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Post by hughespieds on Dec 5, 2019 11:28:46 GMT -6
My first thought was this was a great method, but when I broke it down it takes lots more concrete, fencing and labor while only feeding half of the animals at each station. Not to mention the material used to make the surrounding area more stable. Yes, it's safer for the farmer and livestock, but I'm looking for a cost saver and this doesn't look like one.
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Post by M-5 on Dec 5, 2019 17:47:00 GMT -6
It is a fantastic idea but if you do not have concrete or rock and drainage it's knee deep half way through winter. I have the t-shirt
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Post by hughespieds on Dec 5, 2019 17:55:59 GMT -6
It is a fantastic idea but if you do not have concrete or rock and drainage it's knee deep half way through winter. I have the t-shirt That's what I figured. I thought there was way to much money involved to make it work. |
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Post by tcranch on Dec 5, 2019 18:31:16 GMT -6
I see an injury waiting to happen (to the cows).
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sdm
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Posts: 19
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Post by sdm on Dec 8, 2019 4:35:14 GMT -6
I need to find a way to get some of that climate change cash.
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Post by simangking on Dec 8, 2019 18:32:12 GMT -6
Don't kn ow why some are making this out as some new age idea. I have book writen in 1956 that has a picture of that same setup.
More things change the more they stay the same.
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Post by sleepy on Dec 8, 2019 21:15:00 GMT -6
I worked for a man who has the "cadillac" version of these. We built them ourselves in the '80's. They are deep enough to hold 5 rolls end to end. Every lot has one built along a line of feed bunks. The hay feeders all have a roof, built on and surrounded by concrete. But no matter how much concrete you pour seems like you still have a muddy mess at the point where it ends. We kept a pile of gravel on site to keep them filled in at that point. It was nice to pick a pretty day, and fill all the hay feeders up. That way when it rained you could stay in the feed truck with the heater on. I'm sure it was initially an expensive investment, but it was about as user friendly and waste free as you could get. Done half-assed it would be the biggest mess you have ever seen, a others have implied.
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Post by dave on Dec 8, 2019 22:04:05 GMT -6
When I was still over on the Washington coast I had 96 feet of straight line feed panels. There was a break in the soil type. My side was an old ancient gravel bar from the river. The mud never got more than a couple inches deep. I had 5 feet of roof on the hay side and 12 feet on the cow's side. Concrete out 20 feet on the cow side. There was mud after the concrete but never too bad. I would set 5 to 6 round bales along these panels Once a week (some times twice) I would scrape the manure to the end of the slab where I had a bunk to push it into and stacked. It worked real well for me. This was on the Washington coast where I got 40-60 inches of rain Nov-Mar every year.
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Post by the illustrious potentate on Dec 12, 2019 10:01:05 GMT -6
Don't kn ow why some are making this out as some new age idea. I have book writen in 1956 that has a picture of that same setup. More things change the more they stay the same. Old books are great. I'm sad that so many libraries have dumped them. And very true. Animal husbandry hasn't changed as much as we want to believe over the past 100 years. AI has been used at least that long. 1940's book I read called it age old. I know grandpa got straws in the mail for his dairy around that time. |
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Post by dave on Dec 12, 2019 20:11:04 GMT -6
Don't kn ow why some are making this out as some new age idea. I have book writen in 1956 that has a picture of that same setup. More things change the more they stay the same. Old books are great. I'm sad that so many libraries have dumped them. And very true. Animal husbandry hasn't changed as much as we want to believe over the past 100 years. AI has been used at least that long. 1940's book I read called it age old. I know grandpa got straws in the mail for his dairy around that time. I know a professor from Washington State. He told me that he came up with a great new idea. He was working up some experiments to submit for a grant to pay for proving it. Then he was looking at an old text book copyrighted 1910. There was his great new idea in black and white. |
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Post by kycowboy on Jan 7, 2020 9:12:15 GMT -6
Does anyone have a solution to dealing with the mud and manure while feeding hay, that's cost effective. I've seen nrcs articles about filter fabric and gravel then just hay rings on top. My thoughts are along those lines, filter fabric 3-4 inches of #2rock then I was thinking 6 or so inches of ag lime spread out and packed. I really dont want to scrape manure and spread it on my ground with just gravel under. I've got plenty of rocks in the pastures now
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Post by simangking on Jan 7, 2020 9:17:53 GMT -6
My feed area is just clay hills. Scoop off the manure once every week, or two weeks, and in the summer haul dirt back and pack it down.
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