Coming into summer, it’s important to think about feed for livestock. Good nutrition is essential for livestock all year round, but particularly in hot weather. Heat can reduce livestock’s appetite and less feed generally means less production. On top of this, heat can change the way livestock like cows process and use nutrients.
To substitute lack of grazing opportunities, hay and silage is used to feed livestock. The easiest way to distribute this hay and silage is with feed out carts.
Carts allow for the mechanical distribution of feed, and increase rotation ability. Bale feeders are built to handle hay and baled silage and make it easy to deliver feed in open pastures, bunkers and troughs. Feeders enable you to continually move the location from which you feed cattle, sheep and horses and takes out a lot of the manual labour involved in feeding.
Some of the best feeders on the market are our Champion Feeders. They’re Australian-made round bale feeders, holding up to 6 round bales that load from the rear - making it one of the only machines of its kind in the world.
There are two styles of Champion Feeder, each made for feeding out hay and silage. Here’s some more information about their features.
Champion Feeder features:
A strong, robust design built to withstand Australian conditions.
User friendly and straightforward maintenance.
Rippers that travel over the top of the chassis to reduce component damage.
High ground clearance to make movement and cleaning easy.
Cutting-edge, quality design and manufacturing techniques.
Simple chain adjustment for ease of use.
A versatile loading system featuring collapsable forks for safety.
An independent tandem rocker system in-built.
Two size options, either 6 bale carrier or 4 bale carrier.
You can see the full features of our Champion Feeders here.
High Sided Champion Feeder features:
Made for hay, silage, and pit silage feed out.
Made for big round bales but can do square bales as well.
A road light kit for easy transport and movability.
All the same great features of the Champion Feeder detailed above.
And optional extras, including diverter valve for rear lift machine, hydraulic brakes, and Avery Wireless Tronix 3 Point scale kit 15 tonne with Libra Express Bluetooth.
Take a look at the full features of the High Sided Champion Feeder here.
If you’re not familiar with livestock feed, then all this talk of hay and silage may be confusing. So, what are hay and silage and what’s the difference between them?
The difference between hay and silage
Both hay and silage are popular supplement feeds for livestock when they are unable to graze. But despite expected similarities, they are actually quite different and offer different feed qualities.
Hay: Hay is grass that is cut, dried and stored in bales to use as animal fodder. Because hay is dried, it has a much lower moisture content than silage, at around 12%. Despite being used regularly as feed, hay is actually very hard for animals to digest.
Silage: Silage is also cut grass, but it is then compacted, fermented and stored in a silo before used as food without being dried. The moisture content of silage is between 40-60%. Unlike hay, silage is easier to digest and offers more nutritional value.
Why choose WMI Feeders?
We pride ourselves on producing the highest quality range of feeders for Australian farmers and agriculturalists. Our capabilities allow us to manufacture our own feeders here in Australia and utilise modern technology in the design of our machines. This sets us apart from our competitors.
Our Champion Feeders for instance are industry leading machines that are built specifically to be hard working and efficient feeds for Australian farmers.
We listen to our customers and utilise feedback from farmers for the design and production of new machines. This helps us truly cater to the needs of Australian farmers and various farming operations.
A testament to the quality of our machines is that the first machine we made is still going strong after 17 years in operation. Farm machinery should be made for longevity, without that, it’s not good value for money for farmers. All machinery also needs to be built tough for the harsh farming conditions, particularly those found in all parts of Australia. It is for this reason that we use simple designs and ensure quality welding. We always encourage customers to compare the quality and price of our machines with competitors.
If you’re looking for a WMI Feeder, you can find our quality machines sold by dealers throughout Victoria, South Australia, New South Wales, Western Australia and Tasmania. For a full list of locations, check out our dealers page on the website.
We hope this article has helped answer your questions about our Champion Feeders and other livestock feeding queries. If you have any questions about our machines, you can get in touch with our team here.
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