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Self-Powered Feed Wagon Fits Down Narrow Alley
David Lohman, Bow, Wash., converted an old Gehl self-unloading forage wagon into a self-powered feed wagon that's small enough to use in a narrow, dead-end alley inside his dairy barn.
The 10-ft long, 5-ft. wide wagon is equipped with a two-way cross conveyor on back. Lohman uses a skid steer loader to push the w
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Self-Powered Feed Wagon Fits Down Narrow Alley LIVESTOCK Feeding Equipment 18-3-17 David Lohman, Bow, Wash., converted an old Gehl self-unloading forage wagon into a self-powered feed wagon that's small enough to use in a narrow, dead-end alley inside his dairy barn.
The 10-ft long, 5-ft. wide wagon is equipped with a two-way cross conveyor on back. Lohman uses a skid steer loader to push the wagon down the alley, unloading silage out one side onto the floor. Once he reaches the end of the 60-ft. alley he flips a toggle switch to reverse conveyor direction, then unloads feed out the other side as he pulls the wagon back out of the barn.
"It saves us a lot of time," says Lohman, who uses the wagon to feed corn and grass silage to 65 to 70 heifers a day. "The barn alley is only 6 ft. wide so it's too narrow for a conventional self-unloading wagon. We had been dumping silage off a truck at the end of the alley and using the skid steer to push the feed into the alley. However, we had to use a pitchfork to get it to the sides of the alley and that was a half-hour job. Now it takes only 5 minutes to feed. The wagon is 6 ft. high so it fits under the barn's low ceiling, and it has a single axle so it's easy to back up. It holds two tons of feed."
Lohman got the 8-ft. wide Gehl wagon free at an auction minus the running gear. He stripped it down, saving only the cross conveyor, unloading chains, gearboxes, and some of the sheet metal. He used 3-in. channel iron to build a new frame and ply-wood, along with the old sheet metal, to make the box. He mounted a mobile home axle and wheels under the wagon. A 10 hp Wisconsin engine mounts on a frame he attached to the front of the wagon. It belt-drives a shaft that runs lengthwise under the wagon. The shaft is equipped with sprockets that chain-drive both the unloading apron and the cross conveyor. A pair of car electric window motors are used to control apron speed and to change direction of the conveyor. The motors are hooked up to sliding jaw clutches mounted on the sprockets.
A window on front of the box lets Lohman see how much silage is left in the wagon. He built a special hitch attachment to go on the skid steer loader.
Lohman spent about $1,000 to build the wagon.
Contact FARM SHOW Followup, David Lohman, 1327 Sunset Road, Bow, Wash. 98232 (ph 206 766-7103).
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