[Ed Thayer]

I hitched Oz to the cart and manure spreader yesterday. He was a little nervouse the first few yards when I engaged the beaters. I had towed the spreader around the field a couple of times with nothing engaged so he could get used to the weight.

He quickly calmed down and walked at a nice pace once he was accostomed to the noise. I was very pleased with his work today.

Ed

[Ed Thayer]

Thanks all for the posts.

Now I just have to hook my forecart and horse to it and go to work.

[Ed Thayer]

Here are some pics of before and after on the spreader. I finished it this weekend and it is ready to go.

Ed

[Ed Thayer]

You could come over on Saturday and help me paint? 🙂

I hope to have it buttoned up soon to get some photos.

I have some of Oz pulling the chain drag in the pasture as well.

Ed

[Ed Thayer]

@Donn Hewes 9894 wrote:

hi Ed, I have had pretty good luck with used snow tires from the tire store on my spreader. no ideas on the gear. DH

I had trouble finding the right size tires for my spreader. I broke down and purchased two new 6.00 x 16 ag tires and had them mounted on the rims.

Thanks to John Plowden, I now have a new sprocket in place and am currently in the process of replacing the sheetmetal sides on the spreader.

I am amazed how well this unit has held up considering it is about 60 or so years old.

I hope to paint it this weekend and be ready to spread some compost this fall.

Total out of pocket expense, not including my labor so far is $300.00

Not to bad after looking at the new 25 bushell units on the market that go for $2,500.00 dollars and up.

Besides, I like to work things I have fixed up.

Ed

[Ed Thayer]

The finished product. Here are some pics,

Ed

[Ed Thayer]

Geoff,

How do you treat your horses for mites?

The vet also called it leg mange? From what I can understand, they are chorioptic mites. A little creature that feeds on the skin. I guess they are somewhat common in heavy draft breeds.

I am sure Oz had them when we got him in February. He may never had got rid of them?

Ed

[Ed Thayer]

Update on Oz.

I had to call the vet to come look at our Haflinger Franz on Friday. He had what we thought was an abcess on his tooth on the upper jaw.

Turned out it was a puncture wound.

While the vet was at the barn I had her look at Ozzie and see what she thought was wrong with his lower legs. Turns out she wasn’t sure either and took a sample back to the lab.

She called on Sat and said he has mites…… so we picked up some spray from the vet and I spent an hour yesterdat clipping his lower legs to remove the hair so I could apply the spray directly to the skin.

Hopefully it will clear up soon.

Ed

[Ed Thayer]

We will be composting primarily horse manure. But will add some leaf and yard wastes.

[Ed Thayer]

Here are some Pics.

Hope to get the metal roof on by Friday and the bin walls completed this weekend.

Ed

[Ed Thayer]

A little update on the compost shed.

We have the slab down and I erected the posts for the structure. I cut the rafters yesterday and will install them this morning.

Hope to get that done before it reaches 90 today.

All the hemlock for this project was from my neighbors property who also has a band mill. So he sawed it for me as well.

We like to keep the work local and our money in town.

Ed

[Ed Thayer]

Thank you for the replies.

Jen might be stopping by on Sat.

I think I will have her take a look at him and see what she thinks too.

[Ed Thayer]

@Joshua Kingsley 10207 wrote:

How did you decide on the bin dimensions? I would like to have a rough idea on the storage area that would be needed for my animals in the future. The roof is a good idea, my one hesitation may be the need to add water in the future for composting? I guess the moisture would dependant on the material? Any info would be appreciated thaks josh

Josh,

I used information provided to me by Dick Uncles from the NH Department of Agriculture. He made an informal visit to our farm and made several reccomendations regarding manure management, pasture rotation and water quality mitigation ideas.

My bin sizes will be 10 x 12 and were calculated using the manure management spreadsheet provided by Dick.

Attached is a link to a web site that covers a lot of material and is very good in my opinion.

Carl,

I visited Jen’s farm this spring and she had piglets in the compst pile. They were doing a great job of turning the compost and looked very happy in there.

[Ed Thayer]

I want to set the compost shed 10 feet from the town right of way. Our town set back is 50 feet, so I needed a VARIANCE. This is what would work best on our farm.

I thought the roof would allow for controlled moisture during the composting process. I read it was important? And should I not have horses in the future, it is a great storage building.

The concrete floor will reduce the contamination from the dirt surrounding the bins, giving me a cleaner end product, no stones, or dirt.

[Ed Thayer]

@Donn Hewes 9894 wrote:

hi Ed, I have had pretty good luck with used snow tires from the tire store on my spreader. no ideas on the gear. DH

Thank’s Don,

I will try the tire idea. they wanted $110.00 each for new 6.00 x 16 tires.Ouch

I may have to have a machine shop make an idler sprocket for me.

Hope you are cutting hay,

Ed

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