slurry spreader

weatherbyfoxer

Looking for a bit of advise lads,I recently put a 3 bay tank into a hay shed to finish a small suckler unit. I also have an existing 2 bay tank in another shed.

im thinking I should probably have a look at purchasing a tanker for spreading now instead of being left on the long finger by contractors like I was in the past with my 2 bay tank. Will still hire in somebody to agitated as a couple of hours with a contractors spec agitater should do the job

have a 4wd 90hp john deere to pull it

2 bay tank is 8ft deep 12'6 wide
3 bay is 8ft deep 14'6 wide

Juniorhurler

A 1350 if you have a pull on your ground or if like ourselves you have a level farm a 1650 will be no hassle as we pull one behind a 4wd nh TL90 and she is grand with it.

Sam Kade

That's about 52k gallons of slurry a 1000 gallon spreader should do.

jersey101

Whats your land like? Is it flat? Dry? We pulled a 2000 gallon tanker with a 4wd 390. She was well able for it, land was flat though

feartuath

I have an Abbey 1300 and 2wd Massey 375 is able to pull it only because ground is level and normally dry,have to get someone in to stirr it first
You should have no prob with your JD.

delaval

Cost you €360 per year to empty if someone agitates for you

Is it worth buying a tanker?

Muckit

Use it two days in the year and then park it up to look at it all year. Tyres and seals perishing away goodo. Machines need to be worked. Plus have a little respect for yourself and your time. Get a contractor!

Britains have a nice one out now. It'l cost you less than €20 and should cerb your bigger ideas :-) you can put it on the mantelpiece and it won't cost you a penny to run. It works for me! :-)

Zr105

I your having problems getting contractor to come and spread it when needed i cant wait to hear how you get on lookin for him to come just to agitate to be honest.... Id say you'd be told were to go unless you have a neighbour that can do it, in which case see if he'd do it for you anyways... For that amount it's not worth the hassle

grassroot1

Do you really need to spend your time sucking up sh1t and blowing it back out. Look after your stock and offer the contractor payment going out the gate you wont be waiting then.;)

st1979

Just move contractors. If your first port of call doesnt turn up. Ring the next guy. I put out 10 times your slurry. And I find it hard to financially justify buying a bigger tanker. Have agitator alright. But I always put down the cost of my labour at €10 hr as I would really be hiring a driver as I am always busy enough. I have an 1100 gal tanker but the contractor has 2600 and can travel far better than me. He cost me 35/hr. I only use mine for dirty water tanks and rare I bother doing slurry. We use to spread all with the 1100.

49801

Contractor may prefer if you agitated yourself so his timeliness may improve if you had your own agitator? It kit that could be purchased or shared between neighbours too

farmerjj

slight detour hear but what is the price of getting a contractor 2 spread slurry I pay E45 plus vat

weatherbyfoxer

Thanks for all the info lads,to be honest I dont want to buy a slurry tanker as I have a small mowing/tedding contracting service I do during the summer and hiring a contractor is far more suitable but anyone I know who spreads slurry for hire also does silage which means your waiting for a wet day to come to agitate or spread

im no exspert but I take it that the best time to spread slurry on silage ground is soon as you get the crop? in not 3 weeks after when the tanker arrives

weatherbyfoxer

Thanks for all the info lads,to be honest I dont want to buy a slurry tanker as I have a small mowing/tedding contracting service I do during the summer and hiring a contractor is far more suitable but anyone I know who spreads slurry for hire also does silage which means your waiting for a wet day to come to agitate or spread

im no exspert but I take it that the best time to spread slurry on silage ground is soon as you get the crop? in not 3 weeks after when the tanker arrives

49801

weatherbyfoxer wrote: »

Thanks for all the info lads,to be honest I dont want to buy a slurry tanker as I have a small mowing/tedding contracting service I do during the summer and hiring a contractor is far more suitable but anyone I know who spreads slurry for hire also does silage which means your waiting for a wet day to come to agitate or spread

im no exspert but I take it that the best time to spread slurry on silage ground is soon as you get the crop? in not 3 weeks after when the tanker arrives

Best time to get slurry out is in the spring before the ground is closed for silage growing. Overcast misty days are best and daylight is short.

If your motivation is an expansion of a contracting enterprise you need to calculate your ROI and see if the figures stack up. Just because you see other contractors doing both silage and slurry does not mean that is the best route for you.

weatherbyfoxer

49801 wrote: »

Best time to get slurry out is in the spring before the ground is closed for silage growing. Overcast misty days are best and daylight is short.

