do straw choppers/shredders actually save straw

[Wooly]

how's it better for your lungs

Because you are not pushing and forking dusty straw around and breathing it all in..........including mould spores!

Hopefully you are sat in a tractor with a cab.



Just for the record, I use 20% less straw since using a chopper.

 

[Douglasmn]

We use far less straw now with the bedder compared to by hand before. Bed them little and often(every day) and it's far nicer for the cattle as well. Constant fresh and clean straw. Muck is far better too. Can easily spread straight from the shed, thereby saving the need to make a midden then spread at a later date once it's rotted down.

 

[buffalo_soldier]

Little and often is the way with spreaders.
Can be very easy to use too much if you don't watch it though.

The main benefit for me is removal of graft and a gain in time. Any straw saving would be tertiary.
I would also agree the resulting manure is easier and quicker to handle.

 

[Irish NZ]

I used 1 many winters ago(northern hemisphere).

We definitely noticed a reduction in straw use but not huge. But more importantly the animals were cleaner and you could bed down way quicker and easier. Plus it was easier to clean out.

 

[Derrick Hughes]

I know one big farmer not that far from wooly .change to round bales so rolling out and scrapped his chopper .why you may ask
Dusty and dirt all over his shed walls and roof .worried what the dust was doing to his and the cattles heath .broken side sheets through stones
Just an observation from the other side

 

[ploughman1963]

Buying a second hand spreadabale 2 years ago resulted in a major saving in our bought in straw bill and cleaner cows. The fact that one man can litter the sheds in minutes whilst the tmr is finishing mixing means it gets done daily as it's no longer a major task.

 

[Dog Bowl]

Bought a straw chopper beginning of last winter for the suckler beef unit. Before we had to move cattle from pen to pen to roll bales in. It was a bloody ball ache.

I would say we don't save much straw, but it's the time and safety factor I like. One man job now. It used to be 'bed up day' on a Monday and a Friday. Now it's little and often every day.

 

[Sid]

We use far less straw now with the bedder compared to by hand before. Bed them little and often(every day) and it's far nicer for the cattle as well. Constant fresh and clean straw. Muck is far better too. Can easily spread straight from the shed, thereby saving the need to make a midden then spread at a later date once it's rotted down.

Better for who? You? The muck spreader? The worms?

Bought a straw chopper beginning of last winter for the suckler beef unit. Before we had to move cattle from pen to pen to roll bales in. It was a bloody ball ache.

I would say we don't save much straw, but it's the time and safety factor I like. One man job now. It used to be 'bed up day' on a Monday and a Friday. Now it's little and often every day.

so what was a twice a week job now becomes everyday task? And thats better hooking up and unhooking a machine?

 

[DrDunc]

Yes you save straw, especially if you let the cows get dirty.

Used a blower here for near ten years. Initially used the same amount of straw but with about 20% more cattle. They are far cleaner which is a major benefit for calving indoors.

Last shed that I put up has a scrape passage behind the feed barriers. That saves a lot more straw than a bedder though. It needs bedded twice a week whereas the other sheds are just about daily.

Another huge straw saving is just by making drier forage. Dry dung needs a lot less bedding than acidic skitter!



I have farmers lung which has come from years of hand rolling out mouldy straw bales.

 

[Dog Bowl]

Better for who? You? The muck spreader? The worms?


so what was a twice a week job now becomes everyday task? And thats better hooking up and unhooking a machine?

Firstly we have a 20 year old tractor sat on the straw blower, so no hooking and unhooking. Secondly, we spent a whole morning bedding up every Monday and Friday with 2 of us. Now it's half an hour every morning for one chap. This has now released me to do other work and we've now virtually eliminated the need to have two people doing the routine on the beef unit away from the main holding.

 

[roscoe erf]

Machinery sales men say yes.
Straw sales men say no.
But it probably does imo

and does the savings out weigh the cost of purchase running the machine inc the tractor

 

[roscoe erf]

Time and effort is the main saving I always reckoned. Straw is more evenly spread, might be a cleaner batch of beasts on average?

Plus the safety thing.

what safety thing

 

[mo!]

what safety thing

Safer driving a tractor outside the shed than rolling bales inside the shed.

 

[roscoe erf]

Safer driving a tractor outside the shed than rolling bales inside the shed.

really

 

[mixed farm]

I thought half the enjoyment of bedding with full round bales was watching how far up in the air the bull could throw it?!

 

[ollie989898]

As others have said, I do think the chopped straw that forms your FYM is easier to clean out and spread later as well. I am sure animals stay cleaner. The time factor from my point of view was a huge saving. You can spend forever forking straw about or unrolling bales. Of course a straw chopper also makes it easier to use square bales, hesstons, or quadrants without a problem, which are easier to cart and store.

Also one of my pet hates is net wrap.

 

[beefandsleep]

Cattle spread straw far better than I ever could with a pike, just put it out in lumps and let them do the work, they love it. My spreader has been parked up for nearly 6 months, I'm not sure I will use it again. I have 500 cattle housed and I think it's quicker with the loader.

 

[Beef farmer]

Cattle spread straw far better than I ever could with a pike, just put it out in lumps and let them do the work, they love it. My spreader has been parked up for nearly 6 months, I'm not sure I will use it again. I have 500 cattle housed and I think it's quicker with the loader.

Didn't use ours for the last 5 years. 1000+ cattle in pens, 3 times a week, take net off and chuck a round bale in and walk away.

 

[Yazzie]

Is it possible to hire a machine for a week or so and see how you go with it.

 

[Beef farmer]

Is it possible to hire a machine for a week or so and see how you go with it.

Like a..........demo?