PTO Straw Blowers

[Stephen in SoKY]

Anyone have any opinions about brands/features/etc? I wondered if a hammermill without a screen could be fashioned for a blower? Maybe pick up a grinder mixer with a shot tank, torch the tank off, put a hose on? Crazy idea????

 

[Stephen in SoKY]

Or, what about a silage blower? I don't need distance, I'm thinking of covering strawberries.

 

[phillip d]

some in this area use bale blusters,but they are pretty pricey,15 000 new for a Jiffy that will handle round bales.

 

[greenbeanman in Kansas]

If you use the link below you will be taken to a company that sells equipment for market gardeners.

Go to the page, online catalog, and straw mulchers to see the items.

Here is another site, not sure about the cost since it uses an air cooled engine.
http://www.emeraldseedandsupply.com/equipment/strawmulchers_kincaid.html

There are bunk feeders that take material from round bales and send it out a chute.

Sounds like you are on the right track for homemade and affordable.
Market Farm Equipment

 

[Stephen in SoKY]

I drool over that MFI site occasionally. There's just no way I'll ever spend that kind of money. I've farmed for years, but never really been around a silage blower. Would that be a better start than a G/M?

 

[sammydwm]

Find yourself an old chopper with a hay head. One with manual controls for the spout would work nicely.
You can sometimes find an old New Holland 717 for a song at auctions..
I picked up a nice old Gehl 400 cheap and use it to chop straw for bedding the animals. Built a little chute and feed right into the feedrolls.

A blower isn't going to do much to chop up your straw but it will blow it around. If your slabs are pressed tight or if they were put up moist there may be a problem getting the stuff to spread nicely, you could end up just blowing big clods of straw around.

 

[RickL]

goosen? makes them had a small 3 pt unit sold last month worked fine for doing yards etc for mulch seeding. shoukld be able to find used unit in 1500.00 range

 

[ncdiesel48]

We had a Goosen straw chopper pto driven it was awesome. It would shoot straw 1-150 ft with 75 horse International. You could find one reasonably priced.