AUTOMATIC HAY FEEDER

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32708, 10 September 1971, Page 15

AUTOMATIC HAY FEEDER

The accompanying photograph is of an automatic hay feeder designed by Mr Peter van Beuzekom, of Waikari, and built by Waikari Tractor Service Ltd, of which he is a partner.

The stimulus for the development came from Mr W. A. Yates, a farmer on rolling hill country at Hawarden, who was interested in a machine that would obviate the need to have his wife helping with feeding of hay and would eliminate the risks involved

... a single-handed hay operation with the farmer or farm worker getting on and off a moving tractor and a moving trailer. When he saw one of his children push part of a bale of hay over the edge of the tray of a trailer this caused him to ponder whether some mechanical contrivance could not be developed to do this. The automatic hay feeder is Mr van Beuzekom’s answer and it was seen in action last week-end on the property of Mr C. J. Twose, close to Waißari. The prototype unit has a capacity of 27 bales, which are fed out in about nine minutes. It is mounted on a trailer but a separate unit could be built. The bales are held in a metal cage. They are stacked in three layers and the strings are cut at the same time before feeding starts. These layers are fed separately and as each layer is fed the feeder disengages automatically through a slip clutch and the driver of the tractor has then to stop and alight and make the neces-

sary adjustments for the unloading of the next layer. The bales in each layer are drawn forward by a metal frame or gate which runs on the outside of the cage frame. It is drawn along by two wires running on either side of it and operated off one of the trailer wheels. On the basis of these wheels having a circumference of 10ft Mr van Beuzekom has worked out that a threeinch section of hay is dropped off every 10ft. When the feeding of a layer is completed the tractor driver has to work a hand winch to retrieve the frame and then place a bar across behind the layer of bales next to be fed out. At the same time spinners or tines which tease out the hay and which are mounted at the rear of the unit can be winched upwards or downwards to the level of the layer to be fed out. Mr van Beuzekom says that he may be able to hinge this rear assembly to facilitate loading of the bales on the trailer. It could then be swung clear for loading.

The usefulness of the unit might also be increased by making it possible to use it as a sledge behind a baler, but Mr van Beuzekom says that it is doubtful whether the cost of this modification would be less than buying a separate sledge. The 27-bale automatic feeder is priced at about $270. The photograph with this article gives a side view of the automatic feeder.