# Feed Mill



## tnwalkingred (Jun 8, 2010)

All,

I'm thinking about making my own feed and I need a little advice. I want to grind alfalfa hay and corn (either shelled or ear). I figure the mixture would be about 50/50 and I hope to attain around 14% crude protein. If I mix 1000 lbs of corn and 1000 lbs of alfalfa at a time what type (brand, model, etc.) of feed mill should I be looking to purchase? I know Gehl, JD, and NH all made some in the past that can be bought worth the money. I want to auger the feed into a grain bin but I'm scared it will be hard to find a mill with a auger that will reach. My 5 ton grain bin is 12' to the top load hatch. I had hoped to find one I could hook up to the tractor and grind right next to the grain bin. Then I could put it in the bin with the attached auger. Once it is in the bin I plan to hand feed it to my feeder calves. Any suggestions or advice is greatly appreciated.

Kyle


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## 8350HiTech (Jul 26, 2013)

I personally wouldn't think about trying that much alfalfa. I'd expect it to wear out a machine very prematurely. I've run a few bales through my NH and in addition to wear, they take forever.


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## Bgriffin856 (Nov 13, 2013)

Ground second cutting grass for a neighbor whose horse had no teeth. Only could grind two or three small squares cause it would bridge and not come out of the tank. Its a NH 353 plus you really have to break up the slabs of hay or you'll break shear pins and its not good for the tractor. Too much hay 1000lbs will make a big pile when ground, you'd be better of just feeding it separate rather than grinding and mixing in my opinion


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## Dr Dean (Nov 4, 2013)

I run a Lorenz, and the auger is just long enough to reach a 1 ring Pride of the Farm bulk bin. One thing I have found is in a 3000 lb batch of ground corn, protein and 5 small square bales of grass hay (about 250 lbs) is that it bridges up and is a real pain to get back out of the bin. I have been wanting to put together a grainary and get rid of the bulk bin.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

Ground hay doesn't flow very well at all, depending on the screen size you run, pulverized corn also doesn't flow well at all. You don't need to grind the corn, just crack it by using a roller mill.

I've been very happy with our vertical TMR wagon for processing hay and stalk bales.


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## tnwalkingred (Jun 8, 2010)

Thanks for the advice guys. Would a "bale processor" be better suited for grinding the hay and corn together?

Kyle


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

tnwalkingred said:


> Thanks for the advice guys. Would a "bale processor" be better suited for grinding the hay and corn together?
> 
> Kyle


Depends what you're calling a "bale processor".

This is listed as a bale processor/tun grinder on tractor house, while being able to chop your bale, no way to really mix your corn in.

This what i use, smaller ones can be had. The large capacity allows me to process two 4x5 round bales of hay and a 4x5 round bale of wrapped stalks. I also add 300lbs of glycerin and 500-600 lbs of fines from the grain cleaner.

Waste quickly approaches zero when they can't pull a wad or slab of hay out of a feeder or thru the stanchions anymore.


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## tnwalkingred (Jun 8, 2010)

Mlappin,

Thanks for the links provided. Do you feed an entire batch at a time? With the number of cattle I'm running I need to be able to grind my feed and then auger it into a bin so I can hand feed when needed.

I found a operators manual on a NH 355 grinder/mixer and it had instructions as how to grind hay as well as corn. Is there a reason to think one of them would not work for the application I'm looking at?

Kyle


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

Grinding hay with what your referring to is a slow process and wears the grinder out rather quickly, it can be done but like mentioned before too much hay and it won't come out of the bin, grind the corn to fine and it doesn't flow very well either. A friend ground a wagon load of ear corn thru his favor me, was so fine had to climb in the wagon every time and push some down, was also very dusty.

I run most of it out into the portable bunks I made last winter and save some back for the steers, about 700-800 pounds and add more corn to it before filling their feeder. In the summer I run half out one day and the other half the next in the feed alley in the old dairy barn. Feeding about 65 atm.


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## ontario hay man (Jul 18, 2013)

Ya im going with marty on this. Get a bale grinder and a roller. Make 2 seperate piles and mix it as you feed. If you try to put half a ton on hay in a 355 you will do nothing but curse. I used to put 1 50 lbs bale of straight alfalfa in for the sows in a mix and it took time. You will be there a month from sunday with 1000 lbs.


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## stack em up (Mar 7, 2013)

14% cp to 500 lb. feeders is too hot in my opinion. When starting calves, I try to go with 10% cp, then work up from there. On a good grower ration, my top end is 14, unless you are finishing them out, even then I would throw more corn and quite a bit less hay. MO.


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