Stihl Launches BT140, Its First Battery-Powered Auger
With battery tools becoming more widespread and more importantly, productive and reliable, it was only time before we saw augers or post-hole borers.
Like many other farm machinery manufacturers, in its early days it produced many simple implements like forage choppers, before eventually producing a diet feeder in 1978. Called Solomix, the machine laid claim at the time of being the world’s first vertical mixer.
Today the company offers a full range of mixers and feeding equipment, ranging from silage cutters to selfpropelled diet feeders, but with a major focus on its trailed machines, available in single, twin and triple augers variants and in capacity from 3.5m3 up to 46m, some with a rear self-loading option.
Offering flexibility as a core principle of its designs, alongside a wide choice of discharge options, each machine has an extended choice specifications and options, which customers can tailor to suit the needs of their livestock and the farm environment.
Looking at the machines in more detail, heavy gauge 20mm steel is used for the tub floor, with 8mm material used to form the walls, while the mixing augers use Hardox steel to protect their leading edges and are complemented by adjustable knives.
Twin and triple auger versions incorporate mixing wedges that are claimed to give a more consistent mix, with the patented EDS (Exact Dosing System) discharge ensuring a fast and even forage discharge at the widest point of the machine.
Options include the ability of feeding to either side for flexibility, with simultaneous discharge to both sides if required. A wide range of additional discharge door options are also available, as are unloading conveyors or elevators, with magnetic detection to remove any metallic objects.
A further option is the V-Connect mixer control system that allows the operator to easily monitor both auger speed and total revolutions, in addition to displaying and controlling mixer time, in doing so, consistently producing accurate homogenous mixes.
A special feature, claimed to be unique to BvL, is the availability of bespoke special coatings and hardened components for use with compact rations, or for more abrasive, higher dry matter rations, making this option particularly suited for beef cattle rations and large dairy herds.
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