# Lime Spreader



## lyndon43 (Jun 10, 2005)

What is out there for spreading lime? I have both tractor & ATV.

Was looking at agrifab 175# capacity spreader. Not sure how effective it will be handling the lime.


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## ThumbBum (Oct 13, 2003)

There are a lot of options and what you do depends on several factors

1 How big a tractor, do you have a loader
2 How acessable and how large are your fileds
3 Are you going to buy bulk lime, bagged lime, or peletized lime
4 What are are you in

If your fileds are large and accesable and you have a local ag co-op then you might want to consider having thm spread the lime with specialized trucks. This is by far the easiest method and doesnt cost much more then buying bulk lime. 

You can also rent a speader from the local co-op that can be pulled behind your tractor and powered with your PTO. These are ususally big units that hold 3-5tons of lime and require some decent horsepower to haul. In my case I pick up the spreader in town with my truck. They fill it and I haul it back to my property where I hook it up to my tractor and get to work. I have to re-attach to my truck and drive back to town every time I need it refilled. DIstance is a factor here because the spreader has no brakes and no lights so 25mph is about the maximum over the road speed. The up side is they let me use the spreader for free as long as Im buying lime, the down side is travel, loading, and hookup time is 2-3 times actual spreading time and you have to work within the hours the co-op is open and the avaialbilty of the spreader. I ususually take a day off work to do this. There is also some hazzard associated with the transport and hooking up of a piece of equipment that size. You could get around the travel issues of you have a loader and just have the co-op send out a dump truck with all the lime you need. But there is another charge involved. 

There are smaller live-bottom and drop spreaders out there that can spread bulk lime. Typically they hold about 800-1500lbs and cost in the $800-$1500 range. The idea is that you buy bulk lime and have it delivered to your property and dumped in a pile. Then you load the spreader and go. A front end loader on your tractor makes this easer, or you could just use a shovel. You could also buy bagged lime for this, but its a lot more expensive then bulk lime. Some on this board, myself included, have had luck using a PTO cone spreader to spread bulk lime but there are still loading issues and you have to get the spreader that has an internal agitator. About $450 at TSC. 

Finally there is peletized lime which is just lime that has binder added and aglomerated into litlte pellets, it looks kind of like cat litter and is sold in bags. Its relatively expensive but can be spread with any spreader that will spread fertilizer. Its my choice for smaller, hard to reach plots because its easy to transport and spread. If your plots are small you need to weigh the added cost of peletized lime against equipment and transport costs for bulk lime. It might make more sense to just bite the bullet and buy the peletized stuff.


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## lyndon43 (Jun 10, 2005)

Thanks for the reply!

I have a 40hp tractor with loader bucket. My fields average around 1 acre/field. I dont have that big a price differnce buying bulk lime, or buying it by the pallet ( bagged).

My fields are accessible with tractor, and co-ops spreader works fine on all but one field ( knoll surronded by low ground). The other property I put food plots on I can get my tractor to them, doubt the co-op spreader. 

I usually have help when I work these plots. If I could find a small spreader that I could attach to the ATV, I could put both machines to work. However, if there is not a spreader out there that can spread lime ( unless pel lime) I would then look at getting a bigger spreader for the tractor.


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## ThumbBum (Oct 13, 2003)

I have heard from others on this board that they can purchase bagged ag lime for prices close to bulk lime. The cheaples I have EVER found bagged ag lime is 5.50 per 50lb bag or roughly $220 per ton. I can get Peletized Lime on sale at the local Meijer in the Fall for $1.99 per 40lb bag or $99.50 per ton.

Where can you guys get bagged Ag lime so cheap???


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## FREEPOP (Apr 11, 2002)

I have a little pull behind, it's one from TSC 15-200 lb job. Won't work with regular ag lime, ask me how I know :sad: If your fields are small buy in bulk and spread by hand and disc in. Try to spread it evenly as you can but the disc will even things out. Works well and saves time and money.


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