If your motivation is an expansion of a contracting enterprise you need to calculate your ROI and see if the figures stack up. Just because you see other contractors doing both silage and slurry does not mean that is the best route for you.

Not a silage or slurry contractor.....im way to mean to lease/buy big or new machines! I just use my own mower,rake and single rotor rake
To only do about 400-500 acres for the contractors that do my wrapping and baling it help cut down my own contracting bill and add a bit to my income...no no money owed on any of my dinky kit either!

longgonesilver

If the contractors that you are working with have a slurry tank why don't you hire/borrow theirs and drive the tractor yourself.

weatherbyfoxer

longgonesilver wrote: »

If the contractors that you are working with have a slurry tank why don't you hire/borrow theirs and drive the tractor yourself.

I dont believe in borrowing machines if I can possibly avoid it plus the 2 I work with dont have a slurry kit as they are mainly tillage farmers with straw bedded sheds

weatherbyfoxer

longgonesilver wrote: »

If the contractors that you are working with have a slurry tank why don't you hire/borrow theirs and drive the tractor yourself.

I dont believe in borrowing machines if I can possibly avoid it plus the 2 I work with dont have a slurry kit as they are mainly tillage farmers with straw bedded sheds

MFdaveIreland

Just thought id give my opinion, Depending on the tyres on your tanker, will dictate how easy she will be to pull, have operated a belmac (belvac) 1650 gallon, with 90hp case, no bother at all, dry ground but hilly in places. should have a look on done deal for a few tankers, maybe even now if people aren't using them during the closed period and may be trading up etc., just a thought,

one thing I have thought of regards borrowing slurry tankers etc, apart form the fact if a things going to break, it will not doubt break down when u have a lend of it, or puncture or whatever, BIOSECURITY, I was thinking if you used someone's tank who didn't clean it out , would you not risk covering your land in a given disease

RaggyDays

Buy your own tanker and agitator, slurry is too valuable nowdays with the price of fertilizer.
Fook the contractor he will only tar the fields close to the slatted tanks and will not want to go further, if he does than you`ll pay him well to do so. You wouldn't be long giving him the price of the equipment and margins are too tight for you to be standing in the yard watching a contractor eat into your profits

Viewtodiefor

MFdaveIreland wrote: »

Just thought id give my opinion, Depending on the tyres on your tanker, will dictate how easy she will be to pull, have operated a belmac (belvac) 1650 gallon, with 90hp case, no bother at all, dry ground but hilly in places. should have a look on done deal for a few tankers, maybe even now if people aren't using them during the closed period and may be trading up etc., just a thought,

one thing I have thought of regards borrowing slurry tankers etc, apart form the fact if a things going to break, it will not doubt break down when u have a lend of it, or puncture or whatever, BIOSECURITY, I was thinking if you used someone's tank who didn't clean it out , would you not risk covering your land in a given disease

Wouldn't a contractor be worse dragging every kinda **** into d place (literally!)

st1979

RaggyDays wrote: »

Buy your own tanker and agitator, slurry is too valuable nowdays with the price of fertilizer.
Fook the contractor he will only tar the fields close to the slatted tanks and will not want to go further, if he does than you`ll pay him well to do so. You wouldn't be long giving him the price of the equipment and margins are too tight for you to be standing in the yard watching a contractor eat into your profits

All I can say is wow.
1 what sort of contractors are you all using and how do you pay them. Is it by the hour or just to empty the tank and dump it anywhere he likes. I have only ever been charged by the hour and they could not care what rate per acre or how far to draw. I am paying so I decide.
This guy has 50k gals which is only 20 loads for contrator. Its just not worth buying a tanker over imo. Like if I was to fart about with my 1100 it would take 45 loads. I know I am going to be quicker filling and emptying but for me it would be equivalent to me saving about 20 an hour minus my time and diesel. I am a busy enough fool

RaggyDays

Do you not realise that the smaller the operation the more costler it is. Contractors around me fleece the sh1te out of the small guy. A setup like this would leave you a 1000 euro bill with a contractor if your lucky and it could well be more

49801

RaggyDays wrote: »

Do you not realise that the smaller the operation the more costler it is. Contractors around me fleece the sh1te out of the small guy. A setup like this would leave you a 1000 euro bill with a contractor if your lucky and it could well be more

Looking on DD a 2nd hand 1300g tanker could be picked up for 4k
Making a few assumptions here so ye can adjust my mistakes accordingly.
Probably cost the OP 12euro/hr to run his own equipment and take 30 hours a year. Cost 360
Say contractor with a 2500g tanker costs 45euro/hour could do the same work in 15 hours costs 675euro per annum.

