Different Types Of Feedrail

mikefoxo

I see a whole load of different type of feedrails out there, from slanted ones with all bells and whistles attached to a simple rail so many inches above the barrier. Does each one have a different use or do people buy them cos they look nice:D And why are they slanted?????

Juniorhurler

The theory is that the cow will turn her head as she pulls back in, this tears the silage from the rest of the bale and less is dragged in to be trampled.

Whether it works or not I don't know as we only have the slanted type so have nothing to compare them too in terms of waste.

Pacoa

The slanted ones cuts down on bullying. They can't pull out their head quick enough to stop another one going in next to them and they're limited then in their ability to boss the one next to them around but they still try.

iverjohnston

For precision chop, there is no difference, as they cannot pull in any due to the short lenght of chop. Precision chop is usually TOO short, in my opinion, to allow proper chewing of the cud.
If feeding bales, chopped or not, the slanted rails are a must, as otherwise you will end up with a third of the salts covered wit a layer of silage.
I have Jourdain slanted rails, and others made by Newtowngore engineering. Jourdain ones are much lighter, and are bolted to the pillars both ends. You have to undo 2 bolts to swing them like a gate. Newtowngore's are heavier built and held in place at one end by a hald inch diameter bar dropped down through holders. Its is the work of a few seconds to swing one open to draft in or out an animal.Both cost about the same money. Any slanted rail will stop a tramp of a cow walking along and beating all the rest away from the feed.

yellow50HX

iverjohnston wrote: »

For precision chop, there is no difference, as they cannot pull in any due to the short lenght of chop. Precision chop is usually TOO short, in my opinion, to allow proper chewing of the cud.
If feeding bales, chopped or not, the slanted rails are a must, as otherwise you will end up with a third of the salts covered wit a layer of silage.
I have Jourdain slanted rails, and others made by Newtowngore engineering. Jourdain ones are much lighter, and are bolted to the pillars both ends. You have to undo 2 bolts to swing them like a gate. Newtowngore's are heavier built and held in place at one end by a hald inch diameter bar dropped down through holders. Its is the work of a few seconds to swing one open to draft in or out an animal.Both cost about the same money. Any slanted rail will stop a tramp of a cow walking along and beating all the rest away from the feed.

you can turn the bracket on the jourdain one 90 degrees and use them as a hinge for opening and closing.

the diagonal barriers are to seprate the cattle at the feeding barrier to stop bullying and reduce the amont of silage pulled in. ideal for cows or bigger cattle. weanlings are smaller so you can soemtimes see a couple of them in the same place. you can get narrower rails for smaller animals or many people just use the straight rail.

there is also the locakable barrier which can hold the head in place. not as much space as with the other barrier (7 spaces vs 9) but ideal if you have sucklers as you can use it for handling them. we have one and we have used it for holding them for dosing, double suckling, milking, checking for mastisitis, cutting thier tails, c-sections etc. There is also a moving barrier if i knew they were there when i built the shed i would have put them in. It allows the feed barrier to be moved closer to the silage reducing the need to push silage closer to the barrier.

just do it

The lockable barrier also is better at preventing calves getting out. If enough get in the habit of it they spoil the silage. I also find then fierce handy for AI. I lock them in before I leave and the AI man releases them when he's done. There are only 7 head spaces but when 7 in-calf cows have their heads out there is no spare space between them.

bbam

Juniorhurler wrote: »

The theory is that the cow will turn her head as she pulls back in, this tears the silage from the rest of the bale and less is dragged in to be trampled.

Whether it works or not I don't know as we only have the slanted type so have nothing to compare them too in terms of waste.

We went from a plane horizontal bar to homemade diy slanted barriers..
the difference was night and day..

99% elimination of silage pulled in.
they can't bully each other, nearly not anyway. this was a problem feeding meal, one strong anomal could eat and slide along hoovering up the ration.

And we made them swinging in front of each bay which was handy to get animals in/out.

nhg

yellow50HX wrote: »

There is also a moving barrier if i knew they were there when i built the shed i would have put them in. It allows the feed barrier to be moved closer to the silage reducing the need to push silage closer to the barrier.

Could you tell us a bit more about these.

What about the long reach barriers, are they more in the way of the loader & silage pusher, will need to have the barrier hinged to open to get the cattle in and out.

yellow50HX

nhg wrote: »

Could you tell us a bit more about these.

What about the long reach barriers, are they more in the way of the loader & silage pusher, will need to have the barrier hinged to open to get the cattle in and out.

o'donovan engineering in cork do them. they are not opening types by the look of them. you can set how far out they can be pushed.

http://www.odonovaneng.ie/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/Cow-Pow-2009-Brouchure1.pdf

Massey10

nhg wrote: »

Could you tell us a bit more about these.

What about the long reach barriers, are they more in the way of the loader & silage pusher, will need to have the barrier hinged to open to get the cattle in and out.

If your passage is very narrow they are a good job other than that i dont see the point .I put in the locking ones and sorry i did they are good for pulling off tags

iverjohnston

Our passage is 15 foot 6 wide, so its easy to nudge round blocks of silage with the loader. and you are far enough away from the other side that their heads are not in the firing line. Had no problems with the locking barriers catching tags, but a bit of baler twine or net wrap, tying a gate will whip them out. Have made no practical use of the locking barriers, glad I only have them on 2 bays, as they are nearly double the price. The Jourdain ones need to be bolted to the floor/ stub wall, in the middle of the bay. 8 or 9 big cows all backing away at once could bend them.

case885

yellow50HX wrote: »

o'donovan engineering in cork do them. they are not opening types by the look of them. you can set how far out they can be pushed.

http://www.odonovaneng.ie/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/Cow-Pow-2009-Brouchure1.pdf

We have them in our cubicle house, not used so much now there in about 18 years father said he could put 4 days silade in the headfeed and they would clean it out as they pushed forward. Good if you are using them regularly

grazeaway

case885 wrote: »

We have them in our cubicle house, not used so much now there in about 18 years father said he could put 4 days silade in the headfeed and they would clean it out as they pushed forward. Good if you are using them regularly

Looking back now I kinda regret not putting them when I had the chance a few years ago. We have a narrow feed passage which can be tight when pushing the silage.

case885

grazeaway wrote: »

Looking back now I kinda regret not putting them when I had the chance a few years ago. We have a narrow feed passage which can be tight when pushing the silage.

yes ours is narrow also bit of a pain when pushing in with the loader, id still prefer a single feed rail or wide feed passage and use keenan