Self feed or block cut?
- Thread starter Fendt820
- Start date
Jdunn55
Member
- Location
- Helston, cornwall
Why do you want to change?Simple one really. Self feed silage or block cut. Currently self feed and just toying with the idea of block. Have handler so no need for to much expense swapping over.
Only reasons I can see to want to change from self feed would be either to add stuff to the mixture eg: blend or corn, minerals, maize etc or if there isnt enough room at the face for all the cows to eat. Imo a combination of the two works better if there isnt enough room at the face rather than getting rid of self feed altogether.
Stump Grinder
Member
We are autumn calving and I want to go on to big silage blocks. But we always seem to need to bucket mix fodder beet in at this time of year.
would be hard to put blends ect is a block cut system would it not? Loads of room big shallow faces less 6/7 ft at max. We put 1st cut 2nd 3rd 4th all in pit as no young stock or heifers to feed so cows have to eat all forage made. Find they pick what they want to do a very untidy job. Can make them hungry but doesnāt help milk yeild. Also block calving starting serving now so want intake in be at its best.
I donāt understand. Changing what order
jimmer
Member
- Location
- East Devon
I personally struggle with fresh calvers and self feed unless there's miles of fence and good forage
Spring calving and self feed is perfect until calving
Spring calving and self feed is perfect until calving
Ducati899
Member
- Location
- north dorset
Shear bucket
Thinking about replacing our shear grab for a shear bucket here but not sure how well it will work on our 100hp tractor and loader. Also do you have to tip the silage out or can you set it in blocks like the grab? All blocks here and as has been already said we are fed up with bits falling off around the yard.
Ducati899
Member
- Location
- north dorset
I used to use the same size shear bucket on a jd 6300 as I do now on my jcb so no issues there,not sureabout dropping it out in blocks as mine just fills the wagon
- Location
- East Sussex
self feed: lower intakes when trying to keep the 'concrete clean', not enough face especially with very well rolled silage.
poor use of clamp height/volume.
feed out (with LucasG bedder): much higher intakes, much more available pit space (height), can still self feed but only to keep the face and floor clean if nothing else. No fighting with the face if the clamp was a bit toppy/needing forking off and none of those sunday morning Fck ups with a collapsed face.
we are now suckers but I wish we had fed out when we were milking.
poor use of clamp height/volume.
feed out (with LucasG bedder): much higher intakes, much more available pit space (height), can still self feed but only to keep the face and floor clean if nothing else. No fighting with the face if the clamp was a bit toppy/needing forking off and none of those sunday morning Fck ups with a collapsed face.
we are now suckers but I wish we had fed out when we were milking.
- Location
- Northern Ireland
It's 200m from the back of our furthest pit to the furthest away batch of cattle at the opposite end of the yard. Our yard is a mixture of concrete and stone also, so picking it up clean off the stone isn't easy. Post 2007 NVZ regs, carrying blocks around in the grab has been banned in our yard. We set the blocks down in rows at the face, then pop the bucket on and carry them around the yard with that, meaning no spills. Turns out it's safer too as you never have a shear grab in the same vicinity as a cows head.
That's for small numbers of blocks, like 0-5. For more than that, we set them directly into an old 16x7 grain trailer, which means you can move a large tonnage very cheaply, and nothing to go wrong on a Saturday night. NC 6'4" grab fits nicely in through the back door, meaning you can set them in as blocks, and they even slide out of the trailer relatively undisturbed.
- Location
- somerset
self feed is best/cheapest, increasing cow numbers, made putting some/all in racks, to make sure enough room for cows to all feed, couple that, with increasing amounts of silage in clamps, face to high. I used to layer, maize silage, straights then grass, in the racks, cows mixed that perfectly, racks in the silage pit, so very little 'drop' waste.
endeavour
Member
- Location
- centre of milky way Carmarthenshire
Consideration to quantity of silage in DM terms important as required intake is achieved in shorter time with higher DM silage lowering face space required per cow this is accentuated when considering calving patterns and any increase in slurry if utilising out side silos. Old man still believes if cows ccan walk to food why carry it ,problems with face height simply lower it by feeding to young stock or placing behind face barrier is it me or have we over complicated dairy farming on the altar of yield not gross income minus all costs.
- Location
- somerset
we have been led down the complicated route, by both guv, and the major industries supplying us, they have taken the farmers inbuilt desire, to increase, grow better crops, bigger better cattle etc, and turned it to their advantage, and we have blithely followed that way, because we want to grow/breed better things. This has led to the over complicated systems, making us run faster every year, to stay in the same place, and by doing so, we have satisfied the guvs need for cheap food. Our 'desire' has led to more production, by using these complicated methods, but the prices we receive for our product, hasn't increased, for years. What it has achieved, is a good living for 1000's of reps/agents/manufacturers etc, probably better than ours, and cheap food for gov !