Issue with putting down manure

Hey all,

I’ve recently needed to rehab my lawn, so I core aerated and limed a few days ago, and today I put down the Lesco Metro Mix with Lesco starter fertilizer. I decided to topdress with composted manure and used whatever Home Depot had. I bought 14 forty pound bags and had nothing but trouble with it. I’m using a compost spreader (the barrel with the openings) to distribute it. It seemed like such a great idea at the time, but since the manure is somewhat wet, it’s clumping in the spreader and I have to empty out a third of the barrel because it’s it’s just a bunch of manure balls that won’t come out from rolling.

Is there a trick I’m missing? Is there some way to get better distribution? I’m wasting half my time trying to break up these chunks. I still have a lot more to do.

 

The times I've used manure I tilled it into the soil first, never used it as a top dressing. If you left an open bag in the sun will it dry out?

 

It might but with rain coming for the next two days, I was hoping to get this done before then. If I had the time, I’d dump them all out in the sun and wait.