Degelman Bale King drum design

[Cal]

Check out the X design of this bale processor drum. Looks like it would be easier to cut or torch the twine off, and likely is extra durable. Anybody get one with this design yet?

http://www.degelman.com/Products/baleprocessor/bp_photo_five.html#top

[Manitoba_Rancher]

I think this a good idea that they have gone too. They still havent got as good as system as the Highline models but a big improvement over the previous bale king models. Our bale King should be good for one more year before we look at trading it.

[IL Rancher]

I have our local vermeer dealer trying to talk me into their version of that.. Sometimes tempting, sometimes not so tempting.. IO don't know if I want another piece of rusting equipment on the place.. And god knows, the moment it shows up here it will start rusting.

[Cal]

[Manitoba_Rancher]

The Highline dearler has been wanting me to demo one of the ones with the chopper on the side. It still has the normal flails in the tub but the chopper on the side has about another 128 knives turning at 3000 rpm I think that chops the feed alot finer. I ve talked to one guy that bought one with the chopper a few months ago and he loves it. Saves him a big tub-grinding bill.

[cowwrangler]

I dont have one but my cousins just bought one last week,they say its really easy to get the twine off and they like it so far,chops it up really good

[cowsense]

Highline (Vermeer for those of you to the south) has an excellent twine cutter attachment- works well. I've seen the Highline demonstrated with the chopper attachment........looked like a contraption to me,slow and plugged easily. There was a lot of feed lost as fines and it looked like you would have to bunk feed only. We do feed cows daily with a processor and like the fact that we can spread feed out easily and dump poorer feed on top of good to encourage consumption but feed loss is a concern!
The new X rotors look interesting but often it's best to watch a prototype for a while and see if they turn out!

[Faster horses]

The Haybusters seem to be a little more popular in this area.
We have a Haybuster, and tried a Vermeer because we like the
dealer so well. The Haybuster was stouter made, and on our
model has a conveyor that rolls the bale as opposed to 1 flail
in the middle and 2 rollers. Mr. FH had to rock the bale in the
Vermeer to get it started and he didn't care for that so much.

Ours must be two or three years old now. I think it is a 2640.
We ordered it with a scale underneath. The scale cost $2500
and was well worth every penny. Now he doesn't have to guess
how many pounds he is feeding every bunch. And it's amazing
how much variation there is in bales.

We figured saving 50 ton of hay @ $50 over the life of the
machine would pay for the scale and we's still have the scale.

[Northern Rancher]

Rumen,Reticullum,Omasum and Abomasum work great here-I've hired bale processing done and never could make it pencil for mature cows-just made alot of busy-happy dust for the operator. They don't make poor hay better but they sure send leaves off good hay off into the wild blue yonder. Maybe if you were processing into bunks but blowing leaves all over the snow for the cows too mulch doesn't seem to make sense to me. Just being the devil's advocate.

[Faster horses]

Oh, you are so right. It doesn't change the nutrition value of the hay,
it just helps them to eat more of it.

Mr. FH cannot abide rolling a bale of hay out with a tractor tire.
He loves his hay processor. He used to come in griping all the
time about unrolling the big round bales. When you hate
something that bad, you better find a different way. He wouldn't
go back to unrolling bales any other way, I can tell you that.
And this way we use the tractor and dont' need another pickup
for a bale bed. If we had more cattle, he might look at a bale
bed, but we don't.

I hate to see cows standing on hay with the other end in their
mouth. You can feed with a bale processer and the cows eat
ALL the hay because you can make the windrow as narrow as you
want.

To each his own.

[Northern Rancher]

They do make a lively topic for the minimillist and the machine crowd at the coffee shop-at least up here anyway.

[cowzilla]

Some bale shredder guys have resorted to feeding at night as to avoiding contact with the bale grazing guys( moving there wires)