Automatic Feeder Helps Cattleman Expand Herd

Automatic Feeder Helps Cattleman Expand Herd LIVESTOCK Feeding Equipment 26-4-37 Leigh Babcock found the answer to his cattle feeding problems when he visited a hog barn equipped with an automatic feeding system. "I was feeding 250 calves and wanted to increase the herd size. I was carrying up to 120 5-gal. pails of chopped feed every day to my cattle, which was getting old. When I saw the automatic hog feeding system, I was intimidated at first by all the electrical switches on the feed mill. Then I decided it was easier to figure out how to operate the switches than to carry pails of feed all day." Leigh's friend Jonny Neilson had recently arrived in Canada from Denmark and was familiar with the automatic systems. The two men designed a setup that automatically delivers a balanced ration from Babcock's storage bins to his feed troughs. Feed is moved through 190 ft. of 3-in. dia. flexible auger to 40 drop spouts along the length of the feed trough. The spouts are spaced 30 in. apart, allowing four or five animals to feed from each spout. He built a steel structure to support the spouts and flexible auger. The height of each drop spout can be adjusted to control the amount of grain per drop. Leigh mixes his own feed rations, depending on the needs of the cattle. Oats, barley, canola meal and concentrate are augured from storage bins through an adjustable proportioner unit that mounts above a roller mill. The proportioner unit determines the amount of each ingredient used in the total ration. The 3-in. dia. flexible auger runs from the roller mill into one of two surge bins (Leigh needs two surge bins because he feeds different rations to heifers and steers). Canola meal and concentrates by-pass the roller mill and go straight into the auger and into one of the surge bins. After the mill was in place, Leigh set the dials to provide for coarseness of the crush on the grain. He also set the scale to produce the weight of feed required. "The complete unit, with bins, cost about $45,000 to set it up," says Leigh. "It was a justifiable cost because it let me expand the herd without having to hire additional help. In this area, we're completing against the oil fields for help. There's not enough work here on my farm to hire a full-time worker, and it's impossible to get any part-time help. "I now have about 600 calves. I wouldn't have been able to increase my herd that much if I didn't have this system," says Babcock, noting that there are a number of hog and poultry feeders that would get the job done. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Leigh Babcock, Box 794, Elk Point, Alberta, Canada T0A 1A0 (ph 780 724-2242).

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