Manure Marathon: Scrape It Up, Move It Out

Pictured with his son, Trae, Chris Petty depends on Bobcat equipment to operate his cattle farm.

When you have to move 50 tons of manure a day, you need reliable equipment that makes the job as easy as possible.

Chris Petty gets that work done — and plenty of other projects, too — with a trio of powerful Bobcat® machines — a V723 VersaHandler® Telescopic Tool Carrier (TTC), a T300 compact track loader and an S300 skid-steer loader.

Petty owns and operates a 3,200-head custom cattle feeding business on his 750-acre farm near Leon, Iowa. He and his two employees spend time each day removing manure from two confinement buildings and more than 50 pens.

“We use the T300 in the barns where we have cement floors,” Petty says. “The floors are dry with just a little moisture, so the rubber tracks work better than steel tracks.”

The S300, with steel tracks, is used to scrape the dirt lots. Both loaders have enough power to easily handle manure cleanup.

The V723 not only scrapes the barn floors and dirt lots, but it is also used to load manure into trucks.

“I sell all the manure so we have trucks here every day hauling it away,” Petty says. “Since we started using the V723, we save a great deal of time and work. We don’t have to bring the trucks into the pens anymore. No more constantly opening and closing gates. The V723 pulls up to the edge of the fence and, with the boom extended, dumps the load of manure into a waiting truck.”

Large Machines Take on Other Duties
Petty owns two of the larger loaders in the Bobcat product line because he needs construction-size equipment.

“I probably move as much dirt as some contractors,” he says. “In the feedlot business, you are constantly doing repairs. Every summer we re-build five to seven pens. Our big loaders make the job much easier.”

The extended reach of a Bobcat V723 telescopic tool carrier allows cattle farmer Chris Petty to simply lift, reach and dump manure over fences.

The V723 also does more than handle manure. Petty uses it for grading because the frame leveling feature helps ensure greater accuracy when the terrain is uneven. The Bobcat telescopic tool carrier, which replaced a farm tractor, is a construction machine as well. It is used to build shades for the cattle and in new building construction. “It’s a great all-round machine,” Petty says. “We use it all the time.”

He purchased his Bobcat equipment from Capital City Equipment, Des Moines, Iowa. Petty is a hands-on owner who works in all phases of the operation. “That’s what’s fun,” he says. “When you have good, reliable equipment, you enjoy what you are doing. That translates into doing more work and doing a better job.

“I have relied on Bobcat equipment since I started. It’s the best, and we all really like to operate our Bobcat machines.”