Friday, 29 November 2024 08:55

Safer feeding for dairy cows

Written by  Staff Reporters
A heavy-duty magnet concept allows metal objects to be safely removed from outside the tub. A heavy-duty magnet concept allows metal objects to be safely removed from outside the tub.

Cows ingesting metal objects in conserved feed is typically going to end in tears, quite often with a trip to the knacker’s yard.

Fitting a magnet to a mixer wagon auger can help extract these foreign bodies, but bring with them the task of removal, where operators must enter the mixing tub where they are exposed to sharp cutting blades. Additionally, some magnets are so powerful that they run the risk of erasing a chip in a credit card or do damage to a mobile phone. German mixer wagon manufacturer Siloking has developed a heavy-duty magnet concept that allows metal objects to be safely removed from outside the tub.

The company suggests this has made the job safer and easier, which seems to have the backing of judges at the recent Eurotier Show in Europe, who awarded the idea a silver medal.

Compared to existing solutions, the magnet is permanently secured to the base of a mixing auger, then shrouded by a stainless- steel housing.

The magnet is said to be so powerful that nails, mower blades and even tedder tines, adhere to this housing.

In operation, an integrated tool is used to slide out the housing, that when pulled away from the magnet, sees metal objects simply fall off to be collected. When used in a twice-daily feeding regime, the company recommends checking and clearing the magnet once a week.

The option can be fitted to all the firm’s trailed and self-propelled machines, costing around $4,000.

More like this

Featured

B+LNZ launches AI assistant for farmers

Beef + Lamb New Zealand has launched an AI-powered digital assistant to help farmers using the B+LNZ Knowledge Hub to create tailored answers and resources for their farming businesses.

National

Machinery & Products

JDLink Boost for NZ farms

Connectivity is widely recognised as one of the biggest challenges facing farmers, but it is now being overcome through the…

New generation Defender HD11

The all-new 2026 Can-Am Defender HD11 looks likely to raise the bar in the highly competitive side-by-side category.

» Latest Print Issues Online

Milking It

Buttery prize

OPINION: Westland Milk may have won the contract to supply butter to Costco NZ but Open Country Dairy is having…

Gene Bill rumours

OPINION: The Gene Technology Bill has divided the farming community with strong arguments on both the pros and cons of…

» Connect with Dairy News

» eNewsletter

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter