Feeding hay

[Silver]

This one?

 

[Dave]

This one?

That is the one. I picture myself feeding from the heated comfort of the cab. So much better than standing on a icy flatbed in a snow storm trying to flake off hay while the wife is doing her best to hit every bump in the field.

 

[sstterry]

That is the one. I picture myself feeding from the heated comfort of the cab. So much better than standing on a icy flatbed in a snow storm trying to flake off hay while the wife is doing her best to hit every bump in the field.

Is she trying to tell you something?

 

[Silver]

With one of these you could feed either round or square:

 

[sstterry]

With one of these you could feed either round or square:

I think we talked about the fact that B rookhill Angus just bought one. It is on his youtube channel.

 

[Silver]

I think we talked about the fact that B rookhill Angus just bought one. It is on his youtube channel.

Yes, I guess we did.

 

[Silver]

Although I have no plans of visiting his youtube channel.

 

[sim.-ang.king]

Flaker


Higher roller version you need, Dave.

 

[Dave]

Flaker


Higher roller version you need, Dave.

I have seen ones like that at big dairies and grow yards. They have one at the Toppenish sale yard. All of those places feed in a bunk. I wonder how much of the fines you lose feeding on the ground with one that chops it up like that.

 

[Dave]

Is she trying to tell you something?

I don't think she is really trying to do that, It just feels that way when you are on the back.

 

[sstterry]

I don't think she is really trying to do that, It just feels that way when you are on the back.

That is not what she is telling me....

 

[Dave]

Feeding this morning with snow blowing side ways was a real joy. The $17,000+ price tag on their flaker feeder got me to doing research and thinking. I am thinking start with a full size pickup bed trailer ($200). Mount a little quad winch (<$100) on the tongue of the trailer. Run the cable to the back and then to the front. Some pullies getting it there where it will pull the bale toward the rear of the trailer flaking the hay off. A piece of iron that the cable will pull to push the bale and a runner for it to track on. Some channel iron runners for the bale to slide on. A frame over the back with rake teeth so the hay falls off one flake at a time. It will only hold one bale at a time but at homemade for around $500-$600 as opposed to $17,000 I can afford to make a few extra trips.

 

[Allenw]

Dave check this homemade feeder out, stumbled across this sometime back and lucked into finding it again.

It's close to what you have in mind and I could see it being adapted in several ways.

 

[Dave]

Dave check this homemade feeder out, stumbled across this sometime back and lucked into finding it again.

It's close to what you have in mind and I could see it being adapted in several ways.

That was one of the things I found in my research. I started with that idea but after talking to others and my own thoughts I decided I want the bale going off the back rather than falling through a hole in front. He has 3x3 bales which are barn stored. I have 3x4 bales which are stacked outside. A potential frozen bale is the main issue. Also he is dealing with 700 pound bales. I work with 1,200 pound bales. So I need a stronger trailer and adjusted my thinking to push the bale the other direction. I am still not solid on exactly how I am going to accomplish this.

 

[Allenw]

It could be done how to make the drag track right would be the difficult part. To reduce drag he would want to be moving the bale on some raised rails and some how the drag would be incorporated to slid along these rails. I would think the drag would need to be pulled from two points with cable going over a roller at the back with an evener underneath attaching to a single winch line. It would have to be manually returned to the starting position.

Just thinking out loud without a solid idea how to make it all work.

 

[Brute 23]

Wish we could get large squares.

 

[Dave]

It could be done how to make the drag track right would be the difficult part. To reduce drag he would want to be moving the bale on some raised rails and some how the drag would be incorporated to slid along these rails. I would think the drag would need to be pulled from two points with cable going over a roller at the back with an evener underneath attaching to a single winch line. It would have to be manually returned to the starting position.

Just thinking out loud without a solid idea how to make it all work.

You are thinking along the same lines as I am. I have a good mechanical minded friend who has given me some ideas. He was a mechanic for a big tracor dealership here for years. I plan to keep picking his mind and kicking ideas to him. This is a next spring/summer project getting it built. For now I will work out a good plan and keep feeding the bales off the flat bed.

 

[Silver]

It could be done how to make the drag track right would be the difficult part. To reduce drag he would want to be moving the bale on some raised rails and some how the drag would be incorporated to slid along these rails. I would think the drag would need to be pulled from two points with cable going over a roller at the back with an evener underneath attaching to a single winch line. It would have to be manually returned to the starting position.

Just thinking out loud without a solid idea how to make it all work.

Winch cable fastened to the front of the drag ( truck end), up to the winch, six or eight wraps around the winch drum, continue on to the back of the trailer, around a roller at the back of the trailer, then forward to hook onto the other (back) side of the drag. You would need to have the rear roller adjustable in order to keep the cable tight.

 

[gcreekrch]

Feeding this morning with snow blowing side ways was a real joy. The $17,000+ price tag on their flaker feeder got me to doing research and thinking. I am thinking start with a full size pickup bed trailer ($200). Mount a little quad winch (<$100) on the tongue of the trailer. Run the cable to the back and then to the front. Some pullies getting it there where it will pull the bale toward the rear of the trailer flaking the hay off. A piece of iron that the cable will pull to push the bale and a runner for it to track on. Some channel iron runners for the bale to slide on. A frame over the back with rake teeth so the hay falls off one flake at a time. It will only hold one bale at a time but at homemade for around $500-$600 as opposed to $17,000 I can afford to make a few extra trips.

You could cheapen this rig by omitting the winch and just wrapping free end of cable around a truck tire........

 

[Dave]

You could cheapen this rig by omitting the winch and just wrapping free end of cable around a truck tire........

I was thinking of ways to keep from wrapping the cable around the tire or anything else. But thanks for the idea.