Tanco (or similar) bale slice

[AJR75]

After some opinions on these- good/ bad/ indifferent....

Do feed intakes increase from these because it's not so tightly packed/ rolled into a bale as in the case of rounds just placed in a cradle feeder (for sheep). In my head I like the idea that everything is shaken up and easy to get to but does it really make that much difference?

 

[valtraman]

I have tanco at one farm & cashell at other . Not much to say apart from they are excellent at what they do . One farm it’s used to put bales in feed trailers for outside cattle . Other farm bales are put onto feed passage floor and other shed a bale gets split into ring feeders, worth every penny they cost . U will never look back ever. Life changing

 

[Pan mixer]

I am not sure that they increase intake however they do substantially increase joy when putting bales out in troughs or wherever.

I also prefer the cut bale being dropped into a feeder rather than a whole one as I think that it is less likely to trap anything.

What our Tanco is not good for though is putting bits of one bale in multiple troughs, about a quarter of it may go in as you cut but the rest of the bale can go in very speedily when you open it wide enough, it would be very difficult to put half in each in that case.

I do have dry haylage though, never used it on a wet one but have used it for thousands of bales.

 

[AJR75]

Thanks both. Yes, the intention was to split the bales as equally as I could between troughs. As you say @Pan mixer, it's always a concern about trapping a head when putting a new bale in. I was kind of thinking that the clear up rate might be better as well as you're able to feed little and often rather than just whacking a load of bales out in one go. Possibly overthinking things a little may be?

 

[Pan mixer]

Still a really good idea though, I have one shed where there is not enough room overhead to use the Tanco. It takes more than 4 times as long to put a bale in there what with cutting and removing the wrap and net and then clearing up all the dropped stuff that falls off between removing the net and getting the bale in the feeder.

Maybe a bale unroller would be better? I have an old tractor mounted one that I sometimes use for buffer feeding hay. You still have the tedium of net (and wrap) removal though and then you have to make sure that you have loaded the bale the right way round or else it won't unroll nicely.

 

[2wheels]

we used a shear grab, take off the wrap and net first the cut in half. more work than a bale slice though.

 

[AJR75]

we used a shear grab, take off the wrap and net first the cut in half. more work than a bale slice though.

I did sort of give that a bit of thought but dismissed it on the basis that the shear grab didn't open wide enough to grab a good half of the bale

 

[2wheels]

I did sort of give that a bit of thought but dismissed it on the basis that the shear grab didn't open wide enough to grab a good half of the bale

ours managed a 4ft silage bale. they may have shrunk a bit/altered shape. the grab was a McCord.

 

[AJR75]

Update- made the purchase over the weekend and so far it's been a revelation, wish I'd got one years ago- the ewes are definitely getting more into them and daft as it sounds, the clear up rate is better as am able to split bales between feeders, so less but more often. Bales are gone before they take any harm from the weather etc.

 

[Pan mixer]

Update- made the purchase over the weekend and so far it's been a revelation, wish I'd got one years ago- the ewes are definitely getting more into them and daft as it sounds, the clear up rate is better as am able to split bales between feeders, so less but more often. Bales are gone before they take any harm from the weather etc.

Which did you choose?

 

[AJR75]

Which did you choose?

Went for the tanco in the end. Finding there's a knack to grabbing the wrap and net together- the first time I manged it was like eureka!

If I had one comment it would be that like you @Pan mixer my haylage is quite dry and the split of the bale leaves more for the second feeder if that makes sense? I did wonder about splitting the bale from the top down on its flat end?

 

[Pan mixer]

Went for the tanco in the end. Finding there's a knack to grabbing the wrap and net together- the first time I manged it was like eureka!

If I had one comment it would be that like you @Pan mixer my haylage is quite dry and the split of the bale leaves more for the second feeder if that makes sense? I did wonder about splitting the bale from the top down on its flat end?

You wouldn't get the net off like that or the bottom half of the plastic.

Each bale I pick up I slash with my stanley knife the end from just under the blade to perpendicular with the forks and one line between - if you see what I mean, so three radii from the edge to the middle to stop that bottom part being a basket for haylage, that lets a lot more fall out on the first half.

I grab the bale with the tines pointing straight down and pushed down so that I can see the net gripper actually close around the net and wrap.

 

[dannewhouse]

Have you got the wrap catcher in a foreward hole,
Sure the one I've used came in furthest back hole and was useless untill we moved it foreward
But this is a multishear normal sheargrab aswell as bale splitter.

 

[AJR75]

I Haven't tried the slashing of the wrap but will do- thank you for the tip.

 

[valtraman]

You should never need to be near the bale with a pen knife using a bale slice kinda defeats the purpose but get what you are trying to do but your just needing to find a better knack . They genuinely are the best thing since the hydraulic ram was invented ! I push down on bales rather than push them along to get the gripper to nip. Doesn’t matter about bale shape one bit you soon learn to roll a squashed bale over with tines until get a good grippy bit to grab .

 

[Pan mixer]

You should never need to be near the bale with a pen knife using a bale slice kinda defeats the purpose but get what you are trying to do but your just needing to find a better knack . They genuinely are the best thing since the hydraulic ram was invented ! I push down on bales rather than push them along to get the gripper to nip. Doesn’t matter about bale shape one bit you soon learn to roll a squashed bale over with tines until get a good grippy bit to grab .

With a really dry bale the bottom of the wrap holds all the product in. A wet or a chopped bale will just fall out but dry stuf won't.

 

[AJR75]

With a really dry bale the bottom of the wrap holds all the product in. A wet or a chopped bale will just fall out but dry stuf won't.

That's my experience so far as well. I guess if the bales were chopped when they were baled it would be a different story again?

 

[Pan mixer]

That's my experience so far as well. I guess if the bales were chopped when they were baled it would be a different story again?

Probably, I abandoned chopping bales as the wastage was too high in the cattle yards.

 

[AJR75]

Probably, I abandoned chopping bales as the wastage was too high in the cattle yards.

I guess it's really as a precursor to going in a diet feeder really to make life a bit easier when it comes to doing a mix. I do have knives on the baler but have never used them.

 

[valtraman]

With a really dry bale the bottom of the wrap holds all the product in. A wet or a chopped bale will just fall out but dry stuf won't.

Yeah but u just need to find the technique. Revers a bit sit loader down a bit then go forward flicking loader up & it will fall out on top of feeder