Missouri | My iron budget appears to be lower than most.
I have a cheap SAC 2030. It'll cover all your needs except maybe #5. I have a grinder mixer for dry commodity blends so I've never tried making feed with it.
Have fed silage and large square alfalfa. Silage and corn or wheat stubble with ddgs. Silage with second cutting clover/grass mix just unrolled off the bale. I normally do not throw the center core in on grass bales. I do run rank CRP, reeds canary, and junk first cutting stuff through an old bale processor. Everything is loaded with a skid loader. I run it on 100hp drawbar tractors, but travel some gravel hills and prefer it to be on the 150hp drawbar. The feed chute is long enough to run duals on the tractor. My knives are worn out, but I haven't felt like replacing them at ~$2,500 as I have no delusions of chasing a strict length of cut ration. The tires are normally super singles and should probably be a tread pattern like the newer big manure spreaders run to keep them rolling in mud. If your drawbar is high the rear bumper can get a little low for pasture ruts. The company who bought out SAC seems good to deal with.
I have a Kelly Ryan as backup. Even if you grind all your hay and you're perfect at layering, there's no way anyone is getting a comparable mix to what the 2030 makes. I assume the newer higher dollar machines make an even better mix. |