# TMR Mixers



## dirtfarmer1000 (Apr 2, 2010)

Just wanting to start a new thread about TMR mixers to explain my grief and maybe help out others with the same problem.. Almost 1 year ago, we purchased a Supreme 700 Single Screw TMR mixer with the second cutter option, after using a Jiffy 220 for 20 years, I thought it would be the be all end all.







Notttt !!!!














Mixing times were very inconsistent. Chopping bales took forever. A load with 1000lbs of hay or straw did not take to long, but at times there were dead spots and small mixes of just 5000lbs ( the wagon will hold 16000lbs of silage) took more than 1 hour. If we put in more than 2000lbs of straw or hay, sometimes it took well over 2 hours to cut it up as the loose material or cores just "bubbled" and any loose hay would just sit on top. I knew it had to be faster and better. It seems that where the roughage did not hang up, and if it was in the bottom 3 feet it would be chopped up, but if it got over the top of the auger, forget it. The way I assumed it should mix was for the material, no matter how full, should bubble up the middle and flow to the outside, no dead spots and flow should be circular around the tub. After months of frustration and inconsistent mixing times, I finally unhooked the second cutter as it did not seem to do a dam thing.







I scratched my head. Why is it hanging up?? I came up with the theory that maybe it wasn't pulling away from the wall. I welded and braced a plate on the outside of the bottom auger angled inward to deflect material in. I put in a straw bale revved er up and holy smokes, the auger almost threw the bale back out!! no dead spots anymore, but maybe a little aggressive. I pretty much idled the tractor for the remaining load, went back to the shop and torched off about 1/3 of the plate. loaded again, and tried er out. Not to bad, still couldn't take it over 1800RPM as it would start to throw it out. I finished the load and cut some more off. Perfect. That solved the dead spots. Now for the bubbling and flow to the outside. Supreme makes their augers with a deflector on the auger, but to me it just sends the material up, and does not send the material inward thereby pulling material away from the outside and sending it inward, after trial and error, I came up with a taller piece angled back and inward to deflect material toward the center of the auger so as it could move up the flighting to the top. It did this but also there were still inconsistencies with loose straw mixing as instead of wanting to flow outward and down the outside wall, the auger looked as if it was "pulling it down in the center and cutting it up there. Looking at the last piece of flighting on top of the center auger, instead of continuing to spiral upward, the last 2 feet had a downward twist. This I assumed was what was pulling the roughage toward the center. Out withe the torch to heat and jack the downward twist the a level twist. Improvement with mixing but still unhappy. As I was traveling through Wetaskawin I drove through the yard where they make the mixers to see igf they have changed in 13 years Eureka!!!, the last 2 feet of the auger had an upward twist. Back at home out with the torch, heat er up and jack it up another 8 inches so it is twisting up. Moved a cutting blade back to the top, (I had removed it earlier because material was getting jammed between the blade and downward twist as it was like a funnel), back out to the pit and throw in a bale. WOW 15 min to completly chop up a bale to look like it was tub ground. 30 min to 1 hour to mix a 10000lb TMR with 2500 lbs of chopped straw for cows, depending on how much I wanted to chop the straw. But material flowed good, no dead spots and complete mix. Best advice is to make sure straw is chopped before adding silage. Lastly I thought I would try hooking up the second cutter as I still would like my straw finer ground so cows do not pick through it.
Well times went from 15 min to 7 min per 1000 lb bale, I run my tractor at 1700-1800 RPM to save fuel, and I get a finer cut( 1 to 2 inches vs 3 to 5 before running the second cutter. Now I am up to 3000 lbs straw (and I don't run my bales through the bale processor like I used to anymore either) in a 10500 lb load and a load takes between 30 an 40 min. Mixing times, after chopping the straw, are pretty much as fast as you can load the remaining silage. Flow is inside out, from top to bottom, my frustrations with this machine are gone and I couldn't be happier. I am getting a cheaper ration by using straw as a filler. I know how much straw my cows are eating vs guessing when feeding it in windrows with the processor, and my feeding times are now much quicker than when I was feeding with the old "jiffy". If anyone would like, I would post pics or a video of the mixer in action. What I would like to know is did the factory put that "downward" bend in the auger or did that come from years of previous owners dropping in bales??


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## caseymcdonald (Dec 30, 2010)

I also have a Supreme 700 TMR Mixer. We just got done pulling out the planetary to go into the shop for some repairs. Ours is 1000 pto single screw without the second cutter option. We grind hay and straw as well as hay barley in it. With two 1400 lb. bales it seems to take well over 45 min. to chop and mix. I run our 130 hp. tractor at pto full pto speed. I would just feed with the precessor but I would like to be able to mix ration instead of putting it in a windrow and not mixing. I would love to see pictures of exactly what it was you did. I was having a hard time keeping up with the text.

Thank you


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## caseymcdonald (Dec 30, 2010)

Our auger is point upward I would guess that yours had gotten bent from years of dumping bales on it.


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