Saving per year doing it yourself would be 675-360=305
So 305/4000 comes to a return of 7.6% or a 13year ROI.
Not a bad figure to be fair when bank interest rates are less than 3%

Be no harm to adjust the own running cost to 15euro and the contractor hours down to 12 due to less running about time.

RaggyDays

A ballpark figure is roughly 200 per bay so 5 bays 1000 euros and you can be sure the contractor will leave a good 12 to18 inches of slurry in the bottom of the tank so that he gets the call back before the winter is over to take a few tanks out. And just to add insult to it all the tanks he pulls out will be the water at the bottom so when he comes back to empty the tank he will have to draw water to the tank first!!!
Bet this story sounds very familiar to some here

lakill Farm

I put out 30 to 40 loads a year and I count it handy to have my own tank. Going from 1350g to 1600g at moment

I get my silage lad to stir it up. I just text him to say, stir it up and it gives me 5 days to stick it out. I decided to go a bit bigger as my land is fragmented and I can get pig slurry free all year delivered to the yard.

So my fert bill is small and my slurry usage is on the up. I also fun the aerator in front of the slurry

Zr105

49801 wrote: »

Looking on DD a 2nd hand 1300g tanker could be picked up for 4k
Making a few assumptions here so ye can adjust my mistakes accordingly.
Probably cost the OP 12euro/hr to run his own equipment and take 30 hours a year. Cost 360
Say contractor with a 2500g tanker costs 45euro/hour could do the same work in 15 hours costs 675euro per annum.

Saving per year doing it yourself would be 675-360=305
So 305/4000 comes to a return of 7.6% or a 13year ROI.
Not a bad figure to be fair when bank interest rates are less than 3%

Be no harm to adjust the own running cost to 15euro and the contractor hours down to 12 due to less running about time.

At €12 an hour for you spreading your only paying the diesel, and putting money towards running cost of tractor. What about your own time?

And your still not looking at the fact the op said he would be getting contractor to agitate still. You'd have some job getting him to come just to do the agitating on 2 little tanks and thats where he'll fleece ya.

Contractor round here is a fair bit cheaper than €45/ hour with 2600 also but he's robbing himself at it....

lakill Farm

Zr105 wrote: »

At €12 an hour for you spreading your only paying the diesel, and putting money towards running cost of tractor. What about your own time?

And your still not looking at the fact the op said he would be getting contractor to agitate still. You'd have some job getting him to come just to do the agitating on 2 little tanks and thats where he'll fleece ya.

Contractor round here is a fair bit cheaper than €45/ hour with 2600 also but he's robbing himself at it....

He wount mind stirring 2 tanks 1 bit. Its still 2 hours work he will get paid for I bet he would rather stir **** for 2 hours and get paid going out the gate that spread slurry in February and get paid in SFP time

49801

Zr105 wrote: »

At €12 an hour for you spreading your only paying the diesel, and putting money towards running cost of tractor. What about your own time?

That was intended:pac:
Sure isn't own time free:D

Zr105

lakill Farm wrote: »

He wount mind stirring 2 tanks 1 bit. Its still 2 hours work he will get paid for I bet he would rather stir **** for 2 hours and get paid going out the gate that spread slurry in February and get paid in SFP time

Yes and no, yeah money at the gate is great, but if he has lads hounding him for big spreading jobs the agitator will be sent there before he's going to drive to you for the sake of €90, he'll want to keep his own tanker moving so will want the agitator to be moving a shed ahead of the tanker ideally. And the reality is it wont be paid at the gate and hell still have to call up to you to get it cause he'll probably have somebody driving for him

trabpc

Seems to be huge jump in price going from 1300/1350 to 1600. If at 1350 came in at a good price and owner was upgrading for obvious reasons it would make sence. Hard to justify nearly double the price on the 1600. I'd always worry why someone was upgrading a 1600+ size tanker..... Clapped out

MFdaveIreland

Viewtodiefor wrote: »

Wouldn't a contractor be worse dragging every kinda **** into d place (literally!)

Now that u mention it, ! It's a wonder no one has ever pulled them on it before

lakill Farm

Zr105 wrote: »

Yes and no, yeah money at the gate is great, but if he has lads hounding him for big spreading jobs the agitator will be sent there before he's going to drive to you for the sake of €90, he'll want to keep his own tanker moving so will want the agitator to be moving a shed ahead of the tanker ideally. And the reality is it wont be paid at the gate and hell still have to call up to you to get it cause he'll probably have somebody driving for him

yes but what i find is the agitator will stir tanks quicker that the tanker can spread, so will be free to call to you while tanks are been spread elsewhere.

