FEL Lift Height

[MikePA]

We hope to be able to sell our horse stall cleanings to a local (90 miles away) mushroom farm. I am assuming they will show up with a dump truck and expect me to load it. Is it feasible to load a dump truck with a FEL on a compact tractor? Any recommendations?

 

[Knight9]

Mike,

My neighbor down the way raises Arabians and he had the same issue as he wanted to haul out the piles also. He has an older mid-sized JD and ended up using some fill dirt to build a nice little ramp (good gradual slope). He has the truck pull in with the side right up against the ramp and just goes up and down the ramp with no problem. Seems pretty slick to me but I think I would really want to ensure the ramp was well constructed!! /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

Kevin

 

[cowboydoc]

Mike,
What size tractor? I've got a 4600 JD and have no problem loading a dump truck.

 

[MikePA]

I don't have a tractor...yet. I was considering an L2910/L3010

Also, what size dump truck, tri-axle?

 

[DarinRay]

Hello MikePA,

Well it just so happens that I've been the last two day moving a hillside with my L35 and my 1ton dump. Now this is not even close to a real dump truck height especially a tri-axle. I can tell you that I'm not a very good operator yet but am trying...I've been using both the backhoe to load the truck and the loader and have yacked it a couple times already because there isn't all that much room to spare. I guess one more thing is that I am working on uneven ground so maybe that would make it alot easier working on flat ground. I would say to be on the safe side you might consider what was mentioned about making a loading ramp or something stable. That way you wouldn't be stuck with a dump truck there waiting to be loaded and not being able to reach high enough.

As far as being able to load a tri-axle I would say not a chance without a ramp. And I'm not really familiar with the height of a 2910 or a 3010 so I can't say what size dump you would be able to load but am sure a truck like mine you would't have any trouble. No tandem or tri-axles unless they are flat bed dumps. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

Darin

 

[Anonymous Poster]

I live next to Avondale, PA (mushroom capital of the world), and we looked into having our manure hauled away by mushroom growers.
First of all, most growers will not accept manure mixed with wood shavings (it takes too long to decompose), as they prefer straw. For this reason, we bought a manure spreader.
Secondly, I have never seen a grower show up with a tri-axle dump truck, at least not when hauling residential/small farm manure. Most locals use the equivalent of an F-350 or Dodge 3500 dump truck (but I'd check with your grower).
Thirdly, as cowboydoc pointed out with his 4700, I have a JD4200 and I'd have no problem either.
I'm betting you'd be perfectly fine with the tractors you have in mind.
Good luck, hess.

 

[MikePA]

How much land do you have to spread the manure out on? We use wood chips, not straw, and I can not convince my wife to use straw.

 

[MarkV]

Mike,

Don't have all you answers, but I can tell you that my B21 has a max loader lift height of 88.8" and 66.5" with the bucket in dump mode. The B21 is close to the size of most of the "B" models.

MarkV

 

[cowboydoc]

Mike,
Not sure of the lift height on the tractors you're talking about. I don't know about a tri-axle dump as I've only loaded dual axle trucks. As far as spreading manure it would depend on the amount of horses that you have. My experience has been that you need at least an acre per horse to be able to effectively spread manure. It's also a good idea to leave the horses off of the area that you spread for a few days if you spread it right from the stall.

 

[Bird]

Can't say I'm surprised, but this is the first time I've heard of mushroom growers using horse manure. Campbell Soup recently shut down a mushroom farm in our area and they used turkey manure and straw (and I don't know what else) but only used it for one crop, then discarded it and started over. And for awhile I was lucky enough to have access to the "mushroom soil" they were discarding. Nice stuff to till into the garden.

Bird

 

[Harv]

<font color=blue>I was considering an L2910/L3010</font color=blue>

I have the L3010 specs in front of me here. If you put an LA481 loader on it, you'll have a maximum lift height of 97.2", with a dump clearance of 76.4". That's getting up there pretty good, but I have no idea how tall dump trucks are.

No point in cutting it close, so I'd go with the ramp idea anyway. Sounds like a fun tractor project in itself. Also, if you don't have a tractor yet, do I assume you're a little low on experience? If that's the case, better plan on getting some good practice hours in before you play it that close to somebody else's vehicle. An L3010 with HST should handle pretty nicely, but if you're unfamiliar with all that hydraulic coordination, it would be pretty easy to do the wrong thing at just the wrong moment. /w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif

Keep in mind, of course, that I'm a newbie myself and I might be assuming that everybody's as spastic as I was when they're low on the learning curve. Come to think of it, I'm still pretty low on that curve. /w3tcompact/icons/crazy.gif

 

[Bird]

Mike, the lift and dump height on the B2910 should be the same as my B2710 which is 83.9" max. lift height, 65.5" clearance with bucket dumped. I don't think that'll load most dump trucks without the ramps mentioned by others.

Bird

 

[bsauter]

My friend and I loaded 300 tons of dirt into his 10 ton capacity dump truck 3 weeks ago. It was an International single axle to give you an idea. I did not have a problem with my L3010. He used his Bobcat and had more reach than me though. I would not have been able to do it with my old B series. The sides were too high.

I doubt I could reach up a Tri-axle but I have 220 tons of lime coming tomorrow in tri and quad-axles and I will see what it looks like just for kicks. I don't think my little L would reach without a ramp though on a dump that big.

I am loading our manure in our farmer-neighbors big ol' spreader now this week. We have done five loads so far. I give the stuff to him and he spreads it on his bean fields. Gets it out of my hair. Some of our friends actually pay to have their manure removed by refuse companies.

Brad, Kubota L3010HST, loader, R4 tires
Pictures at http://albums.photopoint.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=179207&a=9183978

 

[Anonymous Poster]

<font color=blue>loaded 300 tons of dirt into his 10 ton capacity dump truck </font color=blue>

Brad... I'll bet the sides of that truck were bulging...YOW!/w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

 

[hess]

We have 11 acres, but only two horses at the moment. However, we inherited an unbelievably large manure pile, from the previous owner, when we moved in. And, so I must agree with cowboydoc, that sufficient acreage/horse is important.
Regarding the straw: my wife and I have used straw at other points in time, but the amount of waste is probably 10 times the amount produced using wood shavings (we use shaving rakes to sift the shavings, as opposed to pitch forks).
So, if you decide to keep your manure and spread it yourself, I'd imagine wood shavings would be more manageable and require less work in the stall, than would straw.
In addition, we move our manure from the temporary pile, outside the barn, to a larger, more permanent pile that allows us to constantly turn the compost and therefore speed up decomposition of the wood.
hess

 

[hess]

Thanks for the pictures - I noticed many things that would be a fine addition to my JD (fire extinguisher).