Feed out area/mixer wagon

[Jim75]

Looking for suggestions on feed out areas in the winter time. Previously cattle are out wintered until calving and brought in late feb/early March or by scan date. Usually start on straw anytime Now and then switch to silage/hay depending on condition etc nov/dec. Usually add in some draff/tatties to the mix post Xmas to start building them up. They’re all outwintered on Stubbles and most fields have access to large hard standings or Sandy fields. Trailer feeders are order of the day and usually run 2 x teams (1 tractor and trailer and 1 quad/trailer) ferrying round bales about. Peak numbers would be 65-70 bales every 2nd day which will go up this yr a bit (includes sheep requirements) and looking for a slicker/quicker system if there is one. Have gone from 4000 bales down to approx 1200 and the rest in a pit this year. Looking at a mixer wagon and how would be best to feed out (bunkers/trailers/ on to hard standing behind a wire) all options open. Ideally it would be a one man job for a whole day or 2 for half the day every 2nd day.

 

[Derrick Hughes]

If the stuble is dry just feed out in the field . Did that 40 years ago with dad . Cattle kept cleaner than messing around feeders

 

[Jim75]

If the stuble is dry just feed out in the field . Did that 40 years ago with dad . Cattle kept cleaner than messing around feeders

Some is blowing sand so fine to travel over but some is a mix of sand over blue clay. Hard standing is a old runway and lots of off lying roads next to the main runway which could be utilised.

 

[Chae1]

Why do you want to use a mixer wagon to feed dry cows over winter?

How many cows/sheep are you feeding!?

35 × 600kg bales 21 000kgs per day.

20% dm silage 4200kg dm per day.

700kg cow will eat 14 kg DM?

4200 ÷ 14. 300 cows per day?

In my opinion you can't beat feed trailers filled with bales for getting kg in front of them. Look at a 600kg silage bale and 600kg pit silage through a mixer wagon and look at the amount of space it takes up?

We have ammonia treated hesstons this year. 2 hesstons 800kg DM per trailer. Put 4 in at weekends 2 high.

A mixer wagon will just burn more diesel and complicate matters in my opinion. There's no money in suckler cows as it is.

Nothing as simple as filling a feed trailer with bales. Get tons of DM in front of them. We have one guy at farm filling trailers and another just goes back and forward to fields with feed trailers. So theres a full one waiting for him when he gets back.

 

[Jim75]

Why do you want to use a mixer wagon to feed dry cows over winter?

How many cows/sheep are you feeding!?

35 × 600kg bales 21 000kgs per day.

20% dm silage 4200kg dm per day.

700kg cow will eat 14 kg DM?

4200 ÷ 14. 300 cows per day?

In my opinion you can't beat feed trailers filled with bales for getting kg in front of them. Look at a 600kg silage bale and 600kg pit silage through a mixer wagon and look at the amount of space it takes up?

We have ammonia treated hesstons this year. 2 hesstons 800kg DM per trailer. Put 4 in at weekends 2 high.

A mixer wagon will just burn more diesel and complicate matters in my opinion. There's no money in suckler cows as it is.

Nothing as simple as filling a feed trailer with bales. Get tons of DM in front of them. We have one guy at farm filling trailers and another just goes back and forward to fields with feed trailers. So theres a full one waiting for him when he gets back.

I thought you had a pit? Nothing is set in stone to how we’ll Feed, mixer or no mixer. How long does it take you to feed when they’re on silage rather than straw?
Bales are work of the devil, pay to wrap them then pay to get rid of the wrap. Chase them for days at a time In the summer compared to filling a clamp. Also every bale is different and a well consolidated/sealed pit will have very little waste compared to bales. I’m sure that goes against all forum rules saying that but that’s what we’ve found. Lost quite a few ewes to listeria with bales and for pedigree offspring and what they produce you can’t have those losses.
Although most offspring are finished off grass there’s still some stirks to feed at this time of year and it comes down to consistency of the mix again.

 

[Chae1]

Yes. Only use pit for backend calvers over winter, weaned calves, feeding spring calvers post calving. Pit only gets fed to housed stock. The sheer bulk of material through a mixer will beat you in my opinion. I hate putting blocks out of silage pit in a feed trailer due to how little they hold.

I agree bales are horrible things but haven't found anything better yet. Luckily farmers like to cut excess grass bale it and sell silage for under £10/bale. I can't produce it for that. With the exception of 2018, buying in silage bales for feeding out overwinter has paid off. We don't even feed pit silage when they are housed to calve. Just dump bales down passes.

 

[Jim75]

Yes. Only use pit for backend calvers over winter, weaned calves, feeding spring calvers post calving. Pit only gets fed to housed stock. The sheer bulk of material through a mixer will beat you in my opinion. I hate putting blocks out of silage pit in a feed trailer due to how little they hold.

I agree bales are horrible things but haven't found anything better yet. Luckily farmers like to cut excess grass bale it and sell silage for under £10/bale. I can't produce it for that. With the exception of 2018, buying in silage bales for feeding out overwinter has paid off. We don't even feed pit silage when they are housed to calve. Just dump bales down passes.

