Thanks, I didn't think of that. My wife's horses aren't stabled and she picks up the manure from the paddock in a trailer and leaves it in an open bay about 12 foot by 12 foot by 4 foot until it gets too full, in spite of a neighbor taking quite a lot for his gardens etc.
So, then the only way to get rid of excess is to put it back into the paddocks, but with the clumps broken up by the spreader so it is much finer and can absorb into the ground much faster.
If you need to spread hay and manure though, I can see it might not be not a viable option. I expect the manure would still break up and get spread, but most of the hay would stay in the drum.
The conveyor belt one we tried didn't impress. It pulled along well enough behind a ride-on mower, but the paddles threw the manure eveywhere. I'd be tempted instead to put the manure on the flat tray of out old farm truck and drive around letting it fall off as I drove. Get the speed about right and it would do pretty much the same job and i wouldn't get covered in the stuff in the process.:thumbsup:
what i end up doing, is i use my team to pull the manure spreader and spread 6 month pile of aged manure, 2 times a year. then i follow it up with pulling a spring tooth harrow, with the tractor, over the spread manure to help break it up and spread it evenly. works great, and also breaks up the horse manure piles that the horses have dumped in the 10 acre pasture during the summer. helps the grass grow nicely.
