Living The Easy Litter Life: Part II

Spray tips to make living the Litter Life easier

Litter Life needs to be mixed at a rate of 1:9 with water.  

To help others avoid some of the mistakes that I made during my first few tests trials of spraying Litter Life, I have decided to share some info about my blunders/screw ups/mistakes and how you as a grower can make your life easier when you apply Litter Life.  

Litter Life should be mixed at least 1 hour before spraying.  For best results, 24 hours of steep time will provide a jump start for the biology in Litter Life.  One of the barriers to premixing litter life is the size of your spray tank.  Many if not most poultry farms have multiple houses.  The current trend in the broiler side of the industry is to larger houses.  Much of the newer housing being built is in the 30,000 to 40,000 sq. ft. range.   The size of these houses can mean that a producer may be spraying several hundred or even thousands of gallons when applying Litter Life.  Typically most spray rig set ups that are used will not hold all of the mixture that is to be applied.    

That brings in the issues that I ran into.  When Allen recommended that I let the mix sit for 24 hours for best results, I thought, "that is no problem. I want the best results so that is what I will do".  Boy was I in for a surprise.   My sprayer that I was planning to use was only 60 gallons.   The 800 gallons that I needed  to spray wouldn't quite fit.   I certainly didn't have time mix it 60 gallons at a time.  That's where I decided to apply the "find a better way" principle.  

1.  Use what you have!  

Like I said in  Living The Easy Litter Life: Part I ,  I believe in using what you have on hand if you can.  Just so happens, I had several IBC totes on the farm.    

These used totes are fairly inexpensive and are readily available to purchase in most areas.  They come in 275 gal and 330 gal sizes.  I recommend buying a tote that was used for non toxic materials and wash out thoroughly before using.  

2. Gravity is your friend:    

(Photo: Chris Southers  N.Al Litter Life Customer)

Once you have your Litter Life mixed and ready to steep, your next issue to tackle will be how to get the product from the mix tank to the sprayer.  You can pump it if you have a pump.  I found that using my 2" water pump was a bit overkill and the hose/pump reservoir holds several gallons of product that ends up wasted.   You can use a siphon hose to move the product.  This method is efficient but the elevations must be correct and you must use some form of suction to get it started.  (BTW a mouth full of Litter Life tastes a lot like dirt.  BAD dirt. VERY BAD DIRT!).  

The simplest method for me, is to pour the Litter life into the tote. Lift the tote with the tractor or place on a higher level than the spray rig (truck bed, platform etc.).  Once the tote is elevated I fill the rest of the way with water and then steep for 24 hrs.  Then you are ready to fill the spray rig. These totes are full draining and have a valve on the bottom that will accept a 2" female cam lever coupler. 

These couplers and hose are sold at many farm stores (TSC, Co-OP, Etc.).  

 I also found out that the cap to a gator medicator happens to work out well to thread onto the end if it has the threaded portion.  It seems most poultry farms have a broken gator laying around.......  

You can attach a garden hose to the gator cap and use it to fill your tank as well.  While this will not provide the volume that a large hose will, it makes up for it in convenience.   

Which ever method you chose for hose, simply let gravity move the mix to your spray tank.  No priming, no wasted product, no loosing suction, no worries.

Until next time:  Keep on living the Easy Litter Life

jej