Diet feeder loaded with tractor loader

[Hilly]

For those with experience of Keenans - something that I hadn't thought of until now - how well does it mix front to back? In other words, if I tipped a load of barley at the front of the machine, would the majority of the barley stay at the front, thereby affecting the consistency of the feed out? I expect the auger system would help reduce this but I can't see how it would create a fully consistent mix.

Because the paddles are angled and the discharge auger helps mixing , fairy basic but it works and produces a good mix that will feed out nicely . The attraction to Keenan for me is the simplicity I like to keep machinery as long as I possibly can , Keenan only have bearings and two chains , tubs with motors conveyor belts would worry me keeping something twenty plus years .

 

[Horn&corn]

We loaded our siloking 12m machine today with the loader tractor as an experiment. Works fine if we’re stuck without jcb one day.
we’ve put thousands of bales in our machine and never had a problem. Total mixed ration of 9 ingredients. I’m told Keenan Collect the concentrate in the auger then dump that first followed by the forage When fed out.
tub mixer for me every day

 

[som farmer]

Because the paddles are angled and the discharge auger helps mixing , fairy basic but it works and produces a good mix that will feed out nicely . The attraction to Keenan for me is the simplicity I like to keep machinery as long as I possibly can , Keenan only have bearings and two chains , tubs with motors conveyor belts would worry me keeping something twenty plus years .

first diet feeder we had, was a very old 2nd hand, enormous oswald £400, never seen one since, but the main chain went through an oil bath, which kept the lesser chains well oiled with the drips, brilliant design. It came originally from a 350 dairy, 1 load, said it was big !

 

[Hilly]

first diet feeder we had, was a very old 2nd hand, enormous oswald £400, never seen one since, but the main chain went through an oil bath, which kept the lesser chains well oiled with the drips, brilliant design. It came originally from a 350 dairy, 1 load, said it was big !

The new keenans have a oil bath , I hope to copy it one day if I can for mine as the auto lube is a bit crap .

 

[Limcrazy]

Soft hands on the loader tractor is the job for filling silage bales into tub feeder. Gives more height and reach, no need to tip over to release and can put in half bale at a time.

 

[T C]

With the Lucas tub (on demo) we can mix straw and silage bales in 10 minutes, takes 40 in the Keenan. You can drop a whole bale in, with the Keenan it has to be well broken up or will shear the bolt.
Dad had one of the 1st Keenans the country in the mid 80s.
Our current one will have fed close on half a million meals..... but time moves one.

 

[Dead Rabbits]

I grew up with horizontal auger type mixers. Wore out pitch forks feeding dry hay in by hand.

Where I’m at now we run twin screw tubs. I wouldn’t consider anything else if you have bales. We load everything with a loader tractor no problem, standard 8ft bucket. Put somewhere in the neighborhood of 2500 ton DM plus concentrate through each one every year. Get the biggest one your tractor or buildings can handle. The time saving Is unreal.

Can’t speak on the beef side Of things though. Numbers likely won’t add up to having much machinery between the cow and her feed.

 

[mtx.jag]

I'm well noted for my ability to entertain such things without actually getting sucked in. I believe it's called....being tight? Don't worry, I'll be looking a trioliet demo too - primarily because I have a dealer for them less than a mile away from me and they have a good name.

Local farm I pump slurry on ran a Keenan,switched from clamp to bales for various reasons,Keenan was traded few weeks after that for a Shelbourne tub which was good,but that’s now been traded for a troilet which they say is the best thing ever for bales. They feed 4000 plus bales a year through it and it’s in its second winter with no issues.

 

[MickyMook]

I just had a thought - can you feed vegetables through either paddle or tub time with any amount of success? I would imagine a tub would have the potential to chop them a bit but they’d probably still be pretty much whole unless they went through a beet chopper or something similar I’m guessing? I don’t feed any veg but some finisher men around here do.

 

[mo!]

I just had a thought - can you feed vegetables through either paddle or tub time with any amount of success? I would imagine a tub would have the potential to chop them a bit but they’d probably still be pretty much whole unless they went through a beet chopper or something similar I’m guessing? I don’t feed any veg but some finisher men around here do.

Yes, Keenan is Ok and handles small quantities well, tub is much faster but really needs filling to chop well. The big (huge) advantage of the tub is that if there are any stones then they aren't a problem. Not so much with a Keenan.

 

[MickyMook]

Yes, Keenan is Ok and handles small quantities well, tub is much faster but really needs filling to chop well. The big (huge) advantage of the tub is that if there are any stones then they aren't a problem. Not so much with a Keenan.

oh really? Why is the Keenan so vulnerable to stones?

 

[Tim G]

oh really? Why is the Keenan so vulnerable to stones?

The paddles push them into the knives, there's nowhere for them to go so either the stone smashes or the knife does.

 

[mo!]

A cobble can easily cost you £50 in one mix.

 

[T C]

Yes, Keenan is Ok and handles small quantities well, tub is much faster but really needs filling to chop well. The big (huge) advantage of the tub is that if there are any stones then they aren't a problem. Not so much with a Keenan.

Didn't find a small mix bad to chop. In the 14cu Lucas 100kg straw and 1/2t barley will process unchopped barley straw in 10 minutes, in fact you could easily over chop the straw.

 

[Limcrazy]

Tub feeder with some weight like silage in it will chop up veg no bother. Decent blades and side restraints pushed in.

 

[mo!]

Didn't find a small mix bad to chop. In the 14cu Lucas 100kg straw and 1/2t barley will process unchopped barley straw in 10 minutes, in fact you could easily over chop the straw.

I was referring to chopping veg or in our case fodder beet.

 

[Celt83]

I was referring to chopping veg or in our case fodder beet.

Tub mixer will do a tidy job of them.

Shelbourne state that you should put min 250kg into the machine and mix before adding anything else.

 

[mo!]

Tub mixer will do a tidy job of them.

Shelbourne state that you should put min 250kg into the machine and mix before adding anything else.

Our experience is that you will chop 5 tonne as fast as 250kg.

 

[MickyMook]

A cobble can easily cost you £50 in one mix.

Right well, that’s a tub mixer for me then. Any of our spring barley straw is likely to have the odd stone in it after I kick it into rows for the round baler - the ground here in places consists of stones with clay in it, not the other way around

 

[som farmer]

make sure you have magnets, it's amazing what they pick up, very good at stopping kneenan blades, but washers, bolts, but very little wire, thankfully, if it was there, in quantity, you have a problem.