Best implement to clean the barn?

[lacamo]

It's about time I cleaned out the barn floor; its covered with a foot+ of manure/hay casserole. By the middle of next winter the rams will be butting the ceiling! My MF with the loader will not get in there because the exhaust pipe is too high. I do have a smaller Ford (641), but don't know what implement would work. I guess I could rent a skidsteer for a day, but, since I'll be doing this cleanup regularly, I'd rather have the right tool. Any ideas?

 

[F350Lawman]

I use a back blade to clear manure from my sheds. It will take many passes to do a large area that is thick with manure, but it works well. After you drag it out use the large tractors FEL to dispose of it as you see fit.

 

[DKinWA]

Can you take the top section of exhaust pipe off so the tractor will fit in the barn? It sounds like the MF would do the job if it weren't for the exhaust pipe. This would definitely be cheaper than picking up a new implement for your other tractor.

I cleaned out several years worth of accumulation out of a coworkers barn this year and the FEL worked great. If I didn't have the the FEL, I probably would've used a box blade to drag everything out of the barn.

 

[theboman]

A 14 year old boy with a pitch fork and a $50 will do the trick.

As a kid it was a pitch fork, a wagon and tractor... eventually a manure spreader came into the mix.

 

[beenthere]

From my memory bank, that is similar to what my next door neighbor had, and my Dad volunteered my services when I was 12. I distinctly remember the ammonia smell and its cloud, and the work to separate the hay/manure 'casserole' tightly packed and woven together with the pitch fork.
I doubt that dragging it out with a back blade will work, and I suspect a bucket will need some long manure tines to pick it apart. /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif Maybe a box blade with the scarifier teeth lowered would work to rip it apart.
(I think changing the exhaust pipe on the MF is a good idea too.)

I wish you luck and maybe sheep are different nowadays, as it was 1951 when I was 12. Somethings you just don't forget. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[jmc]

If you can't remove the top section, some tractors can invert the exhaust pipe so that it goes down instead of up. Then you just run the muffler and tail pipe under the tractor and out the back. With my Ford 1920, you could buy a kit although in my case, the loader frame was in the way.

 

[lacamo]

Even if I sawed off the top few inches of pipe, I'd still have trouble getting in there. Thinking more about it, the MF + bucket is large enough to cause extensive damage with one wrong move. I tried a scraper blade, but that did nothing; the box scraper with spikes would penetrate ok, but I wonder if would actually rip the mat or flip the tractor -- that's mighty strong stuff!

 

[beenthere]

Hey, try the box blade! Don't go so deep or don't use all the teeth. You won't flip, all you will do is spin if it digs in.

The last resort (and the cheapest and most reliable) is to get the pitch fork out, and start digging and walking. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[California]

Would this work?

I had to set up my tractor for low-clearance orchard use.

The exhaust met the manifold with four bolts in a square pattern, so I simply rotated the exhaust 90 degrees forward. Compare my 'portrait' (tractor hood) on the left of this post, to my sig photos. Everything fit perfectly.

If you decide to shorten your exhaust, you might remove it and take it to a muffler shop. They could saw it off above the muffler then provide two different clamp-on tips, a tall one and a short one for the barn.

 

[lacamo]

Pitch fork? Been there, done that -- for years at our old place which just had sheds. There's nothing more destructive to the human back; I'd rather move pianos. Thanks for the suggestion for the exhaust pipe -- I'll have my welder friend assess the situation.