Mixing grain

[Joe]

Mixing own grain here for ewes and finishing lambs, looking for something less hassle & accurate than loader and wall. Anyone using a diet feeder to just mix grain, like idea of it as can make up tmr if want and also maybe propcorn grain if need be. Any other options that would be worth considering thanks

 

[som farmer]

2nd hand mixer wagons are quite cheap at some sales.

blends are mixed at the feed depot, at Royal Portbury docks, by a static feeder wagon, surprised me.

never done propcorn, but have done caustic wheat through our keenan, works quite well.

 

[Joe]

2nd hand mixer wagons are quite cheap at some sales.

blends are mixed at the feed depot, at Royal Portbury docks, by a static feeder wagon, surprised me.

never done propcorn, but have done caustic wheat through our keenan, works quite well.

thanks for that, wonder would it mix as well in a Tub wouldnt mind being able to mix bales and believe Keenans not great at that

 

[ollie989898]

Mill and mix company could come in and do the lot for you whilst adding a bit of soya oil or molasses to keep the dust down? Can't remember what they would charge but they can load in straights whilst the process is going on and leave it all in a nice heap ready to use?

Prop corn or urea treat etc just pay someone to mix them in a feeder wagon in the summer and feed them out from the heap? Anything to avoid having to start a mixer wagon daily.

 

[ollie989898]

2nd hand mixer wagons are quite cheap at some sales.

blends are mixed at the feed depot, at Royal Portbury docks, by a static feeder wagon, surprised me.

never done propcorn, but have done caustic wheat through our keenan, works quite well.

Not all blends are done that way. Company I worked for had a tractor and tub mixer so could load and discharge into separate bays for each consignment until they were loaded.

Some mills will produce blends or meals using their usual milling equipment and bins etc-they just don't perform the caking step.

 

[PI Stsker]

Did 75% of our corn this year as propcorn through the old Keenan. Worked well, just leave it mixing longer than you think….

I remember mixing up some rolled barley and soya few years ago too and that worked well, just make sure it’s cleaned right out and no silage left in there if you planing to put it in a bin as it will bridge up like no tomorrow, as we found…

 

[M-J-G]

What's wrong with the bucket?
How much do you mix in a winter?

We do all ours with the grain bucket, barley soya and minerals for the young cattle.
Sheep get similar but we add a bit of SBP for them.

It's very simple with next to no cost, I used to throw everything into the bruiser together and by the time it came out of the elevator it was pretty much mixed.
The bucket is probably quicker.

 

[M-J-G]

Not all blends are done that way. Company I worked for had a tractor and tub mixer so could load and discharge into separate bays for each consignment until they were loaded.

Some mills will produce blends or meals using their usual milling equipment and bins etc-they just don't perform the caking step.

I know a lad who buys bulk loads in a walking floor trailer, soya hulls, bruised barley and dark grains layered in the trailer, by the time it's out of the trailer and pushed into a heap you couldn't find a handful of any single component.
Sounds rough, but when I witnessed it I couldn't fault it.

 

[ollie989898]

I know a lad who buys bulk loads in a walking floor trailer, soya hulls, bruised barley and dark grains layered in the trailer, by the time it's out of the trailer and pushed into a heap you couldn't find a handful of any single component.
Sounds rough, but when I witnessed it I couldn't fault it.

That can certainly be done, layered loads are ok but if you start adding soya, rapemeal etc into a ration it gets expensive fast and I'm not sure I would want to be saving the cost of mixing on those.

There is no right answer. My friend buys in protected rapemeal and rolled maize as straight but it requires two separate bins and you have to accurately load and mix them yourself. They also, being homogenous products have a liking of binding in the bin from time to time.

 

[Wesley]

thanks for that, wonder would it mix as well in a Tub wouldnt mind being able to mix bales and believe Keenans not great at that

It mixes perfectly fine in a tub. Only ever seen tubs used in feed mills around here. We live only a few miles from one & would take down our mixer, we payed for straights (as no mixing charge) & when we got home would put it mixing & chuck in minerals, barley etc before we emptied it out.

