feedmixers

[frustrated1]

we're looking at purchasing a new mix wagon. have had demos of cattleac and renn as well as henke. talked to several people on various models and read independant studies. seems that the cattleac may be the best value for the buck. any feedback or experiences with any of these would be appreciated. thanks.

[BCR]

We have a cattlelac 410 3 auger wagon, works great when mixing silage and oat/barly tub ground straw, but not when mixing silage thats a little dry as expierinced last year because of the drought and when mixing silage and tub ground pea straw... it hangs up in the back right between all 3 augers, the only way to get it out was to shut down and climb inside and bust it up. my suggestion is to go with the 4 auger mixer. hope this helps

[rusty1]

Let me give you a short corse on mixers.
The 4 Auger mixer will provide the best possible TMR (total mixed ration). As always everything has limits. One issues that is critical is the drive live. Some reduce the speed of the PTO trough a series of chains. That uses alot more power and wear and tear. Make sure the unit has a planetary and then chains.
The major issue is the distance between the top augers and the bottom augers. That's why the previous comments about feed sticking and dead spots. The distance should be about 4 - 5 inches between the top and bottom augers.
One thing to check out is the floor. One of the ones you mentioned has 2 - 1/4 inch liners on top of each other. Thus (1/2"). When one wears through the second won't be far behind as silage juices and mud will pack between the two and rust will cause pre-mature failure. If youre going to put it on a truck make sure that the supplier provides a belt drive PTO shaft offset drive line.

[frustrated1]

thanks guys. keep the info coming, haven't purchased yet. anyone ever use a farm aid?

[rusty1]

farmaid - that's why I said that the 4-auger mixer give you the most complete TMR. Farmaid, RotoMix are what is called a reel mixer. If you look inside one you'll see a horizontal shaft (axle) that runs the length of the box. A series of paddles (like a paddle wheller in the river). These paddles lift the feed whis is supposed to tumble down from the high side across the axle. Thats relatively true with a high grain ration. But on a high roughage ration that just dosn't happen. Now on the high side of the mixing load is either 1 or 2 horizontal augers. The bottom auger sits in a trough that brings the feed forward to the door to unload. If it's a bigger box and has a second ager, it moves feed to the back of the box. That is the only action that give you an end to end mix. Therefore if you put 50 lbs. of supplement in the front of the box with an auger etc. that's where it stayes. And again with a high roughage ration especially any long hay (which really is dangerous to do in a rotery) you won't get a mix atall.