Layer Manure from Slats

[will_mck]

Hello. Last year I received layer manure from a layer house, this wasn't a slatted house, I never thought to examine the shed but the layer manure was as dry as could be, it reminded me of the bagged compost you'd get from a garden centre. It was pushed out of the shed with a skidsteer and loaded into a bulk lorry with a telehandler. I've stored this in an open silage pit under a silage pit cover just and it's pushed up about 12 feet high and it has stored well this way.

I've recently been offered other manure from a different farm, he tells me this is layer manure but from slats. I'm a cereal farmer and the only place I can store this is an open silage pit covered with silage cover. The farmer says you could stand on this stuff, my concern is how runny it will be as it sounds different from the first layers stuff I received. Will this be hard to push up high into a pile and hard to store in an open pit under cover? I've no experience with this and want to avoid a disaster happening as it'll be delivered in ten 30ton artic loads in one day if I agree to take it. I have images of it not being able to be pushed up into a pile or maybe getting wet and running out of the pit and down the road.

 

[tw15]

Put cow dung or compost to make a front we just put down a bed of compost about 2ft deep and make a bund out of compost then tip chicken muck on it and then cover with compost use the same amounts of each and just adjust the rate so we go to the max N we are allowed . That chicken muck can be 40 % moisture when tipped the compost under it helps soak up nutrients.

 

[will_mck]

Put cow dung or compost to make a front we just put down a bed of compost about 2ft deep and make a bund out of compost then tip chicken muck on it and then cover with compost use the same amounts of each and just adjust the rate so we go to the max N we are allowed . That chicken muck can be 40 % moisture when tipped the compost under it helps soak up nutrients.

So the first layer manure I received will be very different from this stuff by the sounds of it then? Does layer manure from slats not stack then? It'll be a disaster if it starts to slump on the day it's delivered

 

[glasshouse]

Hello. Last year I received layer manure from a layer house, this wasn't a slatted house, I never thought to examine the shed but the layer manure was as dry as could be, it reminded me of the bagged compost you'd get from a garden centre. It was pushed out of the shed with a skidsteer and loaded into a bulk lorry with a telehandler. I've stored this in an open silage pit under a silage pit cover just and it's pushed up about 12 feet high and it has stored well this way.

I've recently been offered other manure from a different farm, he tells me this is layer manure but from slats. I'm a cereal farmer and the only place I can store this is an open silage pit covered with silage cover. The farmer says you could stand on this stuff, my concern is how runny it will be as it sounds different from the first layers stuff I received. Will this be hard to push up high into a pile and hard to store in an open pit under cover? I've no experience with this and want to avoid a disaster happening as it'll be delivered in ten 30ton artic loads in one day if I agree to take it. I have images of it not being able to be pushed up into a pile or maybe getting wet and running out of the pit and down the road.

No way will it push up
Get some heston bales to hold it

 

[tw15]

So the first layer manure I received will be very different from this stuff by the sounds of it then? Does layer manure from slats not stack then? It'll be a disaster if it starts to slump on the day it's delivered

Not really make a bund. bloody good stuff 3ft deep unless real dry stuff .If you can get it for a fair price then get in on it saves a load of money on bagged fert bill . Sb barley last year had 8 ton ha chicken muck and 60 kg of n ha looking like its going to pass the 3 ton mark all 11 loads so far have made malting and on a boat now heading to Germany

 

[yin ewe]

I find that the more you try to push it up the more it starts to run on you.

 

[Netherfield]

The consistency can depend on the drinking system used, what seems to be a little leakage or spillage can make a lot of difference to the end product.

 

[ollie989898]

It won't heap up much in my experience, same as sewage can get. Rocket fuel though. Trap it in with some bales, I've seen this done in heaps tipped in the field in days gone by.

4 tonne/acre on in the spring up and down the tramlines and you'll be golden.

 

[will_mck]

If I've been told it's layers on slats, does this mean the muck is carried out on a conveyor? I take it this is the wetter type of layer muck. I've no idea about the different types of layer houses

 

[yin ewe]

If I've been told it's layers on slats, does this mean the muck is carried out on a conveyor? I take it this is the wetter type of layer muck. I've no idea about the different types of layer houses

Ours comes out on conveyors but there is also 3/4" on the floor which only gets scraped out at the end of the flock. The stuff on the floor is like powder and stacks well. The stuff on the conveyors does well to sit 4' high and we have a roofed manure store.

 

[Netherfield]

We had a deep pit rearing shed, 40,000 birds in cages, the ventilation system sucked fresh air in from above and forced it out below, it had the effect of drying the muck somewhat which made it easier to handle at cleaning out time.

Others had a belt system under the cages which fed to a screw conveyor, this sometimes needed water adding for the screw to keep it moving, and at the later stages needed to be cleaned out twice a week, which in summer could be a problem finding somewhere to spread it.

Was glad to see the back of the cage systems.

 

[R J]

If I've been told it's layers on slats, does this mean the muck is carried out on a conveyor? I take it this is the wetter type of layer muck. I've no idea about the different types of layer houses

If its from under slats it should be quite dry and stackable , our hens are on slats and we push our muck up with a grain pusher to about 17 feet high ,

 

[will_mck]

Probably just need to ring the guy again, he should surely know if it's dry enough for me to be able to push up high into a pile with a telehandler otherwise I'll not be able to take it off him the day he's looking to empty his shed out

 

[will_mck]

Bit of an update, been speaking to the layer farmer since, he said his house is on slats but it's not a conveyor type set up, this is cleared out once every 13months and the slats are lifted up or out. He seems to think the layer manure should stack up. I've a 3 sided silage pit to tip into, I'll probably make a bund at the front of the pit with dry layer manure from last year incase it does start to slip and failing that it'll have to be carted into an emptyish bale shed.

The previous layer farmers manure we received was 65% oven dry matter and seems to have the same type of slatted shed but I understand layer manure dry matter can be very variable