Tub Feeders - Anyone any experience with ?

Pappa J

I'm thinking of buying a tub feeder. Want to chop a bale of straw with every 2 or 3 bales of silage. Any advice on size of machine, bale capacity, make of machine and price.

thetangler

Hi.
I Have a Hi Spec v12 4 years now, I am very happy with it. It can hold 4 Bales Silage and 1 Bale straw.

F.D

If i was you i would be looking at which machine is the easiest driven and most efficient, with the price of diesel the way it is i think it should be high up the list

jeff greene

F.D wrote: »

If i was you i would be looking at which machine is the easiest driven and most efficient, with the price of diesel the way it is i think it should be high up the list

I'm not sure is there much between them, I know some have gearboxes to allow smaller tractors work them. Keep the knives sharp will help the most, a flappy disk every week or so. Chop all your bales will make everything easier though, I put the full set in last year, 23 knives and its like precision chop now. Mixing takes no time.

I have a 12m Abbey, replaced a 10m Keenan Easi feeder, trouble free so far.

On a broader point, feeding straw, did it for a winter, tbh saw no benefit, saw research in the IFJ proving no benefit either. Unless you have rocket fuel silage and cows getting fat or silage is scarce, I see no point.

Kilmac1

bought one last autumn cattle eat alot better as meals mixed through. had an abbey on trial downsides: steps on wrong side too many bells and wistles, then had a conor superior machine, bought a supermix feeder from north very strong and had no problems.

John_F

hae an abbey 12 cubic m since 09, extremely happy with it, but just make sure you get someone to balance a diet, the feeder wont balance protein, energy, fibre etc itself. had a conor on demo and wasnt impressed compared to abbey, lighter steel, lighter doors, lighter door rubbers, gap between door and floor (was filling the feeder one day and saw meal on the ground and door closed full!!), 1200 conor is actually a 10 meter (look at the book!!). Also looked at strauttmann, v well built machine but abit more pricy than abbey. Conor doesn't come near the two!!! 12 m strautmann is actually a 14m abbey as they measure with the auger inside we were told

big changes in calving, vet calls, milk composition, yearling heifer weights etc. but its all about what you put in! put in lighter ingredients first, eg i usually put in straw, a little of last ingredient (grass silage) then put in the side counter knives and let it chop until what you need and release the counter knives and add meal, and then silages (whole crop / maize/ grass). some people leave the counter knives in all the time but i think it gets a bit mushy and harder to mix!

wouldnt go near a keenan, even after all thee money they spend marketing 'mech fibre' its not doing it for me when i hear of chains giving trouble, shear bolts cracking etc. just think they are over rated.


@Jeff: surprising to hear you dont feed straw, whats in your dry cow diet??

jeff greene

John_F wrote: »

@Jeff: surprising to hear you dont feed straw, whats in your dry cow diet??

What you could call haylage, which I like to claim is by design low in potassium ( rented old ground too far away for slurry:o) but works great in dry cow diets. Far off dry cow in good condition is ad-lib with minerals. Heifers and thinner cows will get a few kilos + minerals. Close up pre calvers get milking cow diet diluted with the dry silage. Spring buffer will get .5kg of straw alright tho. Here in a non tillage area, straw is expensive, I've nothing against Keenan but they go on as if its free.

I can see merits with wet acidic precision chop silage but I make all bales as dry as possible.

stanflt

jeff greene wrote: »

What you could call haylage, which I like to claim is by design low in potassium ( rented old ground too far away for slurry:o) but works great in dry cow diets. Far off dry cow in good condition is ad-lib with minerals. Heifers and thinner cows will get a few kilos + minerals. Close up pre calvers get milking cow diet diluted with the dry silage. Spring buffer will get .5kg of straw alright tho. Here in a non tillage area, straw is expensive, I've nothing against Keenan but they go on as if its free.

