Straw blower and silage bales

[Dave W]

What's everyone's thoughts on silage bales through straw blowers?
Everyone I advertise one it's the one thing I get asked "will it do silage?"
If like to give an honest answer but I've never used one on silage first hand

 

[milkloss]

Lucas G does silo but rounds tend to roll away from the chopper rotor. Clamp silage makes it work but handles it quite well...... direct drive beds aren't really built for it though, the newer chain drive ones are supposed to be better.

 

[biggles]

I put about 300 silage bales through the 8080 Teagle I had off you a few years ago, no issues once you get the hang of what works best, it can be slow but that’s better than blocking it up, wouldn’t go back to shaking about with loader and grab now, even spread of food means more chance of all cows getting the same quantity too

 

[Gav]

I used to feed silage through a Teagle machine with no issues as long as you didn't try to push it too fast. Definitely don't try it with the chute rotated though like the stockman did one day, takes a while to unblock!

 

[Bullring]

I put about 500 bales of silage through my Lucas per year along with straw, still on original blades after 6 seasons, makes a difference if the bales are chopped when baled as it’s less strain on the bedder and uses less fuel, did the same with the teagle 8080 I had before. Wouldn’t want to go back to feeding and bedding by hand.

 

[icanshootwell]

New mchale 460 here, silage no problem but as said don,t feed to fast but does a good job.

 

[sixrow]

We have a Kuhn 5570 does 100 a a cre pit silage 300 silage bales and 1000 straw in it’s 10th season

 

[Pistonbroke]

A Lucas engineer told me that the hardest thing in farming is persuading silage to go round a corner so get a side chute version of any make if doing a lot of silage instead of getting it up round the giraffe chute

 

[HarryB97]

I have a mounted Teagle that gets used for silage morning and evening everyday of the year. If the bale has not been chopped by a bailer with all the knives in then don't even try it. If it is really sticky young grass you can get some grass building up as it leaves the spout which can lead to blockages. Fairly dry fully chopped bales go through no problem though. Keep the revs up and I turn the bed on and off so it slowly feeds it through, don't rush it!

 

[icanshootwell]

I have a mounted Teagle that gets used for silage morning and evening everyday of the year. If the bale has not been chopped by a bailer with all the knives in then don't even try it. If it is really sticky young grass you can get some grass building up as it leaves the spout which can lead to blockages. Fairly dry fully chopped bales go through no problem though. Keep the revs up and I turn the bed on and off so it slowly feeds it through, don't rush it!

When you next trade up, try a mchale it does a better job than the teagle you described.

 

[HarryB97]

When you next trade up, try a mchale it does a better job than the teagle you described.

I’ve heard lots of good things about the Mchale gear, it’s not common around here though. Once I change the Teagle I’ll sell the tractor and run two merlos, a hustler bale unroller and a telehawk instead.

 

[Optimus]

What's everyone's thoughts on silage bales through straw blowers?
Everyone I advertise one it's the one thing I get asked "will it do silage?"
If like to give an honest answer but I've never used one on silage first hand

McHale handles silage well put a few bale through ours.but to be honest its cheaper just to put a bale in front of the feed barrier an faster.

 

[v8willy]

McHale handles silage well put a few bale through ours.but to be honest its cheaper just to put a bale in front of the feed barrier an faster.

Same here, only time we would chop it is if the silage is a bit iffy then they will clean it better after the chopper.

 

[redsloe]

I put about 500 bales of silage through my Lucas per year along with straw, still on original blades after 6 seasons, makes a difference if the bales are chopped when baled as it’s less strain on the bedder and uses less fuel, did the same with the teagle 8080 I had before. Wouldn’t want to go back to feeding and bedding by hand.

I've got some old hay here that I'm using for bedding in between bales of straw. I've not put much fodder through my lucas, but I very soon blocked the rotor and broke a shearbolt. Had to roll the bale out to pull the hay out from under the lid and rotor. Why would that be? I only had the bed speed on 2 so not really pushing it. On that experience I wouldn't bother feeding much with it in yards.

 

[Pistonbroke]

I have old kverneland 832 and will block the chopping drum on dry bales and it's hard work. Wetter stuff no problem and a bale of arable silage will fly through in well under a minute

 

[RmfJ]

I've got some old hay here that I'm using for bedding in between bales of straw. I've not put much fodder through my lucas, but I very soon blocked the rotor and broke a shearbolt. Had to roll the bale out to pull the hay out from under the lid and rotor. Why would that be? I only had the bed speed on 2 so not really pushing it. On that experience I wouldn't bother feeding much with it in yards.

Lucas castor 30r here, bedding and feeding out through it. All types of silage go through no problem.
Have you checked the adjustment of the chute knife? Took ours out this year to resharpen the edge.
I reckon most people don’t even know that they are there leading to all these problems with blocking and snapping shearbolts.

 

[Bullring]

Lucas castor 30r here, bedding and feeding out through it. All types of silage go through no problem.
Have you checked the adjustment of the chute knife? Took ours out this year to resharpen the edge.
I reckon most people don’t even know that they are there leading to all these problems with blocking and snapping shearbolts.

I was going to suggest checking the shearbar knife in the chute, you have to keep the revs up on silage or hay otherwise you get a backlog of stuff in the chute due to lack of blow and it can’t clear it quick enough then it blocks. You soon learn when you have blocked it a few times

 

[redsloe]

Lucas castor 30r here, bedding and feeding out through it. All types of silage go through no problem.
Have you checked the adjustment of the chute knife? Took ours out this year to resharpen the edge.
I reckon most people don’t even know that they are there leading to all these problems with blocking and snapping shearbolts.

Don't block the chute, it traps between the rotor and the lid that slides back ( caster) spread a couple since ok but even now I've a lump of hay sat on the rotor waiting for next time.