Machinery Photo/Discussion Thread II

Yes one with loader and one without.

Close enough so they can eat some without pulling through but piking afterwards.

We split bales in half as we feed and push in with bales spike day two and three. Would have a bit of piking but nothing substantial we use a two bale spike. We have 2 feet more but we have gates on other side to slats that are fed outside

Small mini digger on rubber tracks if you can pick one up handy

with feed passage narrow and I put bales at the feed pens I can’t get back up the passage to the top until the bales are gone.
that’s why I thought a bale shredder would be attractive as I could load the bale and feed in against the barrier as needed. Maybe every second day. As it is I’m loading in bales twice a week.

It’s not a massive heartache as we’re small fry but when the back is sore liking silage is a pain, literally.

A lot with silage is the way its made. It has to be well chopped. Some co tractors remo e sone ofvthe knifes, if they go faulty they are reluctant to repair during the season.

Happened one year with my contractor its seems about a dozen of us commented to him about it without being nasty. They went faulty earlynin the season. Well chopped bales break up easy when handling. As well dry silage is a lot easier to break up whether with a spike, grab or a pike.

Seriously would consider a cheap mini digger rather than spending the same money on a shredder.

@_Brian when you put the bales in with the loader are you putting them in whole or splitting in front of the pen. Are you using a grab or a pronged bale spike to place. Are you.placing sideways or face to barrier.

If I was putting in my dry well chopped bales I would use the spike to split and place two.parts of the bale in front of the pen or place them face first towards the pen if not split so when cattle have them half eaten I could push over with a fork

A 12 foot passage is a bit on the narrow side but still plenty big enough to be able to work a tractor in without forking silage.

Is it a long passage and what way are you feeding currently, a spike or grab? Do you just put a bale per bay? If I’d a passage like yours I’d start at the furthest end of the passage and drop the bale standing like a bean tin out about 5 foot from the barrier. Take off polythene and net, knock the bale over toward the barrier and then roll in back with the loader like you’re unrolling a carpet. It’s easy stick the spike into it and loosen it a bit if it’s not unrolling fast enough. You’d cover 2 to 3 bays with a bale. Repeat the process until all bays have silage. Either make or buy yourself a cheap pushing wheel you can pick up with the tooth of the spike or grab and use that to push in the silage as required.

It might take a bit longer than usual to put in the bales but for the next few days until you need to put in bales again you’ll have the silage pushed in with the tyre in a minute or 2 and zero time wasted forking.

Something like this is all you need.

https://www.donedeal.ie/view/38121828

A euro bracket or linkage one is a complete waste of time unless you’ve a spare tractor you can leave it in full time. No one is going to spend the time getting out of the tractor, plugging out the hoses from the grab, dropping off the grab and picking up the wheel. It’s too slow and cumbersome an operation that way. Being able to pick it up with the grab is the only way to have it or it won’t be used.

I’ve one like yourself that 2 teeth off the grab go into and it’s very easy pick up in seconds once you get the knack and it’s used every day. I’ve a neighbour has one that’s picked up with one tooth and he never had an issue picking it either and uses it every day too. They’re also only a fraction of the price of the linkage mounted new. The one you’ve linked could be €1,500 plus.

Being able to push in your silage without having to do it manually doesn’t prevent you from doing that. You can still walk up and down the passage and watch them eating after the silage is pushed in.

The wheel I’m talking about is picked up with the tine grab.

I done exactly what you’re talking about for years but if you’ve 8 or 10 bays it’s a lot of going forward and backwards on the tractor pushing it all in. The wheel I have I bought in Hennessey’s auction for €160. Pick it with the tine grab and drive the length of the passage way pushing in the silage without stopping. It’s by far the simplest and quickest way you can possibly push in silage.