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Discussion on Fertiliser bags too heavy - any suggestions?
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Member:
imogen
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Posted on Friday, Apr 11, 2008 - 8:07 am:
Dear all
I injured myself last year lifting 50 kg bags of fertiliser up 4 ft to put them in the hopper of the spreader (ours is an old Bogballe spreader which is inverted cone shape and quite tall even when lowered down to the ground).
I fell off a workbench I was using to climb onto with the bag on top of me and probably broke a bone in my foot as it took about 6 months to improve.
I am stuck again trying to do this on my own over the next few days. The only thing I can think of (because I want to mix the fertiliser with grass seed anyway) is to shovel it out into big rubber buckets and heave it into the hopper that way. Time consuming...
Anyone any good ideas? I thought I might ask my partner to build me a sort of wooden two steps so I can heave the bag up a foot, then get on the first step with the bag, then heave it up another foot, then into the hopper. Or a ramp with bars that you drag the bag up (bars stop the bag sliding back down?)
I wish they would make fertiliser in girlie 25kg bags like they have done with cement but I don't expect they will!
All the best
Imogen
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Member:
wgillmor
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Posted on Friday, Apr 11, 2008 - 8:55 am:
50 kg up four feet... (110 lbs for those who don't know.)
I thought that's what the neighbor's kids are for.
Wiley
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Member:
paardex
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Posted on Friday, Apr 11, 2008 - 12:12 pm:
Sorry Imogen no good ideas I hated them[the 50 kg bags] too. But on the continent we now have already for a few years only 25 kg bags[ordered by law] so if you are lucky ...the law will get to Ireland. Do ask for them though you never know if you've got a choice.
Jos
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Member:
maggienm
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Posted on Friday, Apr 11, 2008 - 12:47 pm:
Is there something you could hook a pulley system to and use it to hoist the bag up?
The ramp with bars on it is a great idea, make sure it goes higher than the hopper so you only have to pull the bag to the opening. If the ramp is close enough you might be able to slice the bag and empty it partially right from the ramp.
It is a bit hard to visualize your situation.
I am relating it to some of the farm equipment I dealt with as a teenager.
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Member:
stevens
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Posted on Friday, Apr 11, 2008 - 12:59 pm:
If you are hard over on doing this yourself, it may be easier instead of building a step,to scrap away some earth and make a pit for the hopper. Maybe with some kind of rail for you to balance the bag on before dumping it into the hopper.
If you are bringing the fertilizer home in the back of a pickup, maybe you can position the truck near enough to the spreader so that you stand in truck bed and dump from there.
Good Luck!
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Member:
ekaufman
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Posted on Friday, Apr 11, 2008 - 4:22 pm:
Hi Imogen,
I routinely have to lift very heavy stuff. Even the light stuff can be a challenge now with the broken neck rehab.
Tools are best of course-- between my tractor and the winch on my truck I can move almost anything (I was even able to move a 1300lb dead horse into a tractor bucket on my own that way).
If you don't have vehicles to help, think in terms of steps to the right height. If you have a stable wheelbarrow (I have one with two front wheels), you can often stand the wheelbarrow on its nose, and lean the heavy thing into the wheel barrow. Tip it up, and (sometimes the second time), the heavy thing is now on wheels. If I have to get it high, I will devise some sort of ramp or series of steps either to wheel the wheelbarrow until I can dump the load down to where it needs to be, or, if the item isn't wheelbarrow friendly, a way to "walk" the thing up.
For example, I recently had to move a 200lb rototiller (don't ask) into my pickup bed. I set up blocks, benches and water troughs etc. so I could tip one wheel of the rototiller up at a time, and then slither it onto the next step. After 4-5 steps up, I was able to push it flat into the back of my truck. Just be sure that your steps are stable, or the whole thing could fall down and break (or break you).
Humans have been moving things too heavy to lift for thousands of years, so you can do it. Just think in terms of safety and incremental easy steps. Let us know what you figure out!
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Member:
paul303
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Posted on Friday, Apr 11, 2008 - 10:15 pm:
Imogen, if the fertilizer is high nitrogen ( or even medium nitrogen ) don't mix it with grass seed. Make sure when you want to plant grass seed that you use starter fertilizer which contains little to no nitrogen.
As far as lifting, just get a spare bucket and scoop out as much fertilizer as you can lift easily, into the bucket. Then dump the bucket into the hopper. It may take longer, but it's better then throwing your back "out". When the bag gets light enough, then you can dump it in. Just take your time and don't rush things - slow and steady wins the race.....we ain't twenty years old anymore. I've been using this HUMILIATING method for years...and now everyone knows.....all over the world....jeesh.
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Member:
imogen
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Posted on Saturday, Apr 12, 2008 - 2:50 am:
Jos, we always use 10:10:20 so it's not high nitrogen... but good point.
Lee, that's what I did but my partner's come up with what may be a good solution that's similar to Lori's. The shed where we store the bags (this is after I have carried them from my van to the shed and piled them up on a pallet waiting for the right weather...) has a very strong metal beam above the door so we will look at putting a double purchase pulley and tackle on that.
