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Hopper Adds Grain To Hay On The Go
"We background 400 to 600 calves a year and needed an efficient way to feed hay and grain together," says Florian Johnson. He and his son Dale mounted a grain hopper on front of their big bale processor so they can feed out chopped hay and rolled grain in one operation.
In the past, the Rich Valley, Alberta, ran
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Hopper Adds Grain To Hay On The Go HAY & FORAGE HARVESTING Bale Handling (5) 21-2-2 "We background 400 to 600 calves a year and needed an efficient way to feed hay and grain together," says Florian Johnson. He and his son Dale mounted a grain hopper on front of their big bale processor so they can feed out chopped hay and rolled grain in one operation.
In the past, the Rich Valley, Alberta, ranchers first chopped hay into fenceline feeders and then used 5-gal. buckets to feed out grain.
The add-on grain hopper mounts on front of their Case-IH 8610 hay processor. The hopper is 2 1/2-ft. wide by 5-ft. long by 6-ft. deep. They made it out of 14 ga. sheet metal. It holds about 40 bu. of rolled oats and barley in a 50:50 mix.
A 4-in. dia. auger runs up from the bottom of the hopper. A drop tube lays grain on top of the hay which is laid down in a wind-row alongside the processor.
To power the grain auger, the Johnsons attached a V-pulley to the 1,000 rpm pto shaft on the hay processor. The pulley drives over an air conditioner clutch off a Ford car, which is wired to a switch in their tractor cab. Another shaft runs from the air conditioner clutch to the front of the hay processor to drive the V-pulley attached to the auger. The design allows them to start and stop the auger from the tractor whenever they want to.
The Johnsons feed six 5 by 6-ft., 1,200-lb. bales and two hopperfuls of grain a day in two feedings. They can change rations simply by changing gears on the tractor. The slower they go the more grain is discharged and vice versa.
"We move the unit over one tractor wheel width each time we feed so the hay and grain are discharged on clean, packed snow," says Florian.
The Johnsons built the grain hopper attachment last fall. Out-of-pocket expense was about $1,000 (Canadian).
Contact: Florian and Dale Johnson, Meadow Valley Farms, R.R.1, Gunn, Alberta, Canada TOE 1AO (ph 403 967-5950).
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