Meal feeding can be a very labour-intensive job on livestock farms, especially where large numbers of cattle are being finished. The good thing is; it doesn’t need to be. There are plenty of options available to make the job easier. Most of the options depend on the amount of investment one can make and the scale of the operation. For large-scale feeders with hundreds of cattle, a diet feeder is the obvious solution to making feeding more streamlined. In this article we will focus on the smaller-scale operations and discuss the options available.
Storage
Storage of concentrate feed is very important when it comes to making the actual feeding operation easier. Meal silos offer many advantages in this regard. The design means meal is stored at a height and gravity does all the work when unloading. This means you can load up a wheelbarrow, loader bucket or quad and snacker quickly and easily. This is more straightforward than filling bags to be carted away by hand.
Other advantages include the protection they provide from all types of vermin. Meal stored in lofts and sheds is always at risk of being under attack from rats and birds. Most manufacturers offer split silos so different types of feed can be purchased and remain separated in the one silo. For lorry drivers delivering meal, the presence of a silo on the farm is usually welcomed. This is because silos have the fittings available to connect the hose to for quick unloading. Dust is also contained inside which helps keep the farmyard clean.
Fortunately meal silos come in different sizes. Most start at 4t capacity and the sky’s the limit after that really. The size you purchase will depend on how much meal you use per week and how often you can get meal delivered. There is no point buying a massive meal silo, filling it up and only using small quantities. Feed will go off if it is left too long. On the other hand there is no point buying a small silo and having to fill it every other day. In terms of cost, silos can range in price from €2,000 to €3,500 including VAT for sizes ranging from 4t to 12t capacity. When deciding on the size to buy you should work out how much meal you use per week during the peak demand for concentrates and buy a silo that can handle that volume. When using feed silos the advice is generally to avoid coarse rations and nuts with high levels of molasses as these types of feed can clog up a silo easily.
Some farmers who don’t feed much concentrates find plastic meal bins useful. They are ideal when small quantities are needed every week. Usually with this system you have to get them filled up at the feed merchants. If the merchant is close-by this isn’t a big deal.
A tractor and bale carrier will move a plastic bin with ease over short distances. On the other hand when there is a distance of greater than 10 miles to the merchants a jeep and flatbed trailer would probably make more sense to transport the bin/bins.
They can be left out in paddocks too for handiness when feeding animals outdoors. Bins with capacity for 650kg of meal cost approximately €370 including VAT. One downside to these bins is emptying them, when the meal level goes down it can be difficult to get the last bit out. Roscommon man Adrian Keegan designed an insert floor for JFC round bins which rises as meal is taken out, which does make emptying easier. These inserts currently cost €750 including VAT.
Meal bins are useful when small quantities of concentrates are being used on a farm.
Feeding
Storage is one thing but feeding is another. With part-time farming on the rise, this job needs to be as easy and straightforward as possible. Carting bags of meal is a time-consuming job and comes with the risk of back injuries. When feeding large numbers of cattle alternative arrangements should really be investigated other than labour-intensive ones such as carrying bags. Farmers with silos have a number of options to get feed to cattle. One of the most common are wheelbarrows, with JFC making a number of feeding barrows.
Another simple, low-cost approach is to fill the tractor’s front loader bucket with meal from the silo. Drive the tractor to the livestock shed and then remove the meal using a plastic bucket and feed out accordingly at the feed barrier. There is a little bit of labour involved with this option and you do need a front loader and bucket.
A more mechanised option is to buy a hydraulic meal feeder. These feeders are, to put simply, front-loader buckets with an auger system that feeds out the meal from the side of the bucket gradually as the tractor is driving along a feed barrier. Some companies offer rear-tractor options too. Once filled via a meal silo all labour requirements are eliminated with this system. New hydraulic feed buckets cost between €3,000 and €4,400 including VAT. The more expensive buckets also include equipment for chopping beet.
Hydraulic feed buckets are an effecient labour saving way of feeding a moderate number of cattle.
Another interesting way to get meal from the store to the shed are automated feeders, like the ones used in dairy parlours. A few years ago the Irish Farmers Journal came across such a system on a beef farm in Munster. The farmer was finishing bulls in a slatted shed. Behind the slatted pens he had a feeding area with concrete troughs. An auger pumped the meal from the storage area to feeders in the shed like what dairy farmers use in a parlour. The feeders 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. He used to let one pen of cattle into the feeding area at a time to eat meal from the feeder. Through the years we have seen similar systems used for feeding cattle automatically. These are just a few options to be considered. Look at your own circumstances and see if there are ways you could make meal feeding easier and safer. Small investments could make the world of difference.
