Cow feeding service…

[Cowfeeder87]

As finding good staff becomes harder and harder would a service using a sensible sized self propelled diet feeder with up to date diets automatically loaded to feed your milking, dry cows and who ever else gets a TMR on your farm accurately, mixed and presented consistently be of interest? Please comment your thoughts also. This is already a service offered in Holland however would UK value it?

 

[Courier]

Would be excellent idea for those herds within a sensible radius provided the service provider had equivalent backup equipment for the inevitable mechanical outage .....

 

[Scholsey]

Seems a popular service in mainland Europe, went to Holland and farm had 6 robots and all they had was a scraper tractor and a bobcat, contractor came in with a self loading feeder every day.

 

[Cowfeeder87]

Would be excellent idea for those herds within a sensible radius provided the service provider had equivalent backup equipment for the inevitable mechanical outage .....

Your 100% right and would go the company who supplied the best back up service.

 

[Scholsey]

Would think you would need a second set of machinery you could call on, having one thousand+ cows completely out of feed whilst you have a engineer sorting out a ad-blue problem on your feeder for 6 hours would lead to a serious sense of humour failure.

 

[Cowfeeder87]

Would think you would need a second set of machinery you could call on, having one thousand+ cows completely out of feed whilst you have a engineer sorting out a ad-blue problem on your feeder for 6 hours would lead to a serious sense of humour failure.

That would be the key having back up there quickly.

 

[Rossymons]

What would happen if you're not driving it? Who would?

 

[Horn&corn]

4 farms share one local to here. 24m machine with loader on each farm to load. Busy day for driver but savings could be considerable.

 

[Werzle]

Unless i dreamt it i thought i read an article where a contractor was doing it for a few farmers as a means to finding seasonal drivers work during the winter and keeping them employed

 

[ollie989898]

Since this done before.

3 farms pooled labour and machinery. Each farm is billed for every minute the machine is on their premises. Big tractor and diet feeder. Loader on each farm loads ingredients.

A self propelled machine could do a few herds a day and the pre-mixes, young stock and the like as necessary. However, they are incredibly complex machines. All the rage on the continent though as they can self load and driver stays in the cab in the dry.


A back up mixer wagon that you could put on a tractor would work well and not be daft money to have sat around.

The key to it would be having a contractor and team that take a lot of pride in their work and who are regular as clockwork. I know several contractors like this. One man band would probably be ideal as it would keep him and a tractor busy all winter.

 

[Blue.]

I fed a neighbours cows while his wife was in hospital,it worked well if I didn’t see his dad…

I do all the feeding here,last time I let someone else do it the took 3 times as long,I like consistency and I’ve seen lads stick the wrong amounts in the mixer and not give a feck,I class it as one of the easiest jobs on the farm but one of the most important.

 

[Cowfeeder87]

What would happen if you're not driving it? Who would?

I would be the relief driver, I would have someone on it full time.

 

[dave mountain]

might be a small market for it, but a lot of farmers will work on the basis that they already have the tractor sat around, diesel costs next to nothing and labour is £10/hour. we know this isn't true, but it will be hard to charge a profitable rate for the service when you are up against that mindset. the more business-minded operators will likely be large enough to warrant their own machine similar to what you would operate, so not much chance of work their either.

 

[Jdunn55]

I would definitely be interested, being spring calving would only need it for certain times of the year so its not economical for me to buy a mixer wagon and tractor for it to see it on, but then at times of the year when it is needed (the shoulders of the grazing season) its a faff not to have one

 

[michael N123]

4 farms share one local to here. 24m machine with loader on each farm to load. Busy day for driver but savings could be considerable.

Would make more sense to cut out the need of 4 loaders

 

[jimmer]

I had mechanical issues here last winter, contractor came every day fed 300 odd cows, and put the odd bale of straw in filled parlour hopper etc
2 hours max per day
It got me thinking
The grating bit was the fact two of us watched him feed rather than doing it ourselves

 

[ollie989898]

I had mechanical issues here last winter, contractor came every day fed 300 odd cows, and put the odd bale of straw in filled parlour hopper etc
2 hours max per day
It got me thinking
The grating bit was the fact two of us watched him feed rather than doing it ourselves

Feel less bad if all your stock are fed in that time and you concentrate on something else?

 

[ollie989898]

I thought the design of this machine was pretty ingenious and it has a capacity that would feed any herd in one fell swoop surely.

It would only work if the operator is the sort who takes pride in everything they do and is accurate in how he loads and mixes and feeds out. Not all machinery operators are like this. Cripes, I see they make a 6 wheeled version as well.

 

[Blue.]

Would make more sense to cut out the need of 4 loaders

Great till it breaks down,your then faced with sorting loaders and a feeder.

Andy Hourighan of YouTube fame is feeding 3000+ head with x2 trailed mixers,when asked why he doesn’t have a self propelled mixer he replied,I’ve always got a spare with running two.

You also have to look at the second hand market,there’s feeders with all sorts of configurations,not every farm has a central feed passage,lots of different style troughs out there,even some that can’t be filled till the cows are out of the way.

 

[Blue.]

might be a small market for it, but a lot of farmers will work on the basis that they already have the tractor sat around, diesel costs next to nothing and labour is £10/hour. we know this isn't true, but it will be hard to charge a profitable rate for the service when you are up against that mindset. the more business-minded operators will likely be large enough to warrant their own machine similar to what you would operate, so not much chance of work their either.

I use 15litres a day to feed out and mix x4 tub mixes,it takes me an hour,I wouldn’t be keen on paying for travel diesel etc
Also being housed 365 means I’d want someone every day of the year,it wouldn’t fit in well with a contractor as it would put pressure on in the silly season.
So what would be a profitable rate for a contractor soon becomes expensive for the farmer.