Loyal-Roth Compact Manure Spreader?

[kchampagne]

Hey all,

Does anyone have any experience with a Loyal-Roth Compact non-PTO Manure Spreader? I am looking at a used Model MS23 (28 cu. ft capacity) on craigslist. It seems pretty well made. We have 2 horses on 5 acres so it seems to be the right size. The Millcreek spreaders are so expensive. Thanks much!

Loyal - Roth Manufacturing - Manure Spreader, Compact

 

[MrChris]

Its a good company but the rear designed manure spreaders can be messy if there is any wind with how they throw the manure out the back. They don't tend to spread the contents evenly leaving chunks of manure/hay that will take longer to decompose. With only 2 horses you might consider the newer speader http://newerspreader.com/ It does a very nice job of breaking up the manure before it drops out the bottom like a drop spreader.

 

[nspec]

Don't know about Loyal-Roth, but with regards to what the previous poster said....

The notion that wind effects the manure being slung from a spreader with beaters on the rear is pure and utter nonsense to be quite blunt. It would have to be like a tropical storm for anything coming from the back of the spreader to be blown enough to be considered 'messy' as implied by the poster. I'm assuming he meant the operator would get some on him. Rear spreaders are the standard, and have been proven for decades. Of course the manure isn't perfectly even on the field. It might even be considered messy! It is manure, after all. Clumps are a non issue because they're not big enough to matter and many of us work it into the field. If it's on pasture land that isn't worked, do you think it's any clumpier then when it is straight from the animal?

Hopefully someone will chime in with a specific answer to your question. But until then, take it from a guy with lots of manure spreader experience - don't let that other post scare you off. Sorry for the rant, but a blatant sales pitch which promotes one item with misinformation about another really ticks me off!

 

[kchampagne]

Thanks!

 

[MrChris]

Here's another company that offers both a drop style and a rear discharge manure spreader. http://www.abiequine.com/products/ They have videos on both and will show you how they perform. Just giving you some options before you spend your money. Having 2 horses on 5 acres, you need to be more concerned with how quickly you can put horses on pastures where you have spread manure especially what's coming out of a stall with shavings, urine and hay. Horses will naturally avoid where they defecate and urinate in the pastures themselves, but once you spread these areas out either through dragging your pastures or by adding from your stalls, you should rotate your horses into other pastures to eliminate parasite reinfestation. I continue to enjoy this site because of the ability to get lots of information from other members as well as share my own experiences. Good luck.

 

[EverythingAttachments]

Millcreek is another manufacturer that produces a very high quality compact manure spreader in Honey Brook, PA. They make several models that can be pulled by small garden tractors and ATVs as well as larger PTO driven models designed for compact and utility tractors. We offer the full line of Millcreek Manure Spreaders on our website and ship them free to a business or supporting freight terminal within 1,000 miles of Newton, NC.

 

[DJ54]

Gotta' admit, I've gotten hit more than several times with a "biscuit"..., at least with the new spreader, but that's at the very end of the load. Pretty handy way to let me know the spreader is almost empty. The beater on the new Pequea turns a lot faster, than on the ol' Cobey. Just got to learn to idle the tractor down some towards the end of the load. Most times I do.... Both are/were PTO models.

I guess a lot depends on what you bed with. I personally bed with straw, so the bottom drop spreader wouldn't work well for me. And a lot depends on when you clean stalls. I clean once a week, weather permitting, but they are free to come and go outside, so it's not too bad.

If you clean daily, and wait to spread until the spreader is full, I could see it compacting, and settling some, and not spreading as well, as spreading when you clean, and go spread it. If it's forked on, it would still be somewhat fluffy.

I'd say the most important thing with a rear discharge beater spreader, is to not load it higher than the top of the beaters, when at their highest point. It should tell you that in the OP manual. Anything higher than that, it will just pull it up over the top, and leave a big gob, if it was put on that way. Below that point, it has to basically shred it some to spread. Again, depends on what you bed with.

Too bad Mill Creek doesn't offer top beaters. I never owned a single beater spreader until I bought this Pequea in '05. They did have the option for the top beaters, and if I had it to do over again, I'd have gotten them. Still could I guess... That old Cobey with 2 top beaters above the big bottom one did an awsome job of spreading, as did all of the old spreaders we had over the years with multiple beaters.

And if you have dry dusty manure on a gusty, windy day, I learned at about age 10, to either head into the wind, or cross ways to it, PDQ..... Not exactly rocket science...

 

[KennK]

We've had 3-4 horse on our 5 acre property for the last 20 years, and have composted and spread their manure on our lawn.

My first thought is that there is nothing dry or dusty about composted horse manure. Taken from the pile, except for the very top "crust" the manure is damp - not dry or dusty at all.

For the first 10+ years I hauled the manure from the compost pile to the lawn using a small lawn cart trailer and spread it by hand. Eventually my back got tired of that and I moved to my JD 3320 tractor with a front end loader and a mid-sized ground-driven Frontier manure spreader - which appears to be a re-branded H&S manure spreader. We paid $2800 for it in 2006 when I bought the JD 3320.

Loading the spreader with the same tractor that pulls it took a bit to figure out. Now we use a 3PH trailer receiver hitch ( Flexpoint 3-Pt. Hitch Adapter Category 1 and 2, Model# FPHS-1 | 3-Point Hitch Adapters| Northern Tool + Equipment ) with a ball-less receiver hitch to connect to the spreader's split pin hitch. That allows me to fill the spreader without the tractor attached, then I back up to the spreader align the tractor hitch with hitch on the spreader. My wife usually helps me align the pin hole and inserts the pin. I lift the tongue a bit with the 3PH, she cranks up the trailer jack, and off I go ready to spread.

The ground-drive works great, though I have to think ahead giving me enough room to turn around - it doesn't like to be backed up, and to be careful not to turn into trees and fences (the tracker+manure spread is very long).

Once empty I turn off the beater mechanism and head back to the manure pile. I back up to the pile, my wife lowers the trailer jack, chocks the wheels, I lower the 3PH until it touches ground, my wife removes the hitch pin, and I pull away and use the FEL to load the spreader again.

One thing I can tell you is that I wouldn't want our spreader to be any smaller, since a smaller spreader means more trips and more hooking and unhooking. Our Frontier MS1105's box is 36"x97" with a 35 cubic foot capacity. We're not supposed to fill it past level, but we often do to minimize trips.

Oh, since we're spreading on our lawn we don't want the giant clumps. After spreading if there are huge clumps - which doesn't happen too often - we just walk the area with rubber boots and kick now the clumps. We wait a few days for the manure to dry, and then we mow the lawn. For the most part this gets rid of any visible clumps. Actually the biggest bits are usually root clumps from weeds that sometimes grow on the top of the manure pile. These simply get mowed down later.

I won't say we have a Better Homes & Gardens lawn, but I feel a lot better having saved, composted, and spread the manure on our property. Our neighbor dumps her manure in a garbage bin and its hauled off to the local landfill. Its hard for me to believe that's even legal, but apparently it is - as biological material - as opposed to being lawn waste.

Well, that's my experience. Good luck spreading!!

 

[kchampagne]

Thanks all. I picked up the manure spreader today for $750. It is like brand new. I am sure it will work out well.

 

[EverythingAttachments]

Too bad Mill Creek doesn't offer top beaters. I never owned a single beater spreader until I bought this Pequea in '05. They did have the option for the top beaters, and if I had it to do over again, I'd have gotten them.

Millcreek offers the upper beater as an option on the 57, 77 and 97 models.
Travis