Drive-Under Bins Make Feed Mixing Quick

Drive-Under Bins Make Feed Mixing Quick LIVESTOCK Feeding Equipment 28-2-28 Grinding feed for a 85-cow herd takes timeà too much time for David Carrier. He was spending 45-60 min. each day waiting for the roller mill to finish its job and then mixing in other elements of the ration. Trained as an engineer, the dairy farmer knew there had to be a better way, and he found it. Now it only takes him a few minutes to fill his mixer. "I needed a reservoir of ready-to-serve ration ingredients quickly available," explains Carrier. He decided to build four bins, each holding up to 5 tons. He also wanted them high enough off the ground that he could drive under for a quick fill with a gravity feed. "The challenge was to work 30 ft. high," recalls Carrier. "I had to design it as I built it, and with the cow herd, I didn't have much time to play with it." With the help of his "freshly retired" father-in-law, Carrier started construction. He set six 10-in. by 6 1/2-in. by 16 1/2-ft. I-beams (3 to a side at 8-ft. intervals) into a concrete foundation and pad. These vertical I-beams are connected at the top by welding three 12-ft., 4-in. long I-beam cross members between the two sides to form three arches. Two 18-ft. long 4 by 6-in. steel I-beams run the length of the structure across the arches. He then constructed the four 8-ft. wide by 3 ft., 8-in. long and 10-ft. high bins. They are made of 1/2-in. plywood with steel corners held together by 1600 1/4-in. bolts and threaded rod. Plywood cones hanging from the bins end in 10 by 18-in. openings with sliding doors about 12 ft. off the ground. More support for the cones is provided by steel braces that run the length of the structure and are braced against the bins by 4-ft. long 3 by 4-in. angle irons running at an angle from each vertical I-beam. Angle iron attached to the cone doors are bolted to a piece of steel tubing that is also bolted to a steel cross member about 10 ft. off the ground. To open or close a door, Carrier simply leverages the vertical tubing against the crosspiece. The overall building is 32 ft. tall, 14 ft. wide and 16 ft. long. Carrier constructed walls and a roof around the four bins using 2 by 4s and covered it with siding. A ladder provides access inside the building for maintenance. Protein and other ingedients delivered to the farm are blown into two of the bins through 4-in. aluminum pipes. The last two bins are filled with an auger that carries feed from a nearby hammer mill. A bale elevator carries dry hay from a barn behind the feed house. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, David Carrier, 423 3E Rang, St. Augustin-De-Desmaures, Quebec, Canada G3A 1W8 (ph 418 878-5786; email: daveash@ webnet.qc.ca).

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