Wetmore hammer Mill

[anderson farms]

So we dug out an old hammer mill that has been sitting out beside a barn for over 20 years. It is rusted out on the bottom but I think it can be saved. I believe it is a Wetmore Clipper hammer mill. It has one screen in it with holes about 3/4 of an inch in it. Im not sure what size the screen is for. My son who is 13 wants to use it to grind feed for his feeder pigs and grind hay for his goats and lambs. Does anyone have the screens they could give us dimensions on so we could fabricate some? Also what size HP tractor does it take to power this mill? We have a Massey 1726 compact tractor. It will be a fun project to get this up and running again. Oh and does anyone know what color these were? Some kind of orange I know but would Allis orange work?

 

[Highwayman]

I had a neighbor who had one that never left the silo.
To get it ready every year hed go to town and buy a roll of duck tape. I have no idea what it had for a screen in it.
As far as horsepower it liked it as it dictated capacity.
Funny story one year a friend was picking his corn said that the guy came to the field and said theres something wrong with the wetmore.... it sounds funny and as soon as you put any corn in it it kills the tractor. They both went to investigate further. When they got there and tried it. Turns out that the tractor on it was a Same 95 that had a shift lever to change PTO speeds when you change the shaft. They had put the 540 shaft on but left the lever in 1000. When they figured out the problem they all scattered for safety. What kept that thing from flying apart no one knows. They must be well built. One tim the elevator chain broke and fed into it. Was a blessing in disguise because he started using a short augur instead to feed it. Worked mush better.

 

[Highwayman]

Reading your post again I dont think a compact tractor will run it. Also thinking about it I doubt that it even had a screen in.

 

[Bruce from Can.]

I have a Wetmore hammer mill. I used mine to make chop to feed heifers. It was set up to run small grain like Oats , Barley or corn. You could put a bit of hay though it but I only had a small screen and hay had to be fed slowly. My mill used to be lagged down to the floor of a old bank barn, right outside the grain bins, and I could run the grain into it with a 4 inch auger. The mill was powered by my W4 McCormack IH tractors belt pulley. So my mill ran by a flat belt, not pto. And it took about all the power my W4 had. I think the W4 was right around a 30hp farm tractor. Mine was a 1953 model. There are several short line manufacturing companies that will make/sell new screens for old hammer mills

 

[Aaron SEIA]

I had a Wetmore for a while. I used old grinder mixer screens and cut them down to fit to get different sizes. In reality, the big screen seemed to do just fine for corn or hay. My boys Allis Chalmers C with 28 horse on the dyno ran it. Did ok with corn, but you had to be VERY careful with hay. The D17 was a lot better on it in hay. You had to break down each flake of a small square and feed it rather slowly.
AaronSEIA

 

[DeltaSteve]

That 3/4 screen will be just fine for craching corn for hog feed. Any finer and you will end up with flour.Your small tractor will turn it,but you will need to feed it slow till you get a feel for how much your tractor will take.I used to turn mine with an M farmall,running at about half throttle.The faster you spin it.the finer grind you will get.BtW,Be sure to have plenty of duct tape on hand.

 