I can see merits with wet acidic precision chop silage but I make all bales as dry as possible.

when we bought our latest machine a hi spec mixmax 10 we looked at a keenan- over 12k dearier before mech fibre. i feel with mech fibre you are only paying for a nutrionist- if you have a lap top teagasc will give you a program and you can taylor your rations to different animals-ie fresh milkers, slack , heifers, calves etc even for beef. makes it very efficient as theirs no point feeding cows to 40lts a day when their only giving you 25litres. the teagasc program also allows you to put a cost on all inputs and work out how much it actually costs to feed yourcows.
at discussion group meetings lads are always questioning why i feed concentrates when i have a surplus of grass. i can tell them for an extra cost of 50cent/day/cow im getting around 2.50euro return in milk, these cows are never thin and when i scanned recently i only had 2empty cows from 95. same lads that were questioning my feeding policy had empty rates of 15%

any way back to the topic-buying a feeder will be a great invetment-but only if the imputs are used, no point buying one if your only prepared to use grass and straw

liam7831

http://www.fwi.co.uk/classified/advert/kverneland_kv_612_2_diet_feeder-melton_mowbray_leicestershire-11205594.htm

Have one of these, highly reccomended, alot better than a tub one i think

limo_100

what if a beef farmer who has all his cattle in the one shed dry cows, lactating cows and calves, springer cows and heifers, weanlings, store animals is a diet feeder any benefit for the beef farmer and if so what sort of mix would you use or would you spend all day mixing different rations????

John_F

liam7831 wrote: »

http://www.fwi.co.uk/classified/advert/kverneland_kv_612_2_diet_feeder-melton_mowbray_leicestershire-11205594.htm

Have one of these, highly reccomended, alot better than a tub one i think

those are meant to be good for chopping spuds according to james geoghan on the uk fourm.. never seen one working or even not working

limo_100 wrote: »

what if a beef farmer who has all his cattle in the one shed dry cows, lactating cows and calves, springer cows and heifers, weanlings, store animals is a diet feeder any benefit for the beef farmer and if so what sort of mix would you use or would you spend all day mixing different rations????

milkers and calves may get the same mix maybe.. depending on protein % and fibre, springers could be with dry cows (we dont have a close up group and manage ok), weanlings could get milker mix, we done it one year but would rather a different mix with less energy.. it depends on the numbers though... tub would not mix small amounts that easy!!

limo_100

John_F wrote: »

milkers and calves may get the same mix maybe.. depending on protein % and fibre, springers could be with dry cows (we dont have a close up group and manage ok), weanlings could get milker mix, we done it one year but would rather a different mix with less energy.. it depends on the numbers though... tub would not mix small amounts that easy!!

for around 100head bit of everything or would it not pay to use one. how many cows does your tub feeder feed when full??? and what would be the main difference between kennan type long flat ones and how many head can they feed when full..

John_F

limo_100 wrote: »

for around 100head bit of everything or would it not pay to use one. how many cows does your tub feeder feed when full??? and what would be the main difference between kennan type long flat ones and how many head can they feed when full..

depends, the dry cow diet has alot of straw and so wont hold alot of tonnes in that mix, but milking mix of half kg straw per head, maize, grass, and meal i can push 4.5 t in, will feed about 90 to 100 cows a day with that mix. i dont know how any beef farmer can justify the cost really unless he has plenty stock! tub mixer has a vertical auger and it just takes what is on floor and brings it up through middle and feed goes down along the walls of the feeder... the keenan has paddles that churn the feed to the top and falls again, there is an auger running along the outside with a door between the paddles and the auger, you open this to let the feed be pulled up to the auger and drawn to the door... easier to see it working!! dont really know how a paddle hi spec or abbey works

limo_100

John_F wrote: »

depends, the dry cow diet has alot of straw and so wont hold alot of tonnes in that mix, but milking mix of half kg straw per head, maize, grass, and meal i can push 4.5 t in, will feed about 90 to 100 cows a day with that mix. i dont know how any beef farmer can justify the cost really unless he has plenty stock! tub mixer has a vertical auger and it just takes what is on floor and brings it up through middle and feed goes down along the walls of the feeder... the keenan has paddles that churn the feed to the top and falls again, there is an auger running along the outside with a door between the paddles and the auger, you open this to let the feed be pulled up to the auger and drawn to the door... easier to see it working!! dont really know how a paddle hi spec or abbey works

the tub seems alot simpler and more straight forward i don't think many beef farmers could justify one but it would increase output and help put alot of flesh on its just worth thinking about