Using a Feed Mixer/Grinder for mulch/compost

[r8f1k]

Ok, I know this is not the typical use for a feed mixer, but I was wondering if I could grind 20-21 winter manure, aged wood chips, chicken bedding, sawdust, compost, OLD hay and straw. I have 2000 apple trees and a few thousand raspberry plants. Every spring, we are adding mulch to the bottom of all the trees and berries. Mixing the compost, old hay, bedding, etc is a challenge, then driving it out one skid steer scoop at a time, is a pain in the a**. My thought was to get an old PTO powered feed mixer/grinder, put in my contents, mix a large batch and drive down the rows using the unloading auger to disperse the mulch. Any thoughts? I assume that whatever goes into the mixer, needs to be pretty dry. Anyone do something like this?

 

[matthies]

A feed wagon would be better, greenhouse I worked at had a used Kelly Ryan wagon that worked good and would hold more and would be able to fill with a loader. Maybe this is what you mean, with a grinder/mixer you have to run it through a 6 inch auger or through the hammer mill and would think it would bunch up and not feed out.

 

[r8f1k]

Do you think that a hammer mill would not grind up the wood chips, manure, etc? I figure, if it is small enough and dry, it will feed through the auger. I also want the mulch mixed well. I want to see if I can help fertilize with what manure I have along with compost, chips, bedding and saw dust. I have access to TONS of sawdust and old hay.

 

[SVcummins]

I ground a lot of compost with a hay buster tub chopper it was pretty tough stuff lots of wood and some rocks big chunks of 2x4 up to two feet long and that thing would just turn it to powder

 

[SVcummins]

Wood clips not compost .

 

[paul]

I ground ear corn through a big screen. It took a lot of power, feed slow. Kernel corn and oats fed through nice.

Hay, even just adding a flake, was miserable, wouldn’t hammer through well at all.

I don’t think it will work well with farm quality mixer mills. I don’t want to be a wet blanket, but I just don’t see it working.

Maybe a big hay buster round bale grinder would have more umph and ruggedness? And there are industrial grinders that would, but not in the price range you want to be at.

A horizontal or better a vertical feed mix wagon as mentioned would have a better chance than a mix mill. I really haven’t been around them, but those vertical mixers chop up whole round bales well, they have some ruggedness to them.

 

[SVcummins]

I told two lies we were grinding wood chips if you could call a mix of 2x4 and rocks with a few wood chips added for bedding on a dairy and we used a roto grind chopper it worked well

 

[ss55]

Creekside ran their compost products through a tub grinder. The hammer-mill portion should still work well. However, if the material is wet enough to compost properly, it is probably way too wet to flow through the bottom cone of most livestock feed grinder-mixers. Cleaning out a mixer tank full of wet moldy and maybe frozen compost would not be a fun job. Can you bypass or remove the mixer tank?

 

[showcrop]

If you go looking at mixer wagons be aware that the feed is pretty abrasive and that parts including the sidewalls get worn thin and need to be replaced periodically.

 

[JK-NY]

Are you talking about a grinder/mixer, used to grind ear corn, oats or other grain and add some minerals and end up with a dry feed for livestock. I don’t think that would work well with damp ingredients. If you are referring to a mixer wagon which one would add silage to and mix it into a TMR feed for cows, that would probably work out for you. You wouldn’t be grinding your mixture but the ingredients you listed would probably mix up well without grinding. A mixer wagon would discharge the mix a lot better than any grinder/ mixer could as they discharge by an auger and are meant for dry grain .

 

[rrlund]

No way. The mixer would rust away and become a part of the earth again before you'd ever get the first load out of it. The only one that MIGHT work if God was completely on your side would be a John Deere 700 or 750 with a flat bottom mixer, but even then I think it'd be a total failure. Any of the other ones with a cone mixer would just become a load of dead weight.

 

[r8f1k]

Sounds like a feed wagon is the best bet. I see there are 2 kinds, one with an auger on the floor only for unloading and one with three augers, two for mixing, one for unloading. The mixing part is important to me so I make sure I have an even mix going across all rows. Single auger wagons are by far the cheaper option, so could I run the wagon and simply aim the auger back into the wagon, run it for a while and ‘mix’ it that way? Or is that a waste of fuel?

 

[rrlund]

You might be OK with a 3 auger, but I wouldn't try a single auger, even with that shaft with paddles above it. I've destroyed two of those running long stem stuff or things that were too dry in to them. I put a little bit of second cutting dry alfalfa out of the feed alley in one and tried to run it in to the bunk. It wrapped around the auger, lifted it up, bent the sheet metal in the front, pushed it out and smashed the bearing block. We managed to finally get the sprocket off and fixed it.

I bought a nicer one, had chopped some hay that was a little dryer than it should have been, covered it up then loaded a bucket full of it in with some corn silage. A big wad of the dry stuff went on to the bottom auger and the same thing happened. Idler sprockets and everything went flying that time. That one's sitting out in the boneyard. It'll never get fixed or used a again.

 

[ss55]

If no stones or metal are in the mix, an old forage harvester (silage chopper) should work better (think big wood chipper). A self unloading silage wagon might bee too wide and too heavy for your distribution needs, but a feed wagon idea might fit into smaller places.

 

[r8f1k]

I’m leaning towards a Kelly Ryan feed wagon, anyone know of one close to Kenosha Wi? I have a 25ft Cardinal elevator and I was thinking I could load the wagon, feed the material into the elevator and dump it right back into the wagon to mix. Thoughts?

 

[showcrop]

(quoted from post at 07:00:16 01/18/21) I m leaning towards a Kelly Ryan feed wagon, anyone know of one close to Kenosha Wi? I have a 25ft Cardinal elevator and I was thinking I could load the wagon, feed the material into the elevator and dump it right back into the wagon to mix. Thoughts?

Does the auger work in a "U" configuration?

 

[caterpillar guy]

As a;ready siad your looking for a tub grinder for your job. They are neither cheap nor plentiful. They take a lot of power too. The ones I've seen grinding mulch out og tree limbs ,2x4s and the such had 3-500 horse on them. It came out like haylage in the pile it was dumped into. It just went in and came out the side ready to bag. Don't know if they had to start the process then after it got to the size they wanted it they could just keep adding as it came out or if they had to batch run it.
I am curiuos though do you ever have to add lime to the mix for PH or do you just spread some on separately over the top. Wood rotting and other organic matter will cause acidity in the soil. It also needs Nitrogen to rot it.