No Mess Feeder For Milking Parlors

No Mess feeder for milking parlors LIVESTOCK Dairy (17) 15-1-28 Feeding supplements to high-producing dairy cows is a clean and easy job with a new automatic feeder developed by one of Ohio's top dairymen who says he was tired of the dust and mess of other parlor feeders. Tim Gerber has teamed up with engineer Kent Leininger, both of Jackson Center, to manufacture and sell the dairy feeder he first developed for his own operation. "Most dairymen have been reluctant to feed cows in parlor because of the dust created. Our supplement feeder uses pelleted supplements or other `clean' feeds such as roasted beans, fat packs, stress packs, and so on," says Gerber, noting that the system can also be used to automate feeding in stanchion barns and tie stalls as well as on hog farrowing crates. And it'll also feed regular grind mix feeds Amounts fed to high producers are small since protein content of supplements is high. "In my herd, cows milking 120 lbs. per day receive 3 lbs. per milking of a 38% protein pellet with a 3% fat content. They can eat that amount quickly without slowing milking time or leaving any in the feeder," says Gerber, whose herd of 45 averages more than 22,000 lbs. per year. The Accu-Feeder consists of a flex auger which is direct-driven by an electric gear-motor, both of which mount on a 50-lb. capacity polyethylene tank. Installing the self-contained Accu-Feeder doesn't require any structural modification to the barn, unlike other in-parlor feeding sytems. You just wire the feeding units up to brains of the system, which are solid state timers contained in a single control panel. Each individual feeding station has its own control switch. Can be set up with multi-feeding periods (up to 48 per day) for tie-stalls. Sells for $152 per feeder station. Control panels start at $286. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Gerlein Concepts, 19374 Linker Road, Jackson Center, Ohio 45334 (ph 513 596-6464).

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