Diet Feeders

Miller80

Any negatives of using a diet feeder? apart from the associated extra costs involved.

fatoftheland

time! some farmers regret buying them for this reason

Miller80

Yea I suppose it will take a bit longer alright. There seems to be an awful lot of 2nd hand ones lying around.

jeff greene

The extra time factor isn't applicable to every yard though. Some cons would be: tractor tied up, more things to break down and cause delays/costs, tmr attracts birds, more onus on the operator to fill it correctly every time as apposed to a shear grabbing silage in.

Miller80

Priced a number of diet feeders in the last week, Keenan's seem to be a good bit dearer than buying from a machinery dealer and this is without getting it relined.
Its probably a big risk buying private or from a dealer?

What do people think?

JOAT

If your thinking of dealing directly with keenan solely for their nutritional advice etc, dont bother. Got a reconditioned model from them about 5 years ago and we got very little help from the nutritionists. Now saying that, cant fault the machine one bit. never gave an ounce of trouble but at the time we were dealing solely with keenan so as to get the nutrionists to guide us on what to feed etc. Ended up getting a guy from volac to make out a simple once off plan for us. Did it the way we wanted and with the ingredients we wanted to include unlike the keenan lad who wanted us putting in 5-6 different ingredients which we didnt have the facilities for or the time to be messing with.

thetangler

Hi
What do Volac charge for this ?
I need to get a simple plan done as well.

6480

Miller80 wrote: »

Priced a number of diet feeders in the last week, Keenan's seem to be a good bit dearer than buying from a machinery dealer and this is without getting it relined.
Its probably a big risk buying private or from a dealer?

What do people think?

I worked lots of different types of feeders on farms i worked when i was younger . My view on them is in this country we dont have acess to cheap feeds to put into them, and it takes too much money to run them on diesel , too much time took up aswell . I think that if we spent more money on reseeding our grassland we would be better off

bob charles

6480 wrote: »

I worked lots of different types of feeders on farms i worked when i was younger . My view on them is in this country we dont have acess to cheap feeds to put into them, and it takes too much money to run them on diesel , too much time took up aswell . I think that if we spent more money on reseeding our grassland we would be better off

I disagree, they are suitable to larger set ups, where there are at max two different mixes. Nowadays I only have one, I havnt time to remember another mix:rolleyes:. I have a keenan and for the ingredients we use its ideal. Dont even consider for bales, unless new design bale handler works different to the old design. Not much to go wrong with the keenan only a few bearings and a chain. I have no experience with any other feeder so I maybe blinkered. Dont take much heed of the nutrition side, get someone independent to do up mixes if you are unable to decide for yourself. Presume you worked in the UK when you mention cheaper feeds, its a pity about that, but there is good value alternatives to be had in Ireland as well.

whelan1

6480 wrote: »

I worked lots of different types of feeders on farms i worked when i was younger . My view on them is in this country we dont have acess to cheap feeds to put into them, and it takes too much money to run them on diesel , too much time took up aswell . I think that if we spent more money on reseeding our grassland we would be better off

keenan feeder stays on out tractor apart from 1 hour to do slurry every week.... cheap feeds dont mean good feeds.... i am paying €240/tonne for a 20.5% coarse ration that i put in the feeder.. No waste at all in any of our troughs... every trough is clean in the morning. we too have only had keenan feeders, dont use their nutritional service even though gerry giggins is just down the road....cant really see how you use more diesel if you are going up and down a yard with a shear grab rather than throwing it in to the feeder wagon

JOAT

thetangler wrote: »

Hi
What do Volac charge for this ?
I need to get a simple plan done as well.

To be honest i cant remember. It was a few years back. I remember it being reasonable enough though and made it up with the materials that we had ourselves and wanted to feed, not what they wanted us to feed. Give em a ring id say and see how you get on

denis086

Also factor in the cost of relining it after 6yrs too and the small chain was done and is getting shook again and theres a nice puddle of waste oil under it every night so not for lack of lubrication theyre an awful price for what they are they should be cheaper than a tub without a couple of gearboxes (which have a 6 yr guarantee) and theyre still dearer than a twin augar tub hence why theres a tub on order and our 05 keenan is going up the back of a truck shortly:rolleyes:

BalingMad

For beef cattle for example, what would a lad mix up for a good ration? silage, straw and barley??

dungfly

Does using a diet feeder for spring calving dairy farming 70 cows make any sense?