Silage had been cut 10 days and I still hadn’t managed to get any slurry out on it.

I don’t have a lot of slurry left to spread, but one of my tanks got thick with about two foot left in it while spreading after the first cut.

I had the brainwave of drawing the contents of the effluent tank to this particular tank, agitating it and spreading this over the silage ground - effectively emptying two tanks in the one go.

Saturday a week ago I began drawing effluent and adding it in on top of the thick slurry. It took 10 loads to lift the level of the slurry high enough to allow the agitator reach and be able to do its job.

As I only have one tractor big enough and capable of doing both jobs, it was then time to hook off the tanker and hook on the agitator.

Circling nicely

I started agitating Saturday evening, but could only stay at it for a short period due to a prior engagement.

Back at it Sunday morning for an hour and the tank was circling nicely, so it was hook off the agitator and back on the tanker, but, again, other commitments called and I had to leave once more.

I was thinking come Tuesday evening I’ll be cleaning out creeps and asking my contractor to come and spread the farmyard manure

However, I felt I was ready for action, all I had to do was come back and start spreading and there couldn’t be much more than 20 loads in total, sure how long would it take me to spread that?

Handy starts

A couple of handy starts at most, I had Sunday evening and all-day Monday. I was thinking come Tuesday evening I’ll be cleaning out creeps and asking my contractor to come and spread the farmyard manure on the same ground.

I got back at it again Sunday evening and four loads in, everything was going swimmingly!

I could hear an unfamiliar gushing noise at the front of the tanker

That is until I closed the valve on my fifth full load and started to walk forward to hit the PTO switch.

I could hear an unfamiliar gushing noise at the front of the tanker and soon realised that there was slurry pouring from the side fill point at the front of the tanker.

I wondered how it had managed to get opened, but when I got as far as it, I realised to my great disgruntlement that the valve was still closed and a quite sizeable hole had developed underneath it. That was the end of the spreading Sunday evening.

Fixed

I toyed with the idea of fixing it myself, but eventually decided to get it fixed by a neighbour who is a professional welder and would do a much better job than me, but that meant no spreading on Monday either.

I left it up to him late Monday evening, he fixed it Tuesday evening and it was Wednesday evening before I was able to collect it.

Of course, by the time we had put the world to rights through a good sociable, hour-long conversation, it was too late to start spreading that night also.

I looked behind me but there was no sign of the usual fountain of slurry

I headed out Thursday evening after work, filled a load and out to the field I went.

PTO on, correct engine revs, correct gear and I pulled the spool to open the rear valve.

I looked behind me but there was no sign of the usual fountain of slurry. I shut everything off again and got out to investigate.

Straight line

For some reason the rubber boot on the splash plate had decided to blow off and the slurry was just flowing out in a straight line. No tools in the tractor, so it was back to the yard to try to fix the problem.

Rubber boot on and it was back out to the field, only to realise that I had put in on facing slightly at the wrong angle and the slurry still wasn’t hitting the splash plate.

However, this time I was cute enough to bring the needed tools out to the field with me, just in case of such an event happening... not my first day out you know.