 

[Derrick Hughes]

Ive used all sorts
Best was a Farmhand Type Diet Feeeder with 3 Augers , mixed perfect and eptied the lot , cheap to buy 2cd Hand cost ne less than £500

Keenen , not the best for mixing and dont empty clean ,you have to go in with brush and shoval , and be carfull not to overload
I did have 5 cube Cement Mixer with a donkey engine, that mixed well and was easy to bag off from
Bucket against a wall is fastest , effective and cheap

 

[som farmer]

Mill and mix company could come in and do the lot for you whilst adding a bit of soya oil or molasses to keep the dust down? Can't remember what they would charge but they can load in straights whilst the process is going on and leave it all in a nice heap ready to use?

Prop corn or urea treat etc just pay someone to mix them in a feeder wagon in the summer and feed them out from the heap? Anything to avoid having to start a mixer wagon daily.

last winter we paid £21.50 a ton mix/roll wheat.

this winter, crimped the wheat, weather dictated that !

 

[Al R]

thanks for that, wonder would it mix as well in a Tub wouldnt mind being able to mix bales and believe Keenans not great at that

I used to operate a blending plant in the midlands at the arable farm I worked at, had a Keenan 140 which had rubber belts fitted to the paddles to sweep every last bit out - especially important when going from copper rich rations to sheep rations.
The owner of the company we were blending for said that the vertical tub mixers did a much better job than the Keenan. Every batch (5.8t) was sampled and sent off for testing to make sure that the ingredient distribution for every handful was what was being sold. Keenan needed 5-10 minutes mixing where as the verticles were almost instant but you were mixing as you were adding. If you do do it and use molasses, add it in first! It doesn’t go into a lump like what happens if you add it last.

 

[andybk]

prefer alka-grain to propcorn which is very acid , (sheep dont like it much) look up home and dry ,others on here use it more than me , did an experiment with crushed alka wheat few years back to try and get sheep to scour on it , needed quite a lot , local dairy farmer has cows on it at 5kg a day , just mix well with loader bucket and sheet down tight for 2 weeks will last ages , those big pan concrete mixers do a good job if its just feed , not forage

 

[Joe]

prefer alka-grain to propcorn which is very acid , (sheep dont like it much) look up home and dry ,others on here use it more than me , did an experiment with crushed alka wheat few years back to try and get sheep to scour on it , needed quite a lot , local dairy farmer has cows on it at 5kg a day , just mix well with loader bucket and sheet down tight for 2 weeks will last ages , those big pan concrete mixers do a good job if its just feed , not forage

Organic so propcorn only one allowed I believe. Have a fella that would make a mixer bucket for the loader, which would be handy but like idea of tmr to finish lambs maybe as have red clover and arable silage available.

 

[andybk]

Organic so propcorn only one allowed I believe. Have a fella that would make a mixer bucket for the loader, which would be handy but like idea of tmr to finish lambs maybe as have red clover and arable silage available.

dont mix to much propcorn then , our ewes would leave it , cant really see the difference, alka is only ammonia gas permeating the heap , comes like ewe nuts easy to mix , anything from 17% upto 28% moisture .

 

[Pan mixer]

Dare I suggest a pan mixer?

 

[Northeastfarmer]

Get an auger bucket

 

[David1968]

Got a 1t inclined mixer with the top removed. Just fill it with the loader bucket and can either fill bags or drop it into the auger bucket, depending on what's being fed.

 

[neilo]

dont mix to much propcorn then , our ewes would leave it , cant really see the difference, alka is only ammonia gas permeating the heap , comes like ewe nuts easy to mix , anything from 17% upto 28% moisture .

Iirc organic rules prohibit the use of urea in feed. In the case of Alkagrain you aren’t feeding urea, it’s turned into ammonia gas which treats the grain. Orgasmic rule makers wouldn’t have caught up with that though. A lot kinder on a ruminant gut than propcorn, but what would that matter to rule makers.