Used diet feeder

wallycool

I was thinking of buying a used feeder for mixing round bales of straw with pit silage for suckler cows in winter. I was thinking of spending 2k to 3k . My tractor is 85 hp so something that would suit it.
I was thinking of a Keenan 100 , there are alot of these machines around .Do I need knifes or would it give a good mix without them?
What should I be looking out for ?

blue5000

http://farmingforum.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=52246

General consensus is stay from keenan. Why not roll the bale of straw down the feed passage and just put grabs of silage on top. All my cows have a rumen, why should I bother burning diesel to mix up their grub for them?:D

linebacker52

blue5000 wrote: »

http://farmingforum.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=52246

General consensus is stay from keenan. Why not roll the bale of straw down the feed passage and just put grabs of silage on top. All my cows have a rumen, why should I bother burning diesel to mix up their grub for them?:D

frist of all a few lads posting on an internet forum is hardly a consensus.

second point its going to be hard to find a good feeder for 2 or 3k.ideally you could need knives to chop the straw up i wouldnt put straw into one without them.

ifs not to many cows i would do as another poster said and just roll the bale out and put the silage on top of it.

Muckit

On a slightly seperate note... Would rolling out straw on top of a slab before making pit help with effluent runoff? Or anyone ever heard of anyone ever doing this? Just a mad idea I got the other day (didn't do it though)

PMU

Muckit wrote: »

On a slightly seperate note... Would rolling out straw on top of a slab before making pit help with effluent runoff? Or anyone ever heard of anyone ever doing this? Just a mad idea I got the other day (didn't do it though)

it was tried many years ago but didnt work because straw absorbs very little effluent. beet pulp nuts were much more absorbent, practical when they were E100 per ton.they also had a feed value.

supermajor

Muckit wrote: »

On a slightly seperate note... Would rolling out straw on top of a slab before making pit help with effluent runoff? Or anyone ever heard of anyone ever doing this? Just a mad idea I got the other day (didn't do it though)

Ya it does. The uncle did this as the slab was only put down bout 6 wks at the time before the grass went in. He put it through a diet feeder and the cows loved the straw soaked wit effluent. I'm sure he put fresh straw in too when feeding out. I convinced the father to give it a try this year so we can see for ourselves:rolleyes: we still had run off but i reckon not as much but we only put one round bale under

kevthegaff

We had a 100 keenan for 15 yrs great yoke, but had no knives so you had to split the bale first before throwing it in. Im cutting 30 acres in 2 weeks and have 15 straw bales left. Would that be too many. gonna put 8 on bottom and 7 half way through

jeff greene

kevthegaff wrote: »

Im cutting 30 acres in 2 weeks and have 15 straw bales left. Would that be too many. gonna put 8 on bottom and 7 half way through

Unless its second cut, at this stage I'm not sure it needs more fibre.

5live

blue5000 wrote: »

http://farmingforum.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=52246

General consensus is stay from keenan. Why not roll the bale of straw down the feed passage and just put grabs of silage on top. All my cows have a rumen, why should I bother burning diesel to mix up their grub for them?:D

+1 blue 5000. I feed 80 cows like that every winter. Roll out a bale the full length of the shed and put 2 days silage on top. The second days silage is easy to push in as it is on the silage. Why go to the bother of chopping the straw when the cow will do it for you. I started because its all precision chop and i feel that there isnt enough long fibre in the silage. Plus it saves a bit of silage too and helps keep cows in good condition, not overfat.

And will you need a second tractor to mix while you are loading or will you be able to mix after filling?

djmc

I have been thinking of getting a diet feeder for a good few years but have not
yet got one for the dairy cows one thing that has stopped me is I cant drive through the feed passage so I would have to drive in back out and back in to feed the other side.
Do people who use them here think the help improve milk yield
do ye use them to feed dry cows also or just milkers
do they cut costs or improve profit
I was thinking of using it to feed silage maize soya straw mix to milkers
Also what mixs do ye use in it

linebacker52

djmc wrote: »

I have been thinking of getting a diet feeder for a good few years but have not
yet got one for the dairy cows one thing that has stopped me is I cant drive through the feed passage so I would have to drive in back out and back in to feed the other side.
Do people who use them here think the help improve milk yield
do ye use them to feed dry cows also or just milkers
do they cut costs or improve profit
I was thinking of using it to feed silage maize soya straw mix to milkers
Also what mixs do ye use in it

we used to buffer feed maize with our one dont anymore. now they get just grass and a bit of meal if grass is in short supply.i dont see any major advantage to buffer feeding for a spring cavling herd if you have plenty of grass.

having said that all out silage is fed with one as the pit is a bit away from the shed.you will need a good set up for one they can be hard to move around small tight yards.

leg wax

used the big square bales of straw last winter and they worked brill,put 1 in front of each pen,made the cows kind of reach for it so not to pull it in under them,cut the twine 1 at a time as i pushed it in each day,put small bit of silage on the bales as well.

F.D

Muckit wrote: »

On a slightly seperate note... Would rolling out straw on top of a slab before making pit help with effluent runoff? Or anyone ever heard of anyone ever doing this? Just a mad idea I got the other day (didn't do it though)

We cut our silage last week i had about 5 bales of straw with the net coming off so i put one in front of the pit after every few load and the loader driver spread it out all over the pit, will be interesting to see how it works if its a success i will put more in next year

F.D

wallycool wrote: »

I was thinking of buying a used feeder for mixing round bales of straw with pit silage for suckler cows in winter. I was thinking of spending 2k to 3k . My tractor is 85 hp so something that would suit it.
I was thinking of a Keenan 100 , there are alot of these machines around .Do I need knifes or would it give a good mix without them?
What should I be looking out for ?

Just check how much it is to reline them if there near worn out my cousin has an Abbey 100 i think it is, it was around 1000 euro to reline the bottom, its a good machine and gives no trouble either

jeff greene

djmc wrote: »

I have been thinking of getting a diet feeder for a good few years but have not
yet got one for the dairy cows one thing that has stopped me is I cant drive through the feed passage so I would have to drive in back out and back in to feed the other side.
Do people who use them here think the help improve milk yield
do ye use them to feed dry cows also or just milkers
do they cut costs or improve profit
I was thinking of using it to feed silage maize soya straw mix to milkers
Also what mixs do ye use in it

With a Keenan yes but a tub no, feeds both side, I have to back in two shed, no big deal.

As for performance its up to you up what you want to achieve, feed more get more out, you will get less acidosis that parlour feeding etc and for me labour is improved as pits and sheds are spread out. I use it for everything here and can get 3 mixes done in a hour all going well, that it then, no more meal or minerals for the day just push it up when needed.

Thats what we feed here with grass, maybe some hulls too, works well.

liam7831

I Reccomend a Kverneland KV 612/2, father has one serious feeder, had a Mix max before that, no comparison in performance

djmc

Thanks for replies might get one before next spring
Does anyone use it on dry cows I was thinking of just feeding round bales until
close to calving then using pit silage with diet feeder