John Shepherd Feeder??

[steveR]

Anyone here got one of Mr Shepherd's J Bar 2 in 1 Feeders and using round bales or smaller big bales like a D1000?

I could do with a word with an owner and maybe a pic or two please of one in-situ before a possible purchase!

 

[JP1]

I can ask the owner if you like ....

 

[steveR]

I can ask the owner if you like ....

Of the Company, or of a feeder in "the workplace..."?

 

[JP1]

Chris Shepherd

 

[steveR]

YHM, thanks JP.

I like the look and design of the J feeders as a good alternative to traipsing inside sheds with ring feeders! Also think that with a set of fork tine boxes welded under the feeders, they would be ideal as a feeder in the gateway of a low building where feeding big bales is a PITA...! 2 second job to take out of the way.

 

[HarryB97]

Give them a call one of the most helpful and knowledgable firms i've dealt with, good kit to

 

[Half Full]

Excellent firm, Excellent quality.

 

[steveR]

I have had a chat with Shepherds now, but not actually found any good pics of the Hesston or J bar feeder in action...

Nor a local owner!

 

[Jackov Altraids]

They do look good. I'm sure they would email you some photo's......

 

[steveR]

They do look good. I'm sure they would email you some photo's......

Agree they look and sound substantial. I like the look of the Hesston J bar feeder as in your top pic as it will allow up to 3 round bales to be put on the feeder at one time, with the loader approaching at a shallow angle. Perfect for for when I am going away!

I also want one to replace a gate into a low shed when the feeder can be left in place and lifted out for littering or access.

 

[Martyn]

They do look good. I'm sure they would email you some photo's......

We had the 6 of the bottom feeders made up for our last tenacy, so afraid i cant measure then now, well build but i would ask them to make them extra 12-18" wider as once the bales expand with net off you get some excess wastage, they worked brilliantly with clamp silage, reduce bulling in the herd, would buy again

 

[Martyn]

 

[steveR]

Great stuff, thank you!

Did you find the bales "hung up" on the J bars so easier for the cattle to pull fodder out (and onto the floor)?

 

[Martyn]

Great stuff, thank you!

Did you find the bales "hung up" on the J bars so easier for the cattle to pull fodder out (and onto the floor)?

Yes exactly that, we only used 4ft 6" bales and that was bad enough, a fusion bale would hardly fit.

 

[Farmer1001]

@steveR don't use the Heston feeder for round bales, you will waste masses. Wastage is only reduced if the cattle keep their head in the feeder, if you put rounds and large hestons in the "Heston" feeder then the feed will sit against the bars and the cows won't need to out their heads through, but will simply tug it out and waste a large proportion. The idea of the J bar is to allow the cows a further (more comfortable) reach. My suggestion for feeding bales (on a face) is simply behave a J bar barrier, don't waste money on the Heston feeder, if you need a floor then have a flat floor but bare in mind you will push the whole feeder when you push the bale up as they get through it, btw the silage (especially baled) won't simply slide down the Heston as the cattle eat it, you will need to push it down. The Heston is a great feeder for volumes of TMR, beet etc but only avoid wastage if the cattle can keep their heads inside.

Picking up on what @Martyn said about width of the open base feeders; we have 10 ft by 7ft open base feeders with J bars for feeding round baled silage - standard 5ft 6 are not wide enough for round bales or 6 string hestons whereas the 7fts are, and crucalliy the 7fts are not too wide for the cows to reach the middle due to the J bar. If you wanted to put two bales in an open base then I'd suggest going for a 12ft length, 10ft a tad too short.

One last point, if you have tall cattle then the one small issue with the Shepherds feeders is the height of the neck rail, they are barely 4ft 6 high so for big cows they tend to reverse out the feeder when chewing as they can't keep their head up in a comfortable position within the feeder, this we only found as a problem for feeding baled silage or straw as it's long, whereas TMR not so bad as they "grazed" the shorter length. Our cows are approx 550!600 kgs and can cope with the standard height but the next time I will go for 5ft height.

Sorry about the essay but hope the above helps.

 

[steveR]

@runny egg Thank you for that info, it is very, very useful and will make me rethink some of the ideas I had initially for an external access feeder...

I built a "version" of the hesston style feeder 20 odd years ago, but it never worked properly as the hopper element was not deep enough and also it was too high for the young stock so there was not enough slope for the bale to roll down. One thing I did find on the MK2 version, was a bar to stop the bale getting too close to the actual feed barrier worked quite well, albeit still not enough fall or slope on the hopper.

Wondering if this is what is needed on the Shepherd feeder, and almost have a gravity or very steep backed hopper for the bales to allow fodder to fall towards the cattle witha bar. 6-12" from the feed barrier? The aim is to not have to push feed up!