collecting chaff

[wmoebis]

Can anyone give me info on collecting/handling chaff. I am not a cattle producer but have a feeder who is interested in puchasing my chaff to mix with silage.
What are the pro's/con's for collection. Best/worst experiances with collecting and hauling.

[pmckenna]

Anything I know of, it's been done for ages. It can go onto the swath, in silage, or on the ground in pasture. Hopefully lots of people here can tell you much more than I could.

[blackjack]

...could use a little more info...is the chaff in piles that can be picked up with a loader and grapple...i assume the feedlot is wanting to mix it straight with the silage to skip the process of tubgrinding...distance being hauled would be a major factor...

[wmoebis]

we are just trying to work out an arrangement that will work for both. I am looking at both ways of putting it up. concidering piles then he hauls later or me pulling a jiffy high dump type wagon and he can haul right off the combine.
We have an arrangement where he turns cattle on my fields as soon as it is harvested for fall grazing so getting it off as soon as possable is a must. His feed lot is 5 to 6 miles from my fields. I believe he would pile in his yard and mix at time of feeding.
My concern is what has been the cost and trouble factors with the diferent ways of colecting behind the combine. Hauling can be arranged in either case. He will likely use his semi.
Do these small wagons slow combining much? Are they a hassle? Are the big wagons hard on combines weight wise? On hilly land? Which ones are alround best.
These type of questions. Also we will be looking for advise on figuring a value at some time.

[grefer]

I have been collecting chaff to feed to my own cattle since 1993.It is a cheap source of feed and really becomes quite valuable in the dry years.I use a Redekopp chaff blower and wagon to collect the chaff from the combine and drop in piles around the field.Of course there are anoyances in having the wagon behind you and collecting chaff but they are not big ones.The blower attches to your combine and the wagon trails along behind and is dumped when full by the operator.We purchased a chaff collector system that Redekopp Systems made but I think they stopped making them.It workes well to go around the fields and blow the chaff into a truck and haul back to the winter feeding site.If you have questions talk to Reddekopp Chaff Systems,they manufacture them a few miles west of Saskatoon and could be a help to you.Hope this helps.

[wmoebis]

Thanks I would also like to hear for anyone who has pulled the Jiffy type high dump to get there opinion of pulling those big wagons. A lot more weight back there and how they act on steeper side slopes etc.

[larryle]

If the cows already graze the field have you considered just leaving the small chaff piles in the field and extending the grazing period?

[wmoebis]

Yes we considered leaving the piles out in fields. However one of my interests in this endevor is to help remove weed seeds from field. The feed lot opperator composts manure to help kill germination. Secondly he wants to take chaff to feed lot to mix with silage ration. Last I am concerned of getting caught with a short grazing fall and having some piles not cleaned up before he takes his cow herd out for wintering/calving.
I believe this does work well if you have your own cattle and could store some or leave all out. To keep the cost down for the feed lot owner part of my costs will be off set by, hopefully, being able to reduce chemical inputs.