The interesting bit will be how to make a sling that you can get the bag into easily but also allows you to cut it open over the hopper to pour the fertiliser in. I'll post here if it works and how.
Chris, I can't dig a pit as the space is also where I park the horse trailer! Good idea though.
Elizabeth, you sound like my neighbour Barbara - I agree with you that over the years we have moved some very heavy items here by planning, levers, car hydraulic jacks etc. Fortunately no dead horses yet, touch wood.
Wiley - neighbour's kids! They're all in the house playing with their ipods. (Apart from the farming neighbours that I don't like to ask favours of unless it's an emergency of course.)
Jos, you are right, I will ask in the Coop today as they think I'm mad already. I thought that 25kg was an EU rule now. That's the only way anything changes here in Ireland, but we are always asking for "derogations" from EU law to continue to be bold so that's probably why coal is still 40 kg and fertiliser 50 kg...
Thanks all... what resourceful people Horseadvice members are!
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Member:
dove2
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Posted on Saturday, Apr 12, 2008 - 7:46 am:
"The interesting bit will be how to make a sling that you can get the
bag into easily but also allows you to cut it open over the hopper to
pour the fertiliser in."
Perhaps one of those webstrap door guards might work. (for example: https://www.doversaddlery.com/product.asp?splid=X18S001T&pn=X1-2711&SID=nextag&EI D=X1845001&catalog_code=1X845&zmam=1460880&zmas=1&zmac=36&zmap=X1-2711&bhcd2=120 8000684
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Moderator:
DrO
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Posted on Saturday, Apr 12, 2008 - 9:29 am:
I have many small steep hills along our farm's road. I can always find a place to park the tractor such that when I back the truck to it I can pour down into the hopper from the tailgate. I buy my fertilizer and then directly load it into the hopper without ever unloading conserving all that potential energy that the boys (and girls at one place) at the farm supply store put into the bags.
DrO
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Member:
maggienm
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Posted on Saturday, Apr 12, 2008 - 10:19 am:
Depending on what the bags are made from perhaps you can make a sling out of an empty bag?
The webbing is a great idea also, then you can lift the bag up, position it over the hopper and cut the bottom of the bag and let it drain out.
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Member:
stevens
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Posted on Saturday, Apr 12, 2008 - 11:15 am:
Dr. O,
I guess we're the only two determined to make gravity work for us 
Chris
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Moderator:
DrO
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Posted on Sunday, Apr 13, 2008 - 10:29 am:
The idea of even "slinging up" tons of fertilizer makes every joint in my body ache. If my land was flat I would much rather build a ramp with a bunch of the treated 2x6's almost every farm has lying around. Listening to these women discuss such methods makes me ashamed to admit this spring I hired the farm stores spreader truck to apply fertilizer. I have doing lime that way for years because the idea of handling 30 tons was just too daunting. That leaves my big heavy duty spreader to spreading seed, seems kind of a waste and if I keep this up it wont just be the spreader that gets rusty...maybe I should be slinging up more stuff.
DrO
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Member:
imogen
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Posted on Monday, Apr 14, 2008 - 8:00 am:
Dr O - your time is much better spent here and with the horses you see than spreading fertiliser.
One reason I do it myself is you have to be clever to catch the weather right here - hard to do with the Coop spreading service.
No need for guilt - I would definitely do that if it were possible...
I like the ramp idea but we are short on space.
Imogen
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Member:
alden
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Posted on Tuesday, Apr 15, 2008 - 7:29 pm:
Hmm, I have seen anyone suggest using a grain auger. You probably don't have one or you'd be using it, but maybe you could find one in the area to barrow.
Good day,
Alden
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Member:
imogen
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Posted on Sunday, May 4, 2008 - 5:31 am:
This is what we did. Total cost of electric winch from Ebay, steel for derrick and keyclamp fittings about 150 euros...
It will get used for the first time for real in about a week or so, but in theory now I can do the whole fertiliser spreading task myself, I do not have to wait for both the weather and my partner being available to get the job done.
The winch lifts the bag over the edge of the hopper, then you lower it partly onto the edge of the hopper to help with the "aim" before cutting the bag open.
All the best
Imogen
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Member:
ekaufman
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Posted on Sunday, May 4, 2008 - 10:17 am:
Brilliant.
Let us know please how it works and what you wish you could do differently. I have considered something similar, only with a raised platform to facilitate unloading heavy stuff from a truck bed.
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Member:
maggienm
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Posted on Monday, May 5, 2008 - 9:24 am:
Great idea.
thanks for sharing.
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Member:
imogen
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Posted on Monday, May 5, 2008 - 12:04 pm:
I don't know if it's clear from the picture that the derrick swings. It's basically a piece of scaffolding fixed into the floor and the door head beam using key clamps. The arm can go into the shed to be over the store of bags, or out to be over the hopper of the spreader when the tractor backs in... anyway, we'll see how it works...
All the best
Imogen
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