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Feeding and laying livestock can be a time-consuming task, but entries in this year's invention contest show that there are many ways to speed up the process.

See also: Tips for buying a used bathtub feeder

Irish Declan Parke, senior mechanical manager at Almarai Dairy Farms in Saudi Arabia, developed a feed trailer to reduce the burden of manually feeding 10,000 calves-a job that requires four people and eight hours a day.

The construction of Mr. Parke's feed trailer starts with the main frame and axles, which are paired with the wheels of the feeder. On this basis, he established two garbage bins, each of which can hold up to 1,200 kg of each ration ingredient-calf starter and hay mixture.

Each hopper has its own 2.4m long and 130mm diameter hydraulically driven auger, which is used to move a part of the feed into the front trough. Here, a horizontal front auger mixes it before unloading.

After some experiments, Mr. Parke also decided to add a stirring rod driven by another hydraulic motor to break any bridges in the main hopper.

Weighing scales are installed in the corners of the trash bin, and they communicate with a pair of control screens in the tractor, so the operator knows exactly how much is being dropped. The plexiglass windows also provide some visibility into each bin.

An area behind the trailer is used to collect feed left over from the previous day to help monitor consumption levels.

After six months of production, it works every day in a large dairy factory.

Livestock farmer Matt Ford designed a towable solar mobile feeder to help his 200 calves get a fair share of the cake while grazing on permanent pastures with poor quality.

The design revolves around an ATL outdoor feeder mounted on a height-adjustable flatbed trailer. When the animal enters, the feeder uses an electronic identification tag scanner to place the correct size part into one of the eight feeding troughs. The extra tray forms a wall to prevent cows from turning around and others trying to enter.

Mr. Ford’s initial setup was to install a small solar panel to power the battery, but he found that running a motor and an antenna for identifying ear tags on each feeder station was not enough.

A larger panel and a second battery were added to increase the power reserve and keep the system working 24 hours a day. When he moved the trailer to the fresh grass every morning, he was able to check whether it was still working. Unfortunately, the data connection is not strong enough to change the feed ration at home.

The cost of the low-load trailer was approximately £2,000, and the feeder system allowed Mr. Ford to return £7,000. Panels and other accessories are mainly purchased from eBay, and the total build volume is just over £10,000.

Alan Hughes in Shropshire designed a height-adjustable worm feeder for pigs, sheep and cattle to prevent badgers from stealing food and possibly spreading tuberculosis.

The height is determined by the position of the telescopic legs and can be set anywhere between 60 cm (the minimum required for badger protection) and 120 cm in the cow mode. It can also be equipped with a folding creep door.

The front edge of the feeding trough has a simple roller designed to prevent badgers from reaching the trough. The hopper can hold 500-700 kg of feed, and the feed speed is changed by the feed slider at the bottom. The lower tray tooth groove makes it easy to move.

Mr. Hughes plans to start selling this feeder to farmers later this year.

Tired of being kicked and hit by noisy cows, John Green decided to develop a feeding device that would allow him to release larvae from a safe location in the tractor cab and watch the carnage.

The hopper distributes the cow rolls through a 50 cm long screw conveyor driven by a low-speed hydraulic motor. The feed output is controlled by the tractor's forward speed and engine speed. These speeds determine the amount of oil flowing to the motor. The use of hydraulics instead of pto drives also means that it can run on front-end loaders.

It has a capacity of 100 kg, and it also has a bracket that can be adapted to the side feeding trough.

Glyn Jones, a farmer in Pembrokeshire, cleverly used the old towed foraging auger and adjusted it to push up along the feed barrier and mix the silage.

The first task was to replace half of the propellers on the 1.5m wide New Holland 717 Super auger in order to push the material to the right side of the machine-instead of concentrating it to the center as it was originally the case when it was installed in foraging On board. The blade at the bottom can scrape off any debris that is missing from the screw conveyor.

