Practical Farm Ideas
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Hate seeing silage getting dropped in the yard when carrying it in the grab? Lumps of silage that drop off the grab as you carry the fodder from clamp to a feed bunker at the other end of the yard can become annoying, because it not only makes a mess, it is valuable feed getting wasted. Some time ago Philip Wainright showed me how he used to feed heifers that he kept down the road in another building,. All they needed was a grab a day, but each journey left a trail of silage. He found a perfect answer to the problem by cutting up an old heating oil tank, and fitting a bar to the top which allowed him to pick it up.
Like many other farmers, he moved to baled silage, so the silage catcher was no longer needed. But what goes round, comes round, and with the cost of wrap increasing, it likely that clamp silage will enjoy a resurgence - made all the more attractive if you can carry it a long distance without dropping some!
The support bar needs to be positioned at the centre of gravity of the triangular silage catcher. It's put on the floor when the grab is loaded and tipped, and is easy to pick up and empty from the tractor seat.
The re-shaped oil tank is held so it swings back to stay snug against the bottom of the tines
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