If they want you as a client he will work someway of doing it, even at night sure

49801

lakill Farm wrote: »

yes but what i find is the agitator will stir tanks quicker that the tanker can spread, so will be free to call to you while tanks are been spread elsewhere.

If they want you as a client he will work someway of doing it, even at night sure

Do many contractors have a man dedicated to agitating?
Our fellow has the stirrer on an older tractor with a very sound transmission and then two spreading outfits for himself and his father. The logistics are a right pain moving 3 outfits with only 2 of them granted but not enough work there to hire another man to do the agitating. They don't mind coming to us at all as ours is always ready to be spread with our aeration system.
I suspect many contractors are in the same situation. So would bee even more unlikely to come and stir for a man that has his own spreader?

Juniorhurler

Our contractor is a neighbour and I have often rang him to be told she is in the yard on the 399. Work away there I am spreading elsewhere. Suits me to the ground. He will charge €40 per hour for man and machine and €20 for machinery.

49801

Juniorhurler wrote: »

Our contractor is a neighbour and I have often rang him to be told she is in the yard on the 399. Work away there I am spreading elsewhere. Suits me to the ground. He will charge €40 per hour for man and machine and €20 for machinery.

Exactly. Contractors like spreading *h1t not stirring it!!!
He is making a fiver an hour there giving u the machine where as he could of made 15 if he had a man to drive it. It may appear an opportunity lost but there just does not appear to be enough work for a Stirling man unless he is servicing 3 or more spreading crews.

jimmy G M

lakill Farm wrote: »

yes but what i find is the agitator will stir tanks quicker that the tanker can spread, so will be free to call to you while tanks are been spread elsewhere.

If they want you as a client he will work someway of doing it, even at night sure

I agree with Lakill here. You can agitate a tank in aprox a quarter the time it takes to spread it, so contractor will have his agitator standing up a lot more than tractor and tanker.

We have a 1300 gal abbey tanker here bought 5 yrs ago at €2,500. Probably over 20 yrs old now. Working away no bother. Easily pulled with 2wd MF 390T. Flat land. Only go out when it's generally dry.

We get a local contractor to agitate when tanks are getting full and there's a bit of suitable weather coming. Tanks will last about 5-7 days before settling again. No bother getting the contractor to do it. He cost €50/hr whether agitating or spreading.

The beauty of your own tanker is you can get a few tankers out if you are under pressure or when ground conditions suit. Every contractor is busy on a dry day and can't be got. Also the big tractors and tankers most contractors have steam roll all before them IMO.

Our slurry bill to contractor gone from over €2.5k down to circa €500 pa. Tanker has well paid for it self at this stage.

One other point with certain types of machinery - you can buy them at a reasonable price second hand, use for a couple of years and as long as you look after them you will get most of you money back again if you want to sell on. A decent second hand 1300 - 1600 gal tanker is such a machine. Buy @ 2.5 - 3.5k, keep it a year, if it doesn't work out, sell it nxt year at the same money.:cool:

Sharpshooter82

jimmy G M wrote: »

I agree with Lakill here. You can agitate a tank in aprox a quarter the time it takes to spread it, so contractor will have his agitator standing up a lot more than tractor and tanker.

We have a 1300 gal abbey tanker here bought 5 yrs ago at €2,500. Probably over 20 yrs old now. Working away no bother. Easily pulled with 2wd MF 390T. Flat land. Only go out when it's generally dry.

We get a local contractor to agitate when tanks are getting full and there's a bit of suitable weather coming. Tanks will last about 5-7 days before settling again. No bother getting the contractor to do it. He cost €50/hr whether agitating or spreading.

The beauty of your own tanker is you can get a few tankers out if you are under pressure or when ground conditions suit. Every contractor is busy on a dry day and can't be got. Also the big tractors and tankers most contractors have steam roll all before them IMO.

Our slurry bill to contractor gone from over €2.5k down to circa €500 pa. Tanker has well paid for it self at this stage.

One other point with certain types of machinery - you can buy them at a reasonable price second hand, use for a couple of years and as long as you look after them you will get most of you money back again if you want to sell on. A decent second hand 1300 - 1600 gal tanker is such a machine. Buy @ 2.5 - 3.5k, keep it a year, if it doesn't work out, sell it nxt year at the same money.:cool:

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