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Year after year, our team loves heading to Moultrie, GA to connect and visit with folks in the agriculture industry at the Sunbelt Ag Expo, North America's premier farm show, held at Spence Field. With seminars and demonstrations covering a variety of topics from backyard gardening to poultry farming and everything in between, there's something for everyone. The event organizer always makes it an experience like no other that we never want to miss.
At the three-day event in October 2022, we had the opportunity to see new products and services-and talk with the people behind them to learn more. Here's a rundown on some top-notch poultry farming equipment being offered.
Coming up first, we have the Cyclone PTO Debris Blower from Buffalo Turbine. To take care of the inevitable dust and debris in poultry houses, Guy from Buffalo Turbine gave us the scoop on their Cyclone PTO. This powerful debris blower clears dust and debris off of just about any poultry house surface you can think of: walls, ceilings, feeders, fans, rafters-you name it.
The Cyclone PTO rotates 360 degrees in both directions and runs off a 12-volt electric motor. To power this 3-point hitch model, you're looking at only 20 horsepower (hp) at the PTO, which is ideal for most medium to large size tractors. Guy explained that a rectangular nozzle is generally used at the end to focus the air, and they expect around 12,000 cubic feet per minute (CFM) out of this blower.
Next up is another piece of equipment from Buffalo Turbine: the Hydraulic Debris Blower. Like the PTO model, it doesn't need any accessories-everything comes together for your convenience. It includes a universal skid plate for quick mounting on most skid steers, along with a low flow recommendation of 16 gallons per minute for efficient operation.
The Hydraulic Debris Blower features 1-inch standard hoses and quick connects-so quick it only takes about five minutes to put the machine together. Ideal for clearing out dust in poultry houses, Guy recommended running the debris blower 10 feet from the ceiling so that it won't affect the insulation.
If you're in the market for a new debris blower, you've got two great options from Buffalo Turbine.
Switching gears from dust to litter, we spoke with John Crouch from Newton Crouch Company. Started by John's grandfather in 1940, the company specializes in liquid and dry handling equipment, fertilizer spreaders and sprayers, nitrogen applicators and tanks and precision agriculture.
While the company manufactures a wide range of equipment, the Poultry Litter Treatment (PLT) Spreader is specifically designed to spread out PLT, litter amendments or aluminum sulfate (alum) in poultry houses. Featuring scales and a tire wash system, this specialized piece of equipment is self-contained so that you can pull it with a pickup truck.
Contractors and subcontractors commonly drive it from house to house, keeping poultry biosecurity measures top of mind to prevent cross-contamination. Some farmers may choose to purchase their own PLT Spreader, depending on the size of their poultry farm.
And last but certainly not least, we got the lowdown on Newton Crouch Company's Poultry House Boric Acid Drop Spreader, which helps control darkling beetles.
With the spreader, boric acid pellets are dropped on the poultry house floor. When the pellets get on the birds' feet, they are further distributed throughout the house.
This spreader is a great option for farmers searching for an effective application method for darkling beetle control.
We're already counting down to the 2023 Sunbelt Ag Expo, so we can check out more equipment to share with you. Be sure to subscribe to our KZfaq channel to stay up to date and get notifications for new videos. If you have any questions or ideas for future video topics, feel free to contact us at success@southlandorganics.com or 800-608-3755.