 “My JF twin vertical auger mixer-feeder has increased yields and cut feeding time by 30 minutes”
Says North Yorkshire dairy farmer Geoff Spence who milks over 370 cows - averaging 10,400 litres per year - at Low Field Farm near Northallerton. Geoff previously used horizontal auger mixer-feeders but wanted to change after experiencing problems with compaction. Premature knife wear and gearbox failures through bale impact also proved expensive. Following a three day evaluation, he bought a JFVM22-2 twin vertical auger diet feeder. He feeds three 22 cubic metre loads to four different groups of cattle each morning with some loads weighing up to 13 tonnes. “The JF mixes far quicker and evenly and it uses less power too. I usually have an old 125
hp IH 1255 on the front of the wagon - the tractor has 10,000 hours on the clock yet it still runs very quietly - and the wagon is very stable – no swaying from side to side like others I’ve tried before choosing the JF.”
“Mixing is quick and easy - I can mix 65 kgs for the 190 high yielding cows in one load in 15 minutes”
“Most of the time saving has come from quicker mixing” adds Geoff. “The impulse augers on the JF run faster than most at 26 rpm and the stepped flights on the auger are very effective in preventing any layering of the rations. I can mix 13 tons of 13 different ingredients in 15 minutes. There’s plenty of room in the hopper – first, I load four big Hesston straw bales and it soon chops them down with no bother at all – then in with the grass silage and whole crop silage. Sometimes I use baled silage; it chops them OK too. I’ve just had JF’s new Wireless weighing system fitted. The main terminal is fixed to my JCB Loadall windscreen and is wireless linked to the weigher on the feeder and the PC in the office. It tells me which ingredient to load, how much I’ve loaded and gives a buzz when almost ready for the next ingredient. I can load from either side and don’t need to watch the weigher screen on the wagon at all now. I can change the feed plan in the office, download to the main terminal in the loader – and just follow the data on the screen by scrolling down as I load. I used to have to look at a note pad before. There’s an extra battery operated hand terminal which goes in the feeder tractor cab – that tells me how much feed I’ve loaded in front of each group of cows. Am still getting used to the system but I can already see that I’m far more accurate with quantities loaded and quantities fed to each group.”
“ My cows eat more and milk more since I got the JF”
“I feed from both sides of the wagon at the front auger. There’s an elevator on one side for yard feeding and an outlet door on the other side for inside feeding against a barrier. The rear auger is very effective at transferring feed to the front tub. The feed is well-mixed and the texture is exactly right for the cows – well fluffed-up. They are eating more since I’ve used the JF but that’s fine because they are yielding more milk. We like to push-in the feed several times during the day because it gives an opportunity to look at the cows regularly. There is no waste – anything left over I feed to the heifers.”
“I’ve done well over 1000 loads and there’s no sign of any wear”
“What I liked about the JF was their policy of using hard-wearing special steels for the augers, tub floors and lower walls. It provides a big weight saving over mild steel which increases the load capacity. There is no sign of any wear after the first year of use; using S650 steel makes good sense and I can see it does exactly what JF says it does. The knives are lasting well too; it was costing me over £800 and a day’s difficult work – to put a set of new knives on my horizontal auger wagons. The JF has chopped over 2,000 big bales now and the tungsten coated knives are just as sharp and effective as when they were new. I’ve got the two-speed gearbox fitted so I can start up a full load in low speed then change to normal speed during feeding out. The auger gearboxes are sealed and lifetime lubricated – maintenance is easy – just greasing the tandem axles and the pto shaft each week . The hard-wearing steel in a JF does exactly what they say it does” |