If you’re managing to get decent quality silage and weed free then crack on. If it’s for spring Calvers after calving they’ll eat any rubbish so win win. Maybe that’s why they’re only £10 if they’re only 600kg.

 

[Chae1]

If you’re managing to get decent quality silage and weed free then crack on. If it’s for spring Calvers after calving they’ll eat any rubbish so win win. Maybe that’s why they’re only £10 if they’re only 600kg.

Pre calving I'm not really fussed on quality. Just want gut fill. Even wet bales. They can skitter all they want in a field. They normally come inside looking in good condition. Look after them after they've calved.

If you find a better way to feed them outside please let me know. Would save us a lot of time/money.

Just know for sure I won't be yolking the mixer wagon to feed them outside.

 

[capfits]

Kinda wondering the same re using the mixer.
Time to mix, cost of that time re machine, increase in volume from the mixing, introducing air.
Pit stuff and not enough long fibre can cause problems with long bone skeletal stuff so keep an eye on that.
Yip bales are a pain in numbers for sure, and not that environmently sound with all the plastic
Could not self feed from mini pits ag bag? on old runway?

 

[Jim75]

Kinda wondering the same re using the mixer.
Time to mix, cost of that time re machine, increase in volume from the mixing, introducing air.
Pit stuff and not enough long fibre can cause problems with long bone skeletal stuff so keep an eye on that.
Yip bales are a pain in numbers for sure, and not that environmently sound with all the plastic
Could not self feed from mini pits ag bag? on old runway?

Possibly in the future if we added another pit. Would also need to be really wide and low for self feed 300-350 cows? Did look at ag bag as an alternative/stop gap if the pit wasn’t ready for silage time but costly and still a lot of plastic to dispose of.

 

[capfits]

Possibly in the future if we added another pit. Would also need to be really wide and low for self feed 300-350 cows? Did look at ag bag as an alternative/stop gap if the pit wasn’t ready for silage time but costly and still a lot of plastic to dispose of.

Pit could be open at both ends?
Height of silage wall is not that much of an issue if good barrier set up. Saw one inside a shed nearly 15 feet high face down in Cumbria many years ago.
Sounds like you have a pretty good system in place to me.

 

[Jim75]

Pit could be open at both ends?
Height of silage wall is not that much of an issue if good barrier set up. Saw one inside a shed nearly 15 feet high face down in Cumbria many years ago.
Sounds like you have a pretty good system in place to me.

4.5m high And 15m wide and it’s open ended at both ends.

 

[AngusLad]

Sounds like a pretty good set up. Would love to have the type of ground to out winter those kind of numbers. What about setting up a hot wire feed fence on your runway? Feed out using a schuitemaker type feed wagon, carry a lot of pit silage in them and a fraction of the purchase price/running costs of a feeder wagon

 

[Jim75]

Sounds like a pretty good set up. Would love to have the type of ground to out winter those kind of numbers. What about setting up a hot wire feed fence on your runway? Feed out using a schuitemaker type feed wagon, carry a lot of pit silage in them and a fraction of the purchase price/running costs of a feeder wagon

Update, bought a 2nd hand 20m3 trioliet in part down to our local dealer. Scraped and tidied up the side runways and taken in extra wind blow/other tidy up areas to create the banks behind for extra shelter. This one area at the minute has 140 head. About to create an extra 2 areas at the far side of here. They’ve got access either side of the photo to stubbles but if it turns real wet we’ll bed the hard standing. Both wires are hot but bottom one can be turned off. Working really well with less demand on labour as the ability to feed a large amount of stock in a short time scale.

 

[Chae1]

Update, bought a 2nd hand 20m3 trioliet in part down to our local dealer. Scraped and tidied up the side runways and taken in extra wind blow/other tidy up areas to create the banks behind for extra shelter. This one area at the minute has 140 head. About to create an extra 2 areas at the far side of here. They’ve got access either side of the photo to stubbles but if it turns real wet we’ll bed the hard standing. Both wires are hot but bottom one can be turned off. Working really well with less demand on labour as the ability to feed a large amount of stock in a short time scale.

Is that 20 cube wagon single axle!?

 

[Jim75]

Is that 20 cube wagon single axle!?

it is

 

[Chae1]

it is

We a had a 18cube single axle Bvl it chewed up concrete pretty bad turning.

Looks a smart setup. Is there hard standing behind where there feeding out of?

 

[Jim75]

We a had a 18cube single axle Bvl it chewed up concrete pretty bad turning.

Looks a smart setup. Is there hard standing behind where there feeding out of?

think there’s 12-15m hard standing behind them, there’s a gate out into stubbles further to the right. 2 new pads in the distance will be straw bedded pads and feed in front of the loafing area. Kept it simple and seems to be working so far

 

[jamesy]

Looks good, had noticed this on Facebook a bit back & wondered how it was working out.

 

[Jim75]

Looks good, had noticed this on Facebook a bit back & wondered how it was working out.

keep your eyes peeled, hopefully create something for sheep to be fed similarly