Finishing cattle can be very labour-intensive for the average-sized beef farm. Often, specialised machinery such as diet feeders are too expensive for smaller-scale beef finishing and many farmers go down the labour-intensive route of filling and carrying bags to feed their cattle.

One farmer in Munster has been using a simple system on his farm that has really reduced the labour involved in feeding cattle concentrates. The system has been in place for the last 10 years on his farm.

An auger pumps meal to feeders that deliver it to a concrete trough at the back of the slatted shed. Straight meal is blown into a meal store beside the slatted shed.

In the middle of this shed there is a hollow in the floor where the auger sits and the farmer shovels meal on top of this area, mixing straights as he shovels. The auger moves the meal to the pig feeders in the livestock shed.

They can hold approximately 4kg of bulky straights or approximately 6kg of a concentrated nut.

When all the pots are filled to the top, the farmer releases the meal into the concrete trough below using a ratchet. The area where he feeds the cattle is separate from the slatted area and he lets one pen of finishing steers in at a time to eat the meal.

“Each pen of bullocks usually takes just eight to 10 minutes to eat meal so it doesn’t take long to feed the four pens,” explained the farmer.

The system reduces labour and safety risks involved in lifting and carrying bags of meal to cattle throughout the winter.

He said it cost approximately €4,000 to buy and install the feeders and the auger 10 years ago, but he feels it has paid for itself.

What’s your idea? Have you done anything on your farm to make life safer and easier? If so, please send pictures and information to pvarley@farmersjournal.ie or text your pictures to the Irish Farmers Journal on 00 353 (0) 86 836 6465 via WhatsApp or normal text message. Entries featured in the Irish Farmers Journal will get a €50 One4All voucher.