Slurry spreading

It’s been a very difficult winter for getting any slurry out with any frosty spells not arriving until there was a fair depth of snow so the ground below was still very wet.

Consequently the pit is now brim-full and 2 or 3 times I have needed to use the loader to pile some frozen snow and slurry mix in as it cannot be moved with the scraper.

Yesterday I intended to start by drawing out some water so that it can be safely stirred without sloshing over the edge.
However to get the pipe in I needed to dig away some of the semi-solid stuff I’d shovelled in last month.

Anyway after getting one rotaspreader load of that out, I broke through into the green water under the crust, at first this seemed mildly annoying as it began to flood the working area, then I realised that the flow was such that it was also getting over the concrete lip and running down my track towards the road!

After a moment of indecision I managed to block the main flow off and divert from the track down the field – and only a small amount got to the road which I also let off onto the field.

Since it was still almost level full I hitched the tanker on and got two loads out which made things look more under control.
Then when I started drawing load three the vacuum pump made a very strange noise and suddenly stopped working!

Today Dave from George Agar came out first thing and we unbolted it and he took it back to the shop to work on – I was really surprised when he got back with it fixed soon after 2pm!
It was a fairly simple job involving replacing vanes by the sound of it.
we tested it on a load then later today I sucked out another 5 loads so all is safe now ready to stir and have  a proper spreading session very soon.

It still seems very sticky after the recent frost/snow melt and drizzle although basically no longer very wet like late last year.
We just need a dry breezy day really.
So I might have a couple of days spreading manure piles on the stubble which does not involve constantly going in and out of fields dragging mud onto the road.