Ironing out seasonal feed variations

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32666, 23 July 1971, Page 16

Ironing out seasonal feed variations

In a part of the country that can be subject to drought the Nicholls of Randolph Downs and Dalrachrie Downs in the Broomfield district in North Canterbury are hoping that an Australian-made mobile grinder mixer, which arrived on their properties this week, will be a key to increased production.

They see the new machine, costing about $4098 landed at Broomfield, as being the means by which stock can be fed a balanced ration, even in periods of unfavourable climatic conditions, so eliminating seasonal ups and downs in feed supply, and by which at the same time more efficient use can be made of available fodder and the wastage inherent in traditional feeding systems can be reduced. The Wetmore grinder mixer is manufactured by Wetmore Pty. Ltd, of Mophhett Vale, about 17 miles south of Adelaide in South Australia. This company manufactures a variety of feed making equipment including specialised feed mills, roller mills, bale shredders, feeder boxes, forage waggons and specialised feeding auger systems. The grinder mixer has evolved from a feed mill developed in the United States by Mr Ernest Wetmore in the early 1930 s and since then the grinder mixer has been developed in Australia for specialised feeding of stock by converting hay, grain and concentrates into a balanced ration for use in supplementary or feedlot systems.

The grinder mixer, which weighs a little more than a ton and is drawn behind a tractor, consists of a feed mill, a concentrate hopper, a mixing tank and a discharge auger.

From storage, feed is elevated to the mill which does the grinding, concenerates are added by way of the concentrate hopper and the various components are then mixed in the mixing tank with the balanced ration finally being discharged into feed troughs or bunkers as the unit moves along. Mr E. L. Zimmermann, manager of Wetmore Machinery Services, of Beenleigh, Queensland, who was at Broomfield this week when the equipment was demonstrated and whose company distributes equipment made by Wetmore Pty, Ltd. and adapts it to specialised feeding uses, said that the grinder mixer enabled the feeding of scientifically specified rations related to seasonal and area conditions.

His father, Mr R. L. Zimmermann, who is managing director of Wetmore Pty, Ltd, spoke of it making droughts obsolete and ironing out seasonal “highs and lows.”

Mr R. L. Zimmermann said that grinder mixer would mix and deliver in the field something like two tons of feed in about 45 minutes.

A grinder mixer identical to the unit which is now at Broomfield has also been imported by Mr S. L. Larsen, of Cust, and a feed mill has been imported from the same firm by Mr B. Y. Cun-

ningham, of Gore, who plans to contract with it.

Both the feed mill costing $2182 landed in North Canterbury, which will process about two 501 b bales of lucerne hay in a minute and more than 120 bags of grain an hour, and the grinder mixers are fitted with Glutton mills and these have a molasses attachment which means that molasses or other liquids can be injected into the feed at milling, which facilitates absorption. This enables water also to be added to the ration to eliminate dust and aid digestion, and minerals or other additives which are soluble in water may also be added by this means.

The feed mill imported by Mr Cunningham is on a trailer and is portable but is operated in a static position. It also includes an elevator feeder which permits a variety of feeds to be fed into the mill simultaneously and it is consequently able to be used as a mixer also.

The grinder mixer that has gone to Broomfield has been imported by Randolph Holdings, Ltd. of Broomfield, who have leased it to Mr R. B. Nicholls, of Dalrachrie Downs. It will be used both on Randolph Downs of 1262 acres and Dalrachrie Downs of 638 acres. There are 4000 breeding ewes on the two properties and 150 breeding beef cows and 55 weaner calves. With the new feeding system it is hoped to run 500 breeding cows on Randolph Downs, which will be the breeding unit, and to fatten 1200 head of cattle on Dalrachrie Downs and to maintain ewe numbers at present levels. Mr Bruce Nicholls said that their biggest problem was with drought. The annual average rainfall was about 24 inches but in the last two seasons it had been down to about 16 or 18 inches and it was hoped

that the new system would mean that they would not have the seasonal ups and downs in feed supplies of the past. Even where ewes and lambs were being fed on lush lucerne pastures, Mr Nicholls said that they were proposing to feed out on the ground a high roughage and low grain content ration, with the hope that they would have more lucerne available eventually for making into vacuum silage for flushing ewes and for feeding in drought periods. Last year he said that they had made 700 tons of silage. It was used on a selffeeding system. Over two years where they had flushed ewes on vacuum silage they had found that their subsequent lambing percentage was 10 per cent higher than where they had flushed ewes on grass. They would also be using the new equipment in association with feeding out farm crop residues, or high energy low cost fodders, with high protein content lucerne hay. All their rations, he said, would be subject to analysis by Livestock and Pastoral Laboratories (N.Z.) Ltd, to determine their suitability. Feeding out to cattle would be in troughs and probably ultimately all stock would be fed in this way to eliminate wastage. Mr E. L. Zimmerman recalled that in one trial in Australia 300 head of cattle run on a stud breeding property wasted in excess of 2000 bales of hay in a year. When this equipment was seen in action at two field days at Broomfield this week a fodder feeder developed by a farmer at Milton in South Otago, Mr D. H. McElrea, and now manufactured by South Otago

Engineers, Ltd, of Balclutha, was also seen. Pre-crushed material is loaded into the cylindrical feeder and at the same time water, molasses and feed additives are also introduced. The cylinder revolves slowly like a concrete mixer and this action produces a moist, intimately mixed meal. This mixing is normally done while driving out to the paddock or feedlot. Gate slides at the front of the machine are then set to control the discharge of the meal into a hopper underneath, which is fitted with a clamshell gate operated by an automatic trip lever which then discharges a ration of meal on to the ground at about 12ft intervals. This spacing eliminates wastage by trampling as the stock naturally form a “star” around the meal and all those being fed have a much greater chance of receiving their ration. And because the mix is wet there is no subsequent loss through wind of fine grain or hay. The intimate, mixing with molasses and water further serves to keep the finely ground high quality feed in suspension in the meal. Discussing events leading up to his development of this machine, which costs $lO5O for one with a capacity of 90 cubic feet and $l5OO for a 180 cubic feet capacity unit, Mr McElrea said that between 1956 and 1966 he instituted an all grass farming system on his property and in the process raised carrying capacity from 3 to 4 ewe equivalents to the acre to 7 to 8. But

at the same time he found that he was to some degree at the mercy of the climate and to maintain his increased carrying capacity and to bridge the periods of feed shortage due to climate, he developed this machine. It made possible the feeding of hammer-milled hay, grain or straw and stock could be fed on pads or on confined areas at any time of the year and in particular in the winter. In the last two months and a half he said that all of his ewes had been fed in this way. He started off using a ration based on the proportion of 10 bales of lucerne hay to one bag of grain and two gallons of molasses, with salt and additives to suit the particular conditions. Nearer to lambing the grain content of the ration was doubled. This was now the third season during which they had used the feeder and over this period his stocking had increased by 20 per cent. Mr McElrea believes that use of the feeder has reduced labour costs by at least a third. In the coming season in the period of peak grass growth Mr McElrea plans to use the machine to feed out hammer milled roughage and molasses and other additives at about a |lb per head per day to sheep to prevent scouring and offset the high protein content of the grass. He is also planning to feed a grain and hay mixture to cattle in their finishing off stages before slaughter.