While knives are a common feature on auger type mixer feeders, they are not usually fitted to paddle mixers like the Keenan Easi-Feeder. But knives are useful when the ration to be mixed includes a fair amount of straw or when using big bales of un-chopped silage or root crops such as fodder beet
Keenan’s complete diet mixer, the Easi-Feeder, has built its reputation on the fact that as a paddle machine it handles material particularly gently and that it has, up until now, not needed knives. But all this is changing. Chopping knives are now available on these machines as an option.
The reason is simple. More farmers wish to increase the dry matter content of their rations, and with this comes a need for a mixer that can incorporate hay or straw. If it is cut short enough, the amount of material that can be added in this way can be quite high. The addition of knives helps so not only chop straw, silage and hay but also root crops.
We went to see one of the first of these new chopping feeders in Denmark. The 11.5m3 machine has been working on Math Van De Water’s farm in Tistrup, for the past year. This 115 model fits in between the more popular 100 and 140 models and was developed specifically for working in tight feeding passages. Nevertheless the knife system its uses works in exactly the same way as on the other models.
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