Floater Tire Makes Cheap Pellet Feeder

Floater Tire Makes Cheap Pellet Feeder LIVESTOCK Feeding Equipment 26-1-44 Miles Belsheim, Marwayne, Alberta, put together a low-cost program that makes his cow-calf operation profitable despite the weather and a lack of homegrown feeds on his cattle land, which was carved out of the bush of northern Canada by his grandfather in 1909. The mainstay of Belsheim's cattle ration is pellets he has made specifically for his operation by a Wilke, Saskatchewan, pelleting company. Besides specifying the protein content and TDN of the pellets, Belsheim wants pellets that won't crumble easily because all his cattle are fed on the ground. Pellets are fed with a homemade pellet feeder made from a 4 ft.-wide floater tire. To make the feeder, Belsheim cut two solid circles from a sheet of 3/16-in. plate steel and mounted them in the tire in place of a wheel. In the center of the circles, he cut holes, ran a length of pipe through them and welded it in place to make an axle. This stabilizes the tire so it will hold pellets and allows him to pick it up with the big round bale handler/unroller mounted on the back of his 1-ton pickup. He cut a 7-in. square hole in the tread of the floater tire, through which he loads the tire with pellets from a hopper bottom bin. When he gets to the pasture, he lowers the tire to the ground and drives. On every revolution it drops a pile of pellets on the ground, spaced about 15 ft. apart. Belsheim says if you drive at a consistent speed, every pile of pellets is about the same, although they do get a little smaller as the tire empties. The tire holds about a ton of pellets. Belsheim says it takes about 5 minutes to roll them out. "If you drive too fast, it splashes the pellets out and if you go too slow, it makes a bigger pile and pellets may get stomped and wasted," he says. In addition to pellets, Belsheim's cattle also get wheat or barley bales. Belsheim winters about 500 head of cattle with his pellet-straw ration. Belsheim won't take credit for the idea behind his tire pellet feeder. "Several people around here have similar feeders. This is my second one and I've made some for others. You can buy a similar feeder made of steel for about $1,000. I used scrap steel and a used tire and made mine for about $35," he says. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Miles Belsheim, Marwayne, Alberta, Canada T0B 2X0 (ph 780 847-2236; fax 780 847-3134).

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