With straw prices already rising this winter following the wet harvest, making best use of what you have will reap both economic and practical benefits.

Leicestershire dairy farmer Phil Newcombe believes he is getting both by distributing bedding straw mechanically, as he has cut straw usage by over 30% and the task takes half as long as it did when done manually. Releasing that time has helped him develop Lubcloud Dairy into a thriving business that bottles the 12,000 litres/week his herd produces and sells it via local farm shops, supermarkets, and a local produce box scheme. Phil has 120 organic dairy cows on the 300 acre Lubcloud Farm, Oaks in Charnwood, in Leicestershire’s Charnwood Forest. They calve all year round to ensure an even supply of milk for the dairy, which also produces cream and will soon expand its range to include yoghurts. With a busy business like that to run, the time saving achieved by converting from manual to mechanical spreading is as valuable as the reduction in straw usage:

“Before we bought the Spread-A-Bale we could use up to 10 round bales a day in winter. Spreading them by hand was hard work and time consuming. We have been using the mechanical spreader for four years and halved the time taken for the job”.

The Spread-A-Bale spreads straw without shredding or chopping it, and delivers it to the full width of the pen, making bedding down a quick and virtually dust-free operation.

The machine is self-loading, with the conveyor in the bottom being reversed to pull bales into the chamber off the floor or out of the stack. Once in the chamber the twine is cut and the bale spread by advancing the conveyor and powering the distribution rotors that pull the straw out and distribute it up to eight metres across the pen.

It can be mounted on any materials handler or front-end loaders and powered via its hydraulics, and detached quickly, so it does not tie up a machine.

Spreading the straw complete is a major benefit says Phil, as it lasts longer in the bed and stays cleaner:

“We use it once a week to bed down the young stock in the summer, but then every day in winter. The machine distributes the straw far better than we ever could by hand. It does not shred it, but leaves it in a nice, fluffy layer. Although there is less actual clean straw in the bed, it seems to do a better job and achieve better coverage of the pen, which I am sure is helping reduce the potential for mastitis”.

Spreading is generally completed when the cattle are out in the feed passage, although it can be done with the animals in the pen: “The first time you do it they are a bit shocked, but they soon start thinking it is fun”.

For further information please contact:

CHK PLC
Pyms Lane
Crewe
Cheshire CW1 3PJ, UK
Tel : +44 (0)270 252894

sales@chkplc.co.uk