Flail chopping. Logical solution for our small farm going forward?
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- Опубліковано 16 вер 2024
- As we head into late summer and fall here on the farm, we start another seasonal, every other day operation we do. GREEN CHOPPING... I explain how and why it is part of our farm operation. Discuss the equipment used to make green chop and how we currently feed it to our cattle, as well as how we have fed it out in the past. I then put the equipment to work to feed the cattle the next round of chop, then finally talk about the future of "green chop" on the farm.
We are a small 40 acre direct-to-consumer livestock farm located in Western NY. We provide pasture raised beef, pork, chicken & eggs to our local community. We practice sustainable land practices that utilize natural methods to keep our soils/pastures healthy and our animals happy.
I am the 2nd generation to live on this piece of property after my parents purchased it in 1978. As a child we were not a working farm. But there were dairy farms surrounding us. So naturally I was hooked with farming since I saw my first tractor. As time went on, I worked for a couple of these farms and that only fueled my love of agriculture. In 2019 I was able to move back home as my parents were ready to downsize and I was ready to try my hand at farming. Stacy and logan share the same love of farming as I do. Stacy growing up on her family's dairy farm and logans exposure of farming/tractors at a very young age. Join us on this journey and see where the farm life takes us.
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You said our New Holland 460 tractor. Lol I know you meant International Farmall 460
Nice work great job explaining the pros and cons found that very informative
Growing up we green chopped as the primary feed for 50 cow herd. Feeder wagon was 6x20. Build/buy as narrow and long as the running gear allows. Cows can reach the center that way.
Thanks for the advice. I appreciate it from someone who has been there done that before. that did cross my mind to build it narrow enough so the cows could reach the center of it from either side. Thanks for watching the video.
Great video good to see ya
Thanks for sharing. Interesting, did not see flail grass choppers like this around the farms i grew up on. Farmers around here all had a "combined" grass chopper with a trailer built directly on it. The trailer had a chain floor, so you could easily unload it at the barn to feed the cows. The chopping blades were each around 2-3 inches wide and bent forward, and not sideways like on your chopper, so the blades would pick up the cut grass and throw it up thru a wide chute direcly in the trailer part.
They got mostly replaced over the years when tractors with front 3-point hitches and front PTO got more popular around here, as farmers would just buy a disc mower or sickle bar mower to attach to the front 3-point of the tractor and use a loading trailer with pickup head in the back to get the fresh cut grass home in one run. The front attached mowers were usually a lot wider than what the sickle mower trailers could cut, and you could drive faster. So it was quite a bit faster to get the same amount of grass cut. I guess that made more sense, as these same machines would be used to cut grass for hay and bring the dry hay home into the barn as well.
Excellent explanation vid!💪🏻
Really enjoyed it. Would love to run one of those once. Good video Matt
I used to do the same think for my milk cows . Usually third crop grass mostly clover and Timothy and orchard grass. Cows loved it then we would green chop corn for them while filling silo. Great memories, my older brother who is in his late 70s and his son are still at it in nw Pennsylvania. I asked him when he was going to retire and he more or less told me never. He has no interest in leisure time or travel so he will die farming. He won't be the first. Im glad our father was able to retire at 56 and lived to 84 so he at least was able to enjoy the fruits of his labor so my mother and him enjoyed traveling and warm winters here in Florida until their deaths. I guess its not for everyone. Enjoyed your videos bring back memories.
Glad you enjoyed the video. Lol ya, I misspoke what I said New Holland 460. I didn't even catch it when I edited the video. 🤣 I usually chop third cutting here as well (the 10 acre hay field) when its ready. That was the field I originally started with when I started green chop. But now that I have the 5 acre field rate behind the barn that hay, I will chop that field because it's simply closer to everything. Less time traveling to and from.
I green chop everyday for heifer and 50 dairy cows. Works good
Mornin
Here in south Florida grazing is year round. As you mentioned cattle graze unevenly and often left areas untouched which would eventually grow into bushes and trees. The way to keep pastures productive was to mow and there was a setup for picking up the cut material. It was like a sweeper brush with a blower and a bag in a cage.
Thank you for watching the video. Thats cool. Never have seen or heard of a set up like that. Would you have to mow the field first then run back over it with the sweeper or could you do both at the same time?
@@Cobbhillfarms Generally you would mow first especially in hard to reach areas where you would have to back the tractor in to. Cattle always seemed to leave patches of grass along fences and in some parts of the field and if shrubs came up they would avoid them altogether. The farmer here had an ATV with a rake attached he would use to gather up from field edges and along trees then hook up the blower and the bag was placed on a hay wagon. This was in 1985 when I was working in the summer and I think the machine was Sperry Rand.
Hopfully. You're able to film fixing the wagon . I have to fix a wagon with the same problem . Lol 🤪
Ya its on the list to fix this week. lol.
you deffo need to sort out trailer with sides to stop waste you need to spread manure compost tea etc to replace nutreunts you are taking,build soil web,bio mass its a circle,not just take take take,permaculture works❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
I asked Greg Judy if he could have every single blade of grass be run through his cattle and return to the soil as manure, or some of if be trampled into the ground, he said he would rather have some trampled into the ground.
It's not about having every single blade of grass ran through the cattle as its more about pasture management. Even with green chop there is some percentage of waste from the cattle. So what they do waste ends up back into the soil eventually as composted manure on those fields when either barn yards are cleaned up or when it's fed out in pastures and degrades back into the soil naturally. I feel that both methods (grazing and flail chopping) are beneficial to both the cattle and the soil.
G day from Ontario Y es big advantage is all grass gets cut, Manure gets spread all over.
Disadv price of fuel up here l.50/litre X 4.54
Ths
Why dont you use the gravity wagon?
The gravity wagons all have feed in them. You got me thinking though. Only concern would be how the green chop would flow out the side door.
@@Cobbhillfarms pitchfork maybe
Very good explanation of and for chopping Matt. Im assuming parts for the New Holland are still readily available? Thanks for sharing. Take care👍
Thanks. To be honest I'm not sure if parts are still available or not. I haven't had to get anything for it yet. But I'm assuming they still are.
Ironically the new tech flail chopper by it takes 2 processes instead of one when we flail chopped.
How many cows you have