A New to us Manure Spreader

I don't know where the summer went.  It was spring and before I knew it fall arrived.  Well, not technically, but it definitely feels like it.  The farm has gone through many changes.  As I look back they have all been positive.  We have been busy and I will attempt to catch up. 

To start, being a farm we produce one thing in mass quantity. POOP.  Yep, the chickens do it, the turkeys do it and so do the sheep, llama and goats.  When I tell you it is a mountain by the barn I really mean it.  I have been looking on Craig's List and Uncle Henry's for months in search of a reasonably priced and close to home manure spreader. If it was close to home it was rusted out and useless.  If it was 400 miles away the price was pretty good.  Nothing in the Bangor area.

I need to interject here. I have to say one thing about Mainers.  If they bought it for $1,000 twenty years ago and have used it the entire time and go to sell it, they want what they paid for it new. 

Seriously.

Well, Uncle Henry's finally paid off.  I had just about given up until spring.  Amazingly I called an add for a John Deere ground driven manure spreader.  No, it couldn't be. The price was just right and it was in Dover-Foxcroft.  Only 25 miles from home. Emma and Lucy were loaded up and ready to roll.  Off to see the exalted manure spreader.

 

Yes, it was in good shape and the price was right.  Homeward bound.

It may be old, the machine, not Ted.   

It is a Model-L Series. I don't have any idea what that means. I will go online and try to find out the year. 

The boards are sound.  There is some rust but everything works.

There is even some John Deere Green left after many years of use.

We can't wait to try it out.  I think I got a little too excited about a manure spreader.  Our pastures have been neglected for many years.  Hopefully we will increase our hay yield this next summer.  We will know what goes on our fields.  I had thought about using the sprayed fertilizer from nearby dairy farm on our pastures.  Then one day as I drove past one of the dairy farms I saw a septic tank truck dumping human waste into the holding pond where the cow waste was stored.  That changed our minds immediately. 

It's nice being back. I love reading the blogs and finding out what everyone has been up to this summer.  Now I have to blog and get myself caught up.

Much Love and Prayers from Mainely Ewes Farm