A Manure Fork (or Silage Fork) is a type of Loading Tool in Farming Simulator 17. Manure Forks are designed to scoop materials from Piles on the ground, and dump them elsewhere or into a container.
Manure Forks can only work with six specific types of materials: Manure, Silage, Chaff, Straw, Grass and Hay. They will not interact with any other materials in the game. This is a significant disadvantage that Manure Forks have when compared to Buckets, which can lift any type of loose materials.
Many Manure Fork models have a hydraulic "jaw" that can be opened and closed on command. When the jaw is opened, the Manure Fork behaves like a bucket: tip it over, and the material will spill out. When the jaw is closed, material will not spill out of the Manure Fork no matter its orientation. This can make it easier to drive up and down sloped surfaces while carrying materials, without fear of spilling them by mistake.
The base game offers six different models of Manure Forks. Each model is designed to be fitted on a different type of Loader. Other than this, the primary difference between Manure Forks is their Capacity - the larger the capacity, the more material a Manure Fork can lift with each scoop, speeding up the work. In fact, the largest Manure Fork model in the game, the Lizard Silage Fork, also has the largest Capacity of any shoveling tool by a wide margin.
List of Manure Forks[]
The following is a list of all Manure Forks found in the base game. Note that each Manure Fork is found in a different category at the Store, and can only be fitted to one specific type of Loader.
Common Features: $5 Maintenance Cost per Day
| Name | Price | Capacity | Working Width (m) |
Weight | Jaw | Attachment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stoll Manure Fork | 1,000 | 1,280 | 2.5 | 206 | N | Front Loading Arm |
| Stoll Fork With Grapple | 2,100 | 1,540 | 2.5 | 418 | Y | Front Loading Arm |
| Stoll Silage Cutter | 3,900 | 1,540 | 2.5 | 706 | Y | Front Loading Arm |
| JCB Manure Fork | 1,800 | 1,700 | 2.5 | 340 | Y | Skid Steer Loader |
| Magsi Manure Fork | 2,900 | 3,500 | 3 | 485 | Y | Telehandler |
| Lizard Silage Fork | 4,100 | 10,000 | 4.5 | 401 | N | Wheel Loader |
List of Manure Fork Materials[]
Manure Forks can only work with six specific types of loose materials. If you attempt to scoop up materials not suited for a Manure Fork, the fork will not interact with the material at all. In face, it might even collide with the Pile as though it was a solid object.
Below is a full list of all materials that a Manure Fork can scoop up:
Working with Manure Forks[]
Once a Manure Fork is installed on the appropriate vehicle, using it is very simple: Any loose material of the correct type (see above) that touches the lower edge of the form will be scooped into the fork. Conversely, tipping the fork forward at a steep enough angle will cause the material to spill out onto the ground or into any container that is directly underneath the fork.
If the fork is at least 5% full with material of any type, it can only scoop up additional material of the same type. If it tries to scoop a different material, that material will simply not be picked up. If you want to pick up a different type of material, empty the fork first.
On the other hand, if the fork contains less than 5% of material, it can scoop up any type of material, magically changing the type of material inside the fork to fit whatever it has just picked up. This feature prevents situations where you're stuck with a tiny amount of material in your fork that refuses to spill out.
The hydraulic jaw mechanism (found on some, but not all Manure Forks) can be used to prevent materials from spilling out. You can close and open the jaw at will using its own control buttons. As long as the jaw is closed (or nearly closed), no materials will spill out of the Manure Fork even if you tilt it all the way down towards the ground!
Note also that the angle at which materials spill out of the Manure Fork (with its jaw is opened, if it even has one) is calculated relative to the horizon. Therefore, it the vehicle climbs up or down a steep hill, for example, the fork can end up being angled towards the ground even though you didn't angle it down - causing materials to spill out. For this reason, it's important to angle your fork all the way upwards when it is carrying materials, to reduce the chance of something like that happening. If the vehicle flips over completely, the fork will always spill out. Again, if the Manure Fork has a jaw, and you close the jaw, materials will not spill out under any circumstances.
Finally, note that when a Manure Fork is full, the weight of its contents is modeled in the game and can affect the balance of the vehicle carrying it. Lighter vehicles, e.g. small Tractors and Skid Steer Loaders that lift a fully-loaded fork up high above the cabin can end up tipping over if you're not careful.
Comparison with Other Tools[]
Manure Forks are directly comparable to Buckets. Both types of tools are designed to scoop materials off the ground. Unfortunately, most Manure Forks are simply inferior to Buckets in most ways that count:
- Buckets can work with any type of materials, whereas Manure Forks can only lift a very limited variety of materials. For example, most Animal Husbandry work can only be performed with a Bucket.
- Buckets tend to have a greater capacity for a cheaper price. Most buckets in the game are cheaper than Manure Forks for the same type of Loader, while also having a larger capacity. There is one exception for this rule, mentioned below.
- Some Manure Forks have a hydraulic jaw, as explained in the previous section of this article. The usefulness of a jaw, however, is highly situational. It may or may not be important to you at all.
Overall, the ability to work with any material makes Buckets the better choice. The larger capacity and lower price is another strong point in favor of Buckets over Manure Forks.
The one exception to this rule is the Lizard Silage Fork. This Manure Fork has by far the highest capacity of any tool in the game, at 10,000 Liters. It is an open Manure Fork (no hydraulic jaw), and can only work with the materials listed above, but for those materials it is absolutely the best tool for the job. The Lizard Silage Fork, as its name suggests, is particularly suitable for working with the huge amounts of Silage that can be produced in the game.