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7.1
Calibrating Solid and Slurry Spreaders
Spreaders discharge
at varying rates depending on ground and PTO speeds, equipment settings,
and manure moisture content.
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You will need
the following information:
Load Weight
To determine
load weight of solid manure spreaders:
Load and weigh
the contents of the spreader, or an
alternative method is to weigh a 5 gallon bucket of manure
and take the weight x 1.5 x length x width x height /
2000 to estimate tons per load.
To determine
load weight of liquid/slurry spreaders:
Determine
the volume of material in gallons from manufacturer specifications,
or
by taking the length x width x height of the spreader
x 7.5.
For
the volume in cylindrical tanks multiply length x diameter
x diameter x 0.8 x 7.5.
Distance traveled
to spread one load (feet)
Distance can
be measure or estimated based on known field length
or
by counting fence posts along the length of the spread and
multiplying by the average distance between posts.
Width of spread
Estimate the
width of spread in feet, allowing a 10-20% pass overlap
to ensure uniform coverage.
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Use the following
Worksheet (Calibrating Manure Spreaders) which determines your
application rate of manure.
Excel
(*Note- Excel spreadsheets
are programed to do calculations for you. On some computers you
can do calculations directly on your computer. On others you must
save Excel files to your computer or disk before using the spreadsheets.
)
Direction for Calibrating
Manure Spreaders Worksheet:
1. Load Weight
Enter load weight
(tons) or volume (gallons)
2. Distance traveled
(feet)
Enter distance traveled
to spread one load in feet
3. Width of spread
(feet)
Enter width of spread
in feet allowing 10-20%overlap for uniform coverage
4. Area of spread
(square feet)
The Excel spreadsheet
will multiply line 2 by line 3.
5. Acres covered
The Excel spreadsheet
will divide line 4 by line 43,560
6. Application
rate (tons / acre or gal / acre)
The Excel spreadsheet
will divide line 1 by line 5 to give you the recommended
application rate.
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