Had the custom grinder show up

[SBMF 2015]

I started a new job the first of the year. They feed a lot of cattle with a twin screw vertical mixer. They grind hay and soybean stubble in the TMR normally. Bought some 2yr old hay that was stored outside really cheap. Decided that since the custom guy goes to the neighbors we'd give him a try.
We took all the wrap off first. The grinder guy said about half the customers take the wrap off the rest just throw the hay in wrap or twine or plastic and all.
The grinder guy said this grinder has a 500hp Cat engine. He said when grinding dry hay he can do up to 45 bales an hour.
The big pile is about fifty bales.


Bean stubble ground with TMR:

Bean stubble ground with grinder:

 

[faster horses]

A word of caution here. If the forage is low in nutrient value, grinding it won't make it better.
What it will do is allow cattle to eat more of undigestible forage, such as low nutrient feed.

 

[KAstocker]

How many weeks worth of hay is the ground pile?

 

[SBMF 2015]

How many weeks worth of hay is the ground pile?

I think we figured about six weeks. They were grinding around 1,300lbs of hay a day plus unrolling some when the ground was frozen. Now all we have is mud so the cows will get fed more in bunks.

 

[SBMF 2015]

A word of caution here. If the forage is low in nutrient value, grinding it won't make it better.
What it will do is allow cattle to eat more of undigestible forage, such as low nutrient feed.

Just experimenting to see how much time we save each day. It shouldn't take near as long to mix a batch of feed if we don't have to wait on the mixer to grind the roughage.

 

[wbvs58]

Wow, that must be some machine. How do you keep the piles now, do you cover them?

Ken

 

[Mountaintown Creek Ranch]

How much it cost for the grinder ?

 

[SBMF 2015]

How much it cost for the grinder ?

$12.50/bale. He said when he grinds silage bales he charges by the hour, they grind much slower.

 

[SBMF 2015]

Wow, that must be some machine. How do you keep the piles now, do you cover them?

Ken

We had made a makeshift bunker with the silage bags and some stalk bales. That's it . It's piled on concrete. Pretty good rain over night. Should have packed it down a little.

 

[WFfarm]

This might be a dumb question, but why do you grind round bales? Is it to make it easier for the cows to eat and not pull long strand hay out of the feeder or trough and not waste? Or are you doing a TMR and ground hay is one ingredient and makes easier to evenly mix? Do you have to cover the ground pile so rain doesn't spoil before it's used up?

 

[SBMF 2015]

This might be a dumb question, but why do you grind round bales? Is it to make it easier for the cows to eat and not pull long strand hay out of the feeder or trough and not waste? Or are you doing a TMR and ground hay is one ingredient and makes easier to evenly mix? Do you have to cover the ground pile so rain doesn't spoil before it's used up?

No dumb questions. Yes, the cattle are fed a TMR of ground hay, ground bean stubble, wet corn gluten, corn silage, ryelage, and sometimes shell corn depending on the group being fed. They also get a 40%protein pellet which includes Avala and their daily required minerals.

We probably got a little carried away, a lot of guys grind once a month, some every two weeks. He was there and we were set up. That should last 6 wks. Shouldn't be any spoilage.

Hands down hay is our most expensive input. I hate seeing cows waste hay standing around a bale ring.

 

[Atimm693]

This might be a dumb question, but why do you grind round bales? Is it to make it easier for the cows to eat and not pull long strand hay out of the feeder or trough and not waste? Or are you doing a TMR and ground hay is one ingredient and makes easier to evenly mix? Do you have to cover the ground pile so rain doesn't spoil before it's used up?

Vertical mixers suck at grinding hay. Takes forever and they usually make a mess. A grinder produces a much smaller and more consistent cut that will flow through and mix much easier, as shown in the pictures.