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Computerized Syustem Blows Feed To Bulk Bins
"It saved us a lot of money and works as well as any commercial-built system," says Joel Waldner, Lethbridge, Alberta, about the home-built feed distributor and blower system that his Hutterite colony built for feeding livestock on their farm.
The colony raises hogs, chickens, and ducks in a number of large buil
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Computerized Syustem Blows Feed To Bulk Bins LIVESTOCK Feeding Equipment 23-1-25 "It saved us a lot of money and works as well as any commercial-built system," says Joel Waldner, Lethbridge, Alberta, about the home-built feed distributor and blower system that his Hutterite colony built for feeding livestock on their farm.
The colony raises hogs, chickens, and ducks in a number of large buildings. A total of 20 hopper bottom feed bins supply feed. A system of 4-in. dia. pipes leads from each bin back to the distributor which is located near the farm's feed mill.
At the distributor building, the pipes come together in a circle. A movable "arm" on the distributor is connected to a buried flexible hose that leads to the feed mill located a few feet away.
Each bin is equipped with a sensor that sends a signal to a computer at the mill when it runs low, which automatically selects the proper ingredients for that building. The computer automatically rotates the feed distributor "arm" that connects to the proper pipe. A blower then pushes the feed through the pipe to the bin.
"It's completely automatic and saves a lot of labor. All we do is make sure the ingredient bins are full," says Waldner. "We've used it for two years with no problems. Commercial feed distributors like this sell for about $10,000 and blower pipes of the length we used would've cost thousands so we saved a lot of money. We bought 20-ft. lengths of drill stem pipe and sandblasted them and painted them white, then clamped them together. We also made a machine to bend the pipes 90 degrees where they go down into the distributor. The pipes are 1/4 in. thick so they'll never wear through.
"The largest blower pipe is 800 ft. long so it took a lot of pipe. However, it isn't a problem because the electric-powered blower is designed to blow feed up to 1,000 ft. away. We used steel tubing to support the blower pipes about 20 ft. off the ground and mounted them in cement footings.
"The rest of the system, including the grinder, feed ingredient bins, and blower, are all commercial units."
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Joel Waldner, 67 Tudor Crescent, Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada T1K 5C7.
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