Calibrating wagtail spreader

dave81

Hi guys,

I bought a second hand Abbey fertiliser spreader, big enough yolk would hold a big half tonne bag. It's a wag tail and same as a vicon. I want to spread a bag to an acre. I'll put two 50kg bags in her and use a two acre fenced part of a field as a guide is my best bet. Not sure where to set the thing with numbers on it.. Suppose I could just set it somewhere above half way and see how we go in second high. I only used disc ones before.

Anybody know anything about generally calibrating these things? I don't want to leave a yellow trail of expensive destruction behind me!

Thanks.

blue5000

Try it with only 1 bag first. Depends what fert you use, ballpark 12 on the white plastic regulator for 1 bag/acre at about 8mph.

You need to overlap so that your outside beads of fert just tip your last wheel track. Centre to centre for the wheek tracks will be about 7 yards with 540 pto.

Adjust toplink to set it up level with the spout I think 27-30 inches above bare ground/crop. Make sure it has the 'C' piece at the end of the spout.

You'll probably get conflicting advice:pac: Write down the settings for each type of fert as it varies from year to year!

The complicated way is divide 4840 by 7, this gives you the amount of yards you drive to cover an acre =690 yards. Good luck You don't have to pace out 690 yards, just pace out the ditch you start at, divide that distance into 690 to give you how many times you drive up and down to cover an acre. Sorry about the long post......:eek: Grease it before you start, bearings are a bitch to change on these.

Brown Podzol

dave81 wrote: »

Hi guys,

I bought a second hand Abbey fertiliser spreader, big enough yolk would hold a big half tonne bag. It's a wag tail and same as a vicon. I want to spread a bag to an acre. I'll put two 50kg bags in her and use a two acre fenced part of a field as a guide is my best bet. Not sure where to set the thing with numbers on it.. Suppose I could just set it somewhere above half way and see how we go in second high. I only used disc ones before.

Anybody know anything about generally calibrating these things? I don't want to leave a yellow trail of expensive destruction behind me!

Thanks.

Vicon settings here. Don't know if they are the same.


http://www.viconspreadingcharts.com/en-Metric/VICON/Machine/VICON-PS

dave81

blue5000 wrote: »

Try it with only 1 bag first. Depends what fert you use, ballpark 12 on the white plastic regulator for 1 bag/acre at about 8mph.

You need to overlap so that your outside beads of fert just tip your last wheel track. Centre to centre for the wheek tracks will be about 7 yards with 540 pto.

Adjust toplink to set it up level with the spout I think 27-30 inches above bare ground/crop. Make sure it has the 'C' piece at the end of the spout.

You'll probably get conflicting advice:pac: Write down the settings for each type of fert as it varies from year to year!

The complicated way is divide 4840 by 7, this gives you the amount of yards you drive to cover an acre =690 yards. Good luck You don't have to pace out 690 yards, just pace out the ditch you start at, divide that distance into 690 to give you how many times you drive up and down to cover an acre. Sorry about the long post......:eek: Grease it before you start, bearings are a bitch to change on these.

Thanks a million. Very helpful. Tomorrow is meant to be dry so I might give a blast of 18 6 12. Hopefully avoid heavy rain on Wednesday. I'll take a chance as going by the weather, nothing but unsettled weather in store. It's time to get the grass growing now.

I'm a bit wierd about grease. I'm always going around with a grease gun in my hand. I'd grease anything if it stood still looking enough.

rliston

I've the calibration tables for the Abbey wag tail at home, I'll post up a photo later if I think of it.

rliston

Hopefully these work

dave81

rliston wrote: »

Hopefully these work

Thanks a million for posting. I'll give them a bash tomorrow.

dave81

Well lads, I got her out anyway. I erred in the side of caution after getting a fright watching some of a bag disappear rapidly at 10 and set it low at 3. Had to drive around twice but got it evenly covered. I'll be braver next time. I reckon between 6and 7 at about 10mph would be right. I'll try the next time.

I won't be spreading for hire any time soon!!

patsy_mccabe

What width were you spreading at?

dave81

patsy_mccabe wrote: »

What width were you spreading at?

About 9 metres is what she was throwing it.