Silage "Defacer" Built From Rotary Hoe

Silage "Defacer" Built From Rotary Hoe TILLAGE EUIPMENT Rotary Hoes 28-3-3 Bucket-mounted rotary cutters for bunker silos sell for up to $5,000. Roger Oyen, Lancaster, Wis., made his own hydraulic-powered silage "defacer" out of an old rotary hoe. He uses it on his Case 1840 skid steer loader. "I spent only about $300 to build it. It works just as good as anything on the market," he says. He started with a 12-ft. wide Deere rotary hoe. He cut it down to 5 ft. 6 in. - the width of his skid loader bucket - and mounted the teeth on a steel shaft attached to a pair of brackets that bolt to the top of the bucket. The shaft is chain-driven by an orbit motor. The rows of teeth are spaced 3 in. apart. The hoe wheels themselves measure about 14 in. in diameter and are mounted just high enough to clear the top of the bucket. "It was easy to put together and works great," says Oyen, who built the silage defacer last fall. "I use it every day to loosen haylage in my two 25 by 80-ft. bunker silos. I tip the bucket down to loosen the silage, then rotate it back up to scoop up the silage and load it into my TMR mixer wagon. "In the past I just used the bucket but it would break off big pieces of silage, which would then become exposed to oxygen and spoil. My defacer keeps the bunker face nice and straight. It doesn't loosen any more feed than what I need. " Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Roger Oyen, 8762 Lovers Lane, Lancaster, Wis. 53813 (ph 608 723-6674).

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