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tub grinders

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Hayguy

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although not in a dire situation like some of you here, i am wondering if i can make better use of my various feedstuff's by grinding into a pile and mixing up with the loader rather than using a bale processor. has anyone had anything to do with the Roto-Grind brand out of Greely Co.



http://www.rotogrind.com/
 
I've thought that if we ever background our calves again, I would own a screw type mixer/grinder. I am aware that they are somewhat slower than a tub grinder but one machine processes and feeds rather than having two. The single screw models can be bought in good condition for less than $20,000.

We had a New Holland tub grinder years ago. Only had 95 horses to power it and if the hay was a little wet on the outside it was a tractor killer. Silage bales would have been out of the question.
 
My TMR for calves is called "triple mix"! The 3-way equal proportions of oats, barley and pea balage seems to give pretty good results as a stand-alone ration, with the addition of a free-choice bale of good quality second cut hay.

What the calves don't clean up in less than 2 days, I take out and dump in the cow's feeder. They think the leftovers are candy! And nothing is wasted.

I haven't done any testing yet but will before fall feeding starts.

I'm not claiming to get optimum gains like one could expect to see with a more finely balanced TMR ration, but I also have no additional equipment and fuel costs, a cost which may be more than offset on larger operations.

When we were feeding straw and other lower quality feeds to the cows, I put it out (free choice) in the bale feeders in the morning and then unrolled good quality hay on the snow in the afternoon so that everyone got equal opportunity at good feed.

It seems to work well in several ways - the cows come in to the yard in the morning for the feeder stuff but spend the afternoon and night in the field where I put the good hay. No bedding required, just some yard scraping on occasion!

With my small numbers, this approach seems to work out well without spending money to gain better efficiencies. There is no doubt that you might be able to utilize low quality feeds better with a TMR mixer but you need much bigger numbers than I have to justify the extra costs.
 
I used one of those exact grinders the amount of power it takes is unreal and they are very slow we have a custom guy here who will do around 100 bales in an hour for $400 thats the only way I'd do it again. I had a 160 horse tractor on the grinder full throttle all day you might get 50 bales done.$150 worth of fuel
 
I hate all tub grinders. They are hard on tractors, start way too many fires, and expensive to operate. Most cases if you want something ground, hire it done.
 
THANK-YOU all. ya'all have convinced me to explore other option's. with hay trading around 50$ a ton i guess a little waste can be tolerated. it isn't really waste, just unprocessed organic matter :wink: thanx again for waking me up :lol:
 
WaitD! wait! WE have a haybuster and love it..... We grind when we want and how much you want... Easy to use does take some power we put an old 8630 on it..... We like it!
 
If you have some of that 6ft tall rye tub grinding is probably the best way to make use of it other then silage. Some around here have built a three sided "Pen" with wind break boards.( could use some heavy 30ft portable panels) and tub ground a mixture of hay, green feed and what ever maybe some clover or barley or oat straw and filled the pen then fed across the front with a hot wire.
 
BMR, that was my original plan,grind enough to last awhile so i don't have to start anything everyday. the rye thats still standing is approaching 7 ft, the stuff that isn't is still 7ft long only a ft high. as Per said "i love it and i hate it " :lol: when your this close to the city and farm's are dissapearing or becoming a part of large grain factories, getting someone to custom grind is a challenge or non-existant. however i'm not sure i need any more high maintenance iron :wink: decisions decisions
 
The feedlot I used to work at had a haybuster and they really liked it, they wouldnt use anything else. They did 30 bales two or three times a week I think, sometimes they were green, cut and baled the same day. They ran it off an 8670 NH I think, and the only troble with it as air conditioning when I was trying to make hay :lol: and the tranny shifted hard, but neither of that was fault due to the tub grinder.
 
hayguy said:
BMR, that was my original plan,grind enough to last awhile so i don't have to start anything everyday. the rye thats still standing is approaching 7 ft, the stuff that isn't is still 7ft long only a ft high. as Per said "i love it and i hate it " :lol: when your this close to the city and farm's are dissapearing or becoming a part of large grain factories, getting someone to custom grind is a challenge or non-existant. however i'm not sure i need any more high maintenance iron :wink: decisions decisions
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Could a person swath it dry it down and run it through a forage harvester into a truck and pile it?

Wait do it green and wet and make silage. :lol:
 

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