Eze-Feeder by Reimer

[ALLFARMER]

http://www.reimerweldingmfg.com/feeder.html

Well boys I am throwing the pails away! Ordered
myself a 70 Bushel, hydraulic drive, 3 point hitch
mount eze feeder. Sounds like it can be rigged up
to be also hauled around with round bale forks
stuck thru the skids. I went with a 3pt hitch model
because a tractors speed is much simpler to
maintain than a quad or vehicle. Set the gear and
rpm an consistant spread all accross the bunks.
With this 70 bushel model we should be able to
feed 350 head at the bunks in one pass. The only
bad part is I will have to use my neighbors caseih
35hp tractor till I get around to buying my own.

[grassfarmer]

You must be a genius Allfarmer - how did you cram
230 bred heifers into one liner load?

[ALLFARMER]

No we didn't buy that many heifers at the auction.
The 350 number comes from our current bunk
capacity 7 / 100' bunks with a capacity of 50 head
per bunk. We do not quite have enough alfalfa
pellets to make it to spring so I ordered a tandem
load of lightly heated oats (1.50/bu) so we would
need way more pails to feed this lower quality
feed. Plus with muddier conditions the little front
wheel assist and easy feeder are the way to make
this job seamless. Straw and grain or pellets will
be fed around here allot more in years to come.

[ASRG]

Are you going to roll the oats or feed them whole?
You might consider getting an "add on 3 point hitch" for existing tractor, rather than buying another tractor?
What do you figure the cost of feeding the oats, as compared to pellets?

[ALLFARMER]

I think the oats is cheap enough I will probably
feed it whole. I usually pull the bale shredder so I
would have to unhook and hook up near daily to
hitch up the eze feeder. I have considered getting
one of those add on 3pt hitches they look pretty
well built. I think my best bet is to pick it up with
my bale forks. Might just need a flow control
valve.

[burnt]

One case does not constitute good science, but my experience shows that processing the oats gives more benefit than the expense of doing it, unless feeding them to very young calves.

Last winter we found that after the calves reached a certain age, the oats not only passed through them whole, they seemed to make everything go through the calves faster. Almost like too coarse or undigestable to be broken down properly.

When we started grinding the oats, the calves' performance picked up noticeably within a couple of weeks.

But like I said, one trial isn't a very solid case.

[newguy]

If you use whole oats you should mix some
protien pellets with it. The protein helps
digest the oats. As well as insuring
getting needed minerals. You will get your
money back many times over on the pellets.

[BTO_farmall]

F#ck 3pt, Everything QuickTach!!!!!!!!! Roughly 3% Oats Unrolled Goes Out The Back End, 18% With Barley, Yous'll Be Fine!!!!!!!!

[ALLFARMER]

Thanks all for your comments men.

Got talked into taking a load of rig mats to Fort Mc
Murray. We have to much snow to v cut yet and
calving is a trickle. Never been to Fort Mac before
so why not a very well paid sight seeing trip. Then
swung thru Athabasca then Edmonton to pick up
my new feeder. Also picked up enough pipe to
build 6 or 7 gates. My neighbor ran off to Mexico
so I am moving into his shop lol. He has a nice
new mig welder.

[ASRG]

I think BTOs figures are pretty close to being right.
If grain is cheap enough processing costs might be prohibitive.
What does it cost to roll a bu of oats or barley?

[smcgrath76]

What is the price of one of those units if
you don't mind my asking?
We have gone a different route. We are
replacing our Suzuki Carry with another
one that has a dump box. Gets 45mpg
highway, 60mpg pasture and we can feed
pellets or other should we choose a long
way from home.

[ALLFARMER]

3700$ plus tax and freight. Freight from MB to
edm was 600$

[ALLFARMER]

Wow $880 spent on pipe built 8 / 11' heavy gates.
Forgetting my time the shop and mig. Not direct
costs.

[grassfarmer]

If you are a welder why didn't you build a bucket like
shown in that video? It looks like a great idea and
shouldn't be all that hard to build - you could start
with a smaller older loader bucket and modify it.

[ALLFARMER]

There's only so much of me to go around. Lol I did
think of building my own but I couldn't do as nice
of job. Son no. 2 and I hung 4 of the gates today.
Going to need 3 new drinkers installed this
summer and a small amount of fencing. Once
that's done we will likely get the yard dug out
increased in size then its herd expansion time
again. May buy another tractor at the Richie sale
this week hopefully the one I have my eye on sells
cheap or my next tractor may not have a cab!