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Verti-Mix Double Farmer Report - B & M.J Richards, Court Farm, Gastard, Wiltshire

Paul Richards farms 650 acres based around Court Farm, Gastard, Corsham, Wiltshire. The business runs 300 dairy cows supplying Dairy Crest, yield average is 8800lt, butterfat 3.9%, protein 3.25 and calving index 380.

In 2006 their paddle type machine had reached the end of its life and they set about finding a replacement. One of the main criteria was to find a machine capable of handling long fibrous material, the objective being to make more efficient use of silage bales for the young stock & incorporate straw into the dairy diet.

After some thought Paul decided to go down the tub mixer root believing they offered the best solution in terms of bales, size and performance. A number of different tubs were tried before they settled on the Strautmann twin tub VM2000 PLUS. I asked Paul why he chose Strautmann “Compactness and build strength. The front cross conveyor suited our trough system well with the rear central door giving us flexibility to move silage from one farm to another”. Horse power requirement was also crucial as they didn’t want to start looking for a new tractor. The independent auger drive line solution maintains a lower power requirement which ensured the old faithful 2wd 90hp Case managed the job.

Dairy cows are fed twice a day to keep the fodder fresh and trough clean, a typical mix is:
2600 kg grass silage, 2.6T maize silage, 1/2bale oat straw, 690kg protein blend, 12g minerals, 6kg yeast, 25kg bicarb, 185kg molasses & 850kg of brewers grains totalling 7 tonnes per mix.
The younger cattle get a combination of straw, bale silage & citrus pulp.

Verti-Mix Single Farmer Report - Drumalbin, Carmichael, Biggar, Lanarkshire.

John runs a 540 acre mixed farm at Carmichael, Nr Biggar, Lanarkshire. The arable side of the business consists of 200 acres of cereals split equally between winter and spring sowing. Cattle run at a total of 560 head, 200 cows with followers (3/4 Limosin Cross and Belgian Blue Cross) and 200 beef.

In 2003 the decision was taken to replace the old JF feed box. The farm needed a simpler method of feeding that improved cattle feed conversion, allowed better use of home grown cereals and enabled a variety of other feeds to be used.

Dairy Event 2003 provided the perfect shop window, however, buildings limited choice. Barrel mixers were ruled out on the basis of size and chop length. There are a number of feed troughs on the farm, the main restriction is a dead end passage 2.35m (7’8”) wide with an entrance height of 2.65m (8’8”). Only three machines were able to cope with the flexibility required, of these Strautmann got top marks on mix, build quality and horsepower requirement. On the back of these results a Strautmann VM900 was bought with front cross conveyor and additional rear “Danish” feeding doors.

I ask John what immediate benefits they have had from the system change “The cattle are night and day different they seem quieter and more contented” Birth to death live weight gain is now running at 1.2kg/day killing at 17 months, 2 months earlier than before.

Fat mix: 800kg barley, 90kg blend, 50g/head yeast, 40kg straw, minerals 8kg, topped up with grass silage (26%DM) totalling 4 Tonnes.
Cow Mix: 60 kg barley, 80kg molasses, 100kg straw, 10kg minerals, topped up with grass silage (26%DM) totalling 4.3 Tonnes

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