Meal feeding can be a very labour-intensive job on livestock farms, especially where large numbers of cattle are being finished. The good thing is; it doesn’t need to be. There are plenty of options available to make the job easier. Most of the options depend on the amount of investment one can make and the scale of the operation. For large-scale feeders with hundreds of cattle, a diet feeder is the obvious solution to making feeding more streamlined. In this article we will focus on the smaller-scale operations and discuss the options available.
Storage
Storage of concentrate feed is very important when it comes to making the actual feeding operation easier. Meal silos offer many advantages in this regard. The design means meal is stored at a height and gravity does all the work when unloading. This means you can load up a wheelbarrow, loader bucket or quad and snacker quickly and easily. This is more straightforward than filling bags to be carted away by hand.
Other advantages include the protection they provide from all types of vermin. Meal stored in lofts and sheds is always at risk of being under attack from rats and birds. Most manufacturers offer split silos so different types of feed can be purchased and remain separated in the one silo. For lorry drivers delivering meal, the presence of a silo on the farm is usually welcomed. This is because silos have the fittings available to connect the hose to for quick unloading. Dust is also contained inside which helps keep the farmyard clean.
Fortunately meal silos come in different sizes. Most start at 4t capacity and the sky’s the limit after that really. The size you purchase will depend on how much meal you use per week and how often you can get meal delivered. There is no point buying a massive meal silo, filling it up and only using small quantities. Feed will go off if it is left too long. On the other hand there is no point buying a small silo and having to fill it every other day. In terms of cost, silos can range in price from €2,000 to €3,500 including VAT for sizes ranging from 4t to 12t capacity. When deciding on the size to buy you should work out how much meal you use per week during the peak demand for concentrates and buy a silo that can handle that volume. When using feed silos the advice is generally to avoid coarse rations and nuts with high levels of molasses as these types of feed can clog up a silo easily.
Some farmers who don’t feed much concentrates find plastic meal bins useful. They are ideal when small quantities are needed every week. Usually with this system you have to get them filled up at the feed merchants. If the merchant is close-by this isn’t a big deal.
A tractor and bale carrier will move a plastic bin with ease over short distances. On the other hand when there is a distance of greater than 10 miles to the merchants a jeep and flatbed trailer would probably make more sense to transport the bin/bins.
They can be left out in paddocks too for handiness when feeding animals outdoors. Bins with capacity for 650kg of meal cost approximately €370 including VAT. One downside to these bins is emptying them, when the meal level goes down it can be difficult to get the last bit out. Roscommon man Adrian Keegan designed an insert floor for JFC round bins which rises as meal is taken out, which does make emptying easier. These inserts currently cost €750 including VAT.
Meal bins are useful when small quantities of concentrates are being used on a farm.
Feeding
Storage is one thing but feeding is another. With part-time farming on the rise, this job needs to be as easy and straightforward as possible. Carting bags of meal is a time-consuming job and comes with the risk of back injuries. When feeding large numbers of cattle alternative arrangements should really be investigated other than labour-intensive ones such as carrying bags. Farmers with silos have a number of options to get feed to cattle. One of the most common are wheelbarrows, with JFC making a number of feeding barrows.
Another simple, low-cost approach is to fill the tractor’s front loader bucket with meal from the silo. Drive the tractor to the livestock shed and then remove the meal using a plastic bucket and feed out accordingly at the feed barrier. There is a little bit of labour involved with this option and you do need a front loader and bucket.
A more mechanised option is to buy a hydraulic meal feeder. These feeders are, to put simply, front-loader buckets with an auger system that feeds out the meal from the side of the bucket gradually as the tractor is driving along a feed barrier. Some companies offer rear-tractor options too. Once filled via a meal silo all labour requirements are eliminated with this system. New hydraulic feed buckets cost between €3,000 and €4,400 including VAT. The more expensive buckets also include equipment for chopping beet.
Hydraulic feed buckets are an effecient labour saving way of feeding a moderate number of cattle.
Another interesting way to get meal from the store to the shed are automated feeders, like the ones used in dairy parlours. A few years ago the Irish Farmers Journal came across such a system on a beef farm in Munster. The farmer was finishing bulls in a slatted shed. Behind the slatted pens he had a feeding area with concrete troughs. An auger pumped the meal from the storage area to feeders in the shed like what dairy farmers use in a parlour. The feeders 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. He used to let one pen of cattle into the feeding area at a time to eat meal from the feeder. Through the years we have seen similar systems used for feeding cattle automatically. These are just a few options to be considered. Look at your own circumstances and see if there are ways you could make meal feeding easier and safer. Small investments could make the world of difference.
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