his left tractor wheel over the center of the round about keeping the discbine head on the road way.
JimB

And how often do you see a 13 foot tall load over here that's not 20 feet wide?

The feed lots around here move the cattle and let it dry out, then shove it in a pile and sell it, gets hauled out in side dumps. Have a friend that makes a pretty good living at it.