Loader-Mounted Hoppers Cut Cattle Feeding Time

Loader-Mounted Hoppers Cut Cattle Feeding Time TRACTORS Loaders 25-4-26 Rancher John Haldemann solved the problem of feeding supplemental protein pellets to cattle on snowy pastures by mounting a couple of feed hoppers on the arms of his front-end loader. The Chinook, Mont. rancher feeds hay with a Hesston bale mover pulled by a Case-IH 7110 Magnum. He keeps a front-end loader on the tractor to scrape snow so he can feed on bare ground. "We always had to make a second trip to feed the protein cake," he says. "But not anymore." Haldemann figured he could just about cut his cattle feeding chores in half if he had a way to feed range pellets with the same rig. Then he looked at the front-end loader and decided there was room there to haul the pellets if he just had a way to distribute them. He designed a hopper to mount on each loader arm, between the front of the tractor and the loader bucket. Part of the design includes an auger at the bottom that directs the pellets toward the center of the tractor. Once he had the general design worked out, he took it to a local welding shop. "They made brackets to mount on the arms that let us remove the hoppers by taking out just three pins," he says. Each hopper holds about 400 lbs. of pellets. The distribution augers both direct feed toward the center of the tractor and both operate at once, so it keeps the weight evenly distributed on the loader arms. If there's snow on the pasture, Haldemann puts the bucket down and scrapes it out of the way while running the pellets out on the ground for the cattle. The 5-in. distribution auger is powered by electric motors, which Haldemann can control from the tractor cab. He says it's easy to feed the right amount of supplement, since he can measure the amount of feed distributed in a minute and then calculate the amount of time he needs to run the augers to put out the amount of feed he needs. Another part of his system is an overhead storage bin with an unload spout that swivels side to side. "I can drive the loader under the storage bin and fill both hoppers without having to move the tractor," he says. Pellets go over a screen to separate out the fines before whole pellets go into the feeder hoppers. "We feed the fines to cattle in feed bunks, so they're not wasted by feeding on the ground," he explains. Haldemann says he makes a separate pass in the pasture to feed the pellets, rather than trying to feed them while he's feeding hay. "But I don't have to make a second trip to the field, or feed the pellets by hand," he says. He figures this cuts the time needed to feed cattle by close to 50 percent. Haldemann says one of the toughest parts of the job was figuring out how to make an auger with reverse flighting so both sides feed pellets at the same speed. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, John Haldemann, HCR 70, Box 20, Chinook, Mont. 59523 (ph 406 357-2078).

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