Manure spreader, part II
Here's what it looks like put together. Tows by the tongue on the left here.
This is inside the box. These chains, driven by one wheel, pull these green bars to the left in this pic, dragging the manure towards the back.
Manure is not just shit. It's shit and waste feed, hay / grass, probably some urine (high nitrogen) soaked into the waste material.
This part is called a "beater." It's at the back end. It spins like propellers, tears up the manure (including grass material) and throws it out in a fan shape of small portions.
The machine is "ground drive," which means the energy to move the parts comes from the forward motion, through the wheels. That's why it has tractor looking tires, for drive traction.
You can tow this spreader with a 10 HP or higher lawn tractor. Or two donkeys.
The left hand wheel drives a chain which spins the beater. Same general principle as a bicycle chain, but heavier. One of the front levers engages and disengages this drive. It's on or off, no variable gear to it except your ground speed.
The apron chain in the bottom doesn't move steadily, it's driven stepwise, click, click, click, an inch or so per click. This wheel drives a propeller looking 4 spoke thing which makes the mechanism move. Doesn't show very well, sorry.
It has two speeds, adjustable by the lever.
You can buy these set up to be towed direct by animals, or with this shorter tongue for tractor towing. I chose the short tongue, as many animal farmers today would. This way I have more options. The Ventrac will tow it too.
Here's the Ventrac's tow bar.
It has been my plan for some time to weld a tow bar onto thr axle of the work cart, to make it into what's called a forecart, which enables animals to tow small tractor equipment. It will weld on here, maybe tomorrow, depending on the day.
I'll also mount some hangers to the drawbar, and support its outer end by bolting it to the steel frame of the cart bed.
It will live here, alongside the wall to the stall, where I clean out manure at least once every day. I'll be able to dump directly into the spreader, and then spread every time it gets full or full-ish.
I've got a big pile of manure in the yard, which I've been accumulating while I've been looking for a satisfactory manure spreader in the size range I need. It will be a while before I get this all removed. One bite at a time.
Progress.
I wrote the thread below tonight. I have some comments on it.
First, the reason I explained in terms of government action is the same as the reason scientists use "perfect" media to explain processes and principles.
Perfect gas. Perfect black body radiation. So forth.
2. The real world is stark staring crazy, the home of chaos and variables. If you want to explain an idea you kinda leave some of that out. It's too confusing.
But it's real, and it's not smart to ignore it.
So, I developed societies were really to slow down, could they?
3. I don't know. I'm not at all optimistic they will, so if there is no free will, then no, they couldn't.
And that's way over my head.
In terms of hardware and grocery stores it theoretically could, by people doing it from the bottom. Refusing to maintain the average speed.
I got this question tonight, from a gracious near-stranger who moved past me being a jerk. I want to publicly thank and answer her. My plan: slow down systematically.
First the mechanics:
Governments nationwide accept the fact that the only way, under the laws of physics, to reduce emissions today is to reduce energy throughput today.
Today, in the real world, we have exactly what we already have in energy sources.
3. I propose that the only realistic means to address climate change and the overarching ecosystem catastrophe is to reduce emissions and energy throughput today. If you'd like to hear a well reasoned lecture on my reasoning, from someone else who agrees independently,
As regular readers know, I harp endlessly on the energy and resource cost of the "renewable energy" something for nothing solution to everything, and it falls on deaf ears.
And here's why:
Our definition of renewables is that they are free, they have no cost, they obtain energy which the ecosystem was otherwise wasting, which is by itself an insane belief.
But I'm saying, no, look, it takes all these material resources, steel, glass, and it takes energy to make
Abe news.
A friend asked about Abe. He's doing well. He's got his job, which is being retired senior donk, and he gets paid for it just like everyone else does.
Here he's working (as defined) at a hay project. You can see them over by the fence. If anyone gets a goodie, all 3 do.
He makes a cameo appearance in this vid. Couple-three weeks ago, I dunno.
He spends a lot of time here. He's watching us hitch up to go work. He gets goodies every round.
A lot of evenings my thread is about something that really matters, at least to me, about climate and available actions, and I know that one will get the smallest number of likes and RTs of any of my work.
Sometimes I do hard science at about a 10th grade level, applying to 🌍🌎
2. Tonight, though, I'm just going to muse about energy.
I've been tweeting this image a lot lately. I find it endlessly fascinating.
3. As I often mention, what we call climate change - just that specific portion of the greater ecosystem collapse event - climate change is the accumulation of energy in the atmosphere and everywhere else.
Carbon catches the energy and stores it, which is why we think of carbon.
I'm going to try this one more time.
This graphic.
All the lines are energy. All the boxes are sources or destinations.
If you increase any thing on the destination side, you have to increase something on the source side.
All the current destinations consume all the current src's
Manufacturing and installing renewable energy devices would be new activities or increased activities in the bottom to pink boxes, manufacturing and transportation.
The pink boxes would get larger. It would require more source energy to fill them.
Source energy is mostly emitting
For instance, burning one gallon of diesel fuel produces roughly 22.38 pounds of CO2.
I wonder if this process consumed any diesel fuel. 🤔