Taranaki Farmer Replaces Trough Feeder with Chainless X2500
Check out this post to find out why Andrew Clement from Stratford traded his SL450X trough feeder for the latest Chainless X2500 for feeding hay and balage to his cattle housed in Free Stall Barns…
Andrew runs his dairy herd in a very well set up Herd Shelter, Free Stall Barn to maximise his herd potential, when investing in the barn setup he chose Hustler’s SL450X trough feedlot feeding bale feeder to cover his bale feeding needs. After a number of years of experience with the design of the Herd Shelter trough/bunk setup and his SL450X bale feeder, Andrew made an interesting discovery:
Andrew taking delivery of his Chainless X2500 from Carl Frandsen of Norwood Taranaki
Chain vs Chainless – Feeding Time
Andrew feeds a lot of dry hay (as well as balage) which are well packed, good shape tight hay bales, and found the time it takes for the Chain type bale feeders to unroll tight hay bales frustrating. This meant he’d have to stop moving down the alleyway, with the bed spinning and wait while the bale unrolled. This prompted Andrew’s interest in the NEW Chainless design, capable of feeding frozen bales, which after trialing it with his tighest bales, the Chainless X2500 enabled him feed out the entire bale without needing to stop and wait, saving him a lot of time and frustration with every bale!
Chain vs Chainless – Trough Feeding
Due to the nature of Chain & Bar type feeders, and the height of the bunk/trough sides, even though his SL450X chain bale feeder has the longest elevator on the market, because there isn’t a shear point on chain type feeders the forage would fall back from the end of the elevator and the bars underneath the elevator had a tendency to drag the forage out of the trough into the alleyway.
By tilting the adjustable angle elevator upward helped, however it allowed the forage to fall back further and a certain amount would still be dragged backward. The only option was to partially fill the bunks, to ensure no hay was being dragged back into the alleyway.
That’s when Andrew took a look at the new Chainless X2500, which with the HyperFlow wiper panel, has a very precise shear point, and after a few discussions with his local Hustler Field Consultant, Gerald Raikes, they decided it was worth a demonstration to see how it performed with the optional Side Chute attachment designed specifically for feeding bales into bunks or troughs.
The result was transformational, with Andrew being able to ‘pour’ as much hay or balage into his bunks, with minimal spillage and none being pulled or dragged back out of the troughs.
Chain vs Chainless – Investment
Although the SL450X can handle loose materials such as maize silage or maize bales and root crops such as fodder-beet, when it comes to bales, Chainless was the clear winner for Andrew.
Not only is the result far superior with the Chainless X2500 and Side Chute option, Andrew saved himself over $1100 in capital expenditure for a more capable, lower maintenance machine, easier to manoeuvre machine!
- The Chainless X2500 is capable of feeding any type of round or square bale no matter how tightly baled or how finely chopped the forage is
- The optional Side Chute can be fine-tuned with angle adjustment and length to match his trough height and depth
- The hands-free connection system means he no-longer needs to tug on a rope to disconnect the cradle
- The bale feeder is much more compact to improving manoeuvrability around the barns
- There’s fewer moving parts needing to be maintained
- And a healthy saving in feedout time with every bale.
The other advantage of choosing of the Chainless which we’re seeing more and more of in trough or bunk feeding situations, is you get the choice of a trailed Chainless X5000 which can carry 2 bales, as well as the linkage mounted Chainless X2500 option.
Here’s two more case studies of farmers who’ve chosen Chainless for their trough feeding needs:
Farmer replaces TMR Mixer wagon with Chainless X5000
Chainless X5000 choosen for outdoor feed pad
