So I done a bit of timing today.
keenan 140 is the mixer, class 640 driving it atm @430rpms, loading with MF 5455 and cubic meter bucket. yard is a mix of new and old, forages with 10m of the feeder, grains 50m, liquid 100m. all sheds withing 50m of mixing. Feeder is full for each mix. had twines off straw etc, so everything ready to go
- 0 - both machines running
- 16.30mins - I was finished loading so loader tractor turned off. Taught I would be quicker but there is a bucket of liquid feed going into this.
- 4 mins - let the feeder mix beyond loading
- 10 mins - unloading. 3 runs, and have to back into dead end passage.
- 9 mins - had 2 pens in this mix where I had to use the loader bucket to feed into. typical for most old yards probably.
I clocked 57 minutes of machinery running, 30 with mixer and 27 with loader @ €45 an hour (???) is say €43. burned about 6ltrs of diesel.
Time wise - using the diet feeder Im feeding an animal every 11 seconds, I remember timing last year and nearly certain It was taking 8 seconds with just the loader and layered pit. loader size was a big limiting factor in digging straight from the pit. If I had a big loading shovel and 2 to 3cub bucket would halve this time I would think.
waste is the same in either system, throw in shite, there will be waste, no crap, no waste
Sorry for this boring shite, but when you spend allot of time loading a feeder I do some serious boring calculations
How would you manage to feed all those ingredients, especially grains or liquid stuff without a feeder? I doubt you would go walking around the yard with buckets....
Hard to disagree on the rattle box driving you mad but I wonder is it taking a bit longer for your mix to get chopped without the added choping affect that the top knife gives it on the way in and the fact that the fingers grab the material and cause it to roll over more?
3 atm could easily be reduced if I made up a bucket to fit into the shear grab which I have wanted to do for a few years now. The tractor would only be running for a few minutes putting in the bucket of meal
I think some lads use their calculators a little too much, I have a customer I call “mr calculator” every single thing he does has to be broken down into a mathematical equation, if you told him you’d give him something for free he could work out a theorem to prove that I should be paying him to take it, over analysis that often comes back to bite him.Sorry for this boring shite, but when you spend allot of time loading a feeder I do some serious boring calculations
it begs the question, are we making our diets complicated to make our system work in our heads. Should we have a more balanced forage in the pit to start with. Have all ingredients in the pit or mix on the floor. I mixed on the floor last year and its is suprisingly quick. Left the feeder parked and didnt see any difference in thrive. All be it I was only mixing one grain into what was in the pit along with liquid.
I think some lads use their calculators a little too much, I have a customer I call “mr calculator” every single thing he does has to be broken down into a mathematical equation, if you told him you’d give him something for free he could work out a theorem to prove that I should be paying him to take it, over analysis that often comes back to bite him.
its what i do when at boring reppeditive jobs, when your in a tiny margin business, you have to know everythings cost unfortunately
I'm using a variation of that, my diet feeder can be seen in the foreground blocks in every second day and a bit of badly needed exercise for myself as required. Pit located between 2 sheds so only travelling a short distance with the blocks of silage.Kept simple here for a simpleton, no diet feeding chopping etc etc. View attachment 61615
So I done a bit of timing today.
keenan 140 is the mixer, class 640 driving it atm @430rpms, loading with MF 5455 and cubic meter bucket. yard is a mix of new and old, forages with 10m of the feeder, grains 50m, liquid 100m. all sheds withing 50m of mixing. Feeder is full for each mix. had twines off straw etc, so everything ready to go
- 0 - both machines running
- 16.30mins - I was finished loading so loader tractor turned off. Taught I would be quicker but there is a bucket of liquid feed going into this.
- 4 mins - let the feeder mix beyond loading
- 10 mins - unloading. 3 runs, and have to back into dead end passage.
- 9 mins - had 2 pens in this mix where I had to use the loader bucket to feed into. typical for most old yards probably.
I clocked 57 minutes of machinery running, 30 with mixer and 27 with loader @ €45 an hour (???) is say €43. burned about 6ltrs of diesel.
Time wise - using the diet feeder Im feeding an animal every 11 seconds, I remember timing last year and nearly certain It was taking 8 seconds with just the loader and layered pit. loader size was a big limiting factor in digging straight from the pit. If I had a big loading shovel and 2 to 3cub bucket would halve this time I would think.
waste is the same in either system, throw in shite, there will be waste, no crap, no waste
Sorry for this boring shite, but when you spend allot of time loading a feeder I do some serious boring calculations
I'm using a variation of that, my diet feeder can be seen in the foreground View attachment 61794 blocks in every second day and a bit of badly needed exercise for myself as required. Pit located between 2 sheds so only travelling a short distance with the blocks of silage.
I find it hard to disagree with the idea of a layered pit being simpler but I do also see some major issues with it in practical terms.
The first I see and it’s the biggest thing is that it suits if your feeding one type of animal. In our own case if we were back to pit then there’d be a mix of dry suckers, weanlings and fats trying to feed from the one pit. The cows certainly don’t need to be eating meal as they do plenty well on straight silage here never mind the added cost of feeding them meal, then how do you balance the mix so that it’s right for both weanlings and fats, 2 groups which need different diets.
Ok you could argue that layer the bottom of the pit and leave the top of it as straight silage for the cows, but then what happens when the feed out rates are different.
The other thing I see is in our case we use our own grain for the feeding. It would mean either having to sell then buy back at a far inflated price in the summer or else having to store barley almost right around the calendar to have it there to mix into the pit.
I do think in our own case a feeder is probably over complicating things a little but it also means we’re not physically carrying buckets of meal to feed cattle, not physically mixing the barley and soya on the ground with a shovel and once it’s fed it’s into a trough so no major work forking it back in and the troughs have greatly reduced a wastage issue we had with crows pulling feed out. Then there’s also the fact that head space is a bit restricted here and the feeder means when any animal gets to the barrier there’s the same feed there for them
I have on occasion, drop the block and give it a quarter turn and push it up against the feed barrier, I'd only do it if I needed to be away for a day or 2, I could build 2 days of silage in front of them, why I don't do it all the time is they would get very fussy with too much to choose from and intake would more than likely drop overall.would you not nudge them in with the tractor, and feic the fitness training
I have become a big fan of hay since this winter, no wrap to dispose of, a bale seems to feed allot of animals and no pressure on machinery shifting themDo you remember the good summer of 2018 .Best hay I've had in years .
View attachment 62034
I have become a big fan of hay since this winter, no wrap to dispose of, a bale seems to feed allot of animals and no pressure on machinery shifting them
I'm not selling much of mine yet eitherWhat's the saying "more bad hay made in a good year than a bad year"
I wrapped mine as haylage but it's actually more like hay,beautiful stuff but I'm saving it for now.
I cut mine with straight disc mower (about 5 bale ac crop), didnt get around to turning it, and we raked it straight from the swards 5 mins before the baler. As green as silage and bone dry. I will never make hay like it again
Are you chopping the bales into the feeder or throwing the full bale up on top?
We’re choping them in with the shear grab then go get the bucket of meal and by the time we’re back into the tractor it’s mixed enough to feed out. But then it’s a lot simpler of a mix with just bale silage and meal.
Find there’s a massive difference in bales based on dry matter as to how long they take. The drier the bale the longer it takes to get in and it nearly doubles the length to feed out unless you leave it mixing and chopping for ages