It is mounted on a JCB 403 loader with a European type bracket, which provides a hydraulic source for a single hydraulic motor, which in turn connects the chain drive to the auger.

All in all, including foragers, the construction cost is about £4,000.

Katy Alvis, a farmer in Somerset County, made a straw feeder out of a blue drum. It sits on a door, so it will not be thrown around by unruly animals, it can hold straw for about a week, and it can feed two calves when it crosses the gate that divides the fence.

Her other simple invention involves cutting a side from a 25-liter bucket and adding a section of water pipe so that she can put a roll of blue paper inside to keep it dry and protect it from curious cows. She hung the container on the gate within the reach of the artificial insemination competition.

She also turned two 25-liter buckets into cake feeders and placed them on the door away from the floor and dirt. A simple wooden bracket on the top holds them together and provides extra strength.

Feeding when the ground was too wet for the tractor inspired Paul Yates to build a round bale transporter that he could tow behind his Kawasaki Mule UTV.

It is made of scrap metal from his farm, including scaffolding pipes, nets, and fenders for old balers. The spring locking pin that releases the bracket to support the end of the straw bale is clipped from the trailer he already owns.

The only expense is a kit of approximately £60, including the stub axle, wheels and hooks. He believes that the most difficult part of the job is getting the correct weight balance on the towbar to ensure smooth driving. 

David Boyd, a farmer in County Londonderry, built a smart lunch box for the front of his John Deere loader tractor to speed up cattle feeding.

The galvanized 1-ton hopper has a European-style bracket for the loader and a guard around the discharge chute to secure the bucket and prevent the food from being blown by gusts of wind. He said it is better than using a wheelbarrow.

To speed up the process of filling the pheasant feed bag, Laura Dunford and her father Nick modified an extra grain bucket and installed a 39-pound chute that allows them to drip through the central door Material. 

A simple rod hook attachment welded to the scraper arm in the yard allows Brian Scott to pick up a ring feeder so he can scrape off the remaining grass without having to get another one tractor.

Robert Smith, a farmer in Cambridgeshire, built a feeder installed on an ATV to spin chaff and corn tails into sprout covers, woods, and trails.

The machine has a 60 kg hopper and is discharged via a screw conveyor that winds the contents on the distribution plate at the back. The auger is driven by an electric motor, and there is a switch on the quadrilateral handlebar for engaging and disengaging drive.

Mr. Smith also added a variable speed controller to the auger, which can adjust the speed indefinitely, up to 12 kg/min.

Bruce Eddy designed a simple automatic feeder for small farmers who need to feed some animals when they are away.

The tool is essentially a trough with compartments that allows the user to put in two separate feed portions at a time-the second set can be released up to 12 hours after the first set.

It uses a manual, dial-adjustable timer for setting. When the prescribed feeding time is reached, this triggers the flap at the bottom of the compartment to drop and let the feed fall in.

No electronic equipment is involved, which means that the feeder can be placed anywhere. It has been thoroughly tested and has been sent for galvanizing.

Peter Sharland's calf feeding business requires about 300 tons of straw a year, so in order to reduce his workload and make the litter go further, he decided to purchase a straw spreader for his skid steer loader.

When he couldn't find a suitable machine, he built the machine himself. The tool has a simple frame with a hydraulic lifting rear, which is equipped with a pair of spreading rotors. The rotor is powered by two hydraulic motors, which rotate counterclockwise to distribute the straws.

It can spread square and round bales. Mr. Sharland installed a diverter on the headstock to switch between spreading and lifting the rear of the frame for easy loading.

Richard Leighfield used an old cart and planter to make a small compartment lime spreader. It is powered by quad bike batteries and can hold 25 kilograms of lime bags, enough to hold 120 compartments.

In order to achieve your goals, you need the right tools to do the job. If what you need does not exist, simply invent it. We share this spirit and use it to make Ineos Grenadier. An uncompromising 4×4, designed to support those who need it most.

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