How to feed cows?

[RJ1]

Mixer wagon is certainly not ruled out. The great thing about bales was anyone could put out a dozen bales and the cows would get the right amount of silage. There are three of us who feed now and I think/know that the amount they are given daily by counting grab fulls is quite variable. I quite like the idea of someone with weigh cells.

We're probably going to go for a 24 Cube reconditioned keenan to feed around 500 cows and followers. Never thought something like this would be the answer but the realiti is running around with blocks etc takes a lot of time.

 

[Cows 'n grass]

We're probably going to go for a 24 Cube reconditioned keenan to feed around 500 cows and followers. Never thought something like this would be the answer but the realiti is running around with blocks etc takes a lot of time.

The other thing about running around with blocks is how much gets spilt every time you run over that pothole you meant to fix in summer.

 

[kiwi pom]

Hustler feeder wagon?
Loads round here, seem pretty tough, use the loader tractor to load then hook up and feed out. You can chuck bales or pit silage in and feed out in the paddock too.
There seems to be a chap with one in your neck of the woods.
Hope the link works.

No More Feed Limitations For This Organic Spring Block Calving Operation in South Devon | Hustler Equipment

We are greeted by Adam Atkinson from Caulston Farms, an organic spring block calving operation in South Devon, UK. They have owned the new Hustler Combi CM136 since April this year and for them it means perfectly simple feeding with no limitations on feed type production and delivery. Caulston...

www.hustlerequipment.com

 

[Cows 'n grass]

Hustler feeder wagon?
Loads round here, seem pretty tough, use the loader tractor to load then hook up and feed out. You can chuck bales or pit silage in and feed out in the paddock too.
There seems to be a chap with one in your neck of the woods.
Hope the link works.

No More Feed Limitations For This Organic Spring Block Calving Operation in South Devon | Hustler Equipment

We are greeted by Adam Atkinson from Caulston Farms, an organic spring block calving operation in South Devon, UK. They have owned the new Hustler Combi CM136 since April this year and for them it means perfectly simple feeding with no limitations on feed type production and delivery. Caulston...

www.hustlerequipment.com

Great machine, that one is nearly next door and they're very pleased with it. I think I can just see the edge of our ground in that video. It was a bit cheaper a few years ago but I believe they are £50-55k now.

 

[kiwi pom]

Great machine, that one is nearly next door and they're very pleased with it. I think I can just see the edge of our ground in that video. It was a bit cheaper a few years ago but I believe they are £50-55k now.

Makes a grab and a ring feeder look quite attractive at that price.
I used to relief milk at a place that just had an old cubicle shed, yard and ring feeders, we always talked about a new shed with feed passages and a mixer wagon etc.
He did do it in the end and the new cubicles helped heaps compared to the old ones but from a feeding view point I'm not sure it solved much. It certainly didn't save time and it added expense because he now needed two tractors, one loading and one on the mixer wagon.
Not sure he was a lot better off to be honest.

 

[Wesley]

Technically you don’t need two tractors if you’re using a tub mixer. It just makes it easier. You can load it, hitch up & put it mixing. We used to do it a fair bit. Our old mixer was even specced with a 12v battery pack. So we could weigh unhitched.

 

[Cowmansam]

Forget the mixer just get a forage box you can feed maize grass beet plus blends out out a forage box mixed just fine if you load it right

 

[Dead Rabbits]

Don’t even recognize the place with all the roofs now!

Lot of people hate on wagons and claim high running costs etc. I’m sure the wrong one can be. But what you are looking to do is replace time and labor with machinery. And also increase consistency between operators and different feeds.

A mixer or feed out wagon will do that provided it can be maneuvered around and will also allow a lot more feeding flexibility and accuracy. Find a load of cheap by product? Chuck it in there. Mix the corn silage, grass silage, whole crop to stretch one out? You will have the machine for the job. All of our feeding can be done in winter with 1 person and 2-6 hours, including putting bales in paddocks. Yeah it’s not free but it’s time and labor efficient.

 

[Fendt820]

Not simple at all. Ring feeders PITA to scrape round. Too tight to get a decent sized loader in to feed into troughs.

Anyone self feed nowadays with movable barrier at the silage face?

Yeah with a step so they can reach higher.

yes for self feed. But with a wire. Works well if u can keep the hight down. Down side makes looks of slurry. But if u have storage then good with fert price where it is.

 

[dairydurham]

Both tractors are owned since new but have 20k hours between them so they are worth more to me than their monetary value. I do actually have a little handler as well, I just forgot to list it. It still wouldn't be little enough to turn 90 degrees in a 6m passage though. Only a skiddy would do that.

A Kramer would turn in 6m no problem

 

[Sambo]

Both tractors are owned since new but have 20k hours between them so they are worth more to me than their monetary value. I do actually have a little handler as well, I just forgot to list it. It still wouldn't be little enough to turn 90 degrees in a 6m passage though. Only a skiddy would do that.

A side tip bucket so you don't need to be at a right angle to the trough?

 

[SouthWest]

What is to the left? Can you not flatten the hedge and have another passage to eat from?

Unfortunately, there not a chance we'd get permission to remove the hedge. My cows really are quite small, I spent months feeding on this 16m wide yard in NZ which seemed to have loads of room.

I would ask about removing the hedge and offering to establish the same/2x/3x elsewhere on the farm as a bargaining tool. Surely that would be a better habitat for wildlife than a hedge in the middle of a farm yard. If you could feed down the outside of that shed you would have a lot more options in the future (extra loose housing, cubicles ect). What is the worst they can say, No?

 

[Will Blackburn]

Don't get a forage box, bed chains, tub if you have to (same one 20 years here with no mither), artic steer loader plus big grab would be better.

 

[sidjon]

Don't get a forage box, bed chains, tub if you have to (same one 20 years here with no mither), artic steer loader plus big grab would be better.

Hustler has no chains, all hydraulic driven

 

[More to life]

hot wite

Hustler has no chains, all hydraulic driven

much the same price as a tub

 

[sidjon]

hot wite

much the same price as a tub

Yep, but lower running costs, so should lower cost overall, am personally of self fed for spring calving, but still has its problems

 

[Stuart1]

hot wite

much the same price as a tub

Someone reckoned the hustler was 50-55k in an earlier post. I bought a new mixer wagon this year, 15cube £18,000. I know I’d rather have 3 mixer wagons to one hustler.

 

[Beef farmer]

I've a quote for the hustler in the video. It's not 50k

 

[Stuart1]

I've a quote for the hustler in the video. It's not 50k

Go on then, how much?

 

[Beef farmer]

Go on then, how much?

It was either 38 or 41 I cant find it or remember, that's why I didn't put a figure on it. It's the not avalible until May at the earliest was also an issue.
But yeah can't justify 40k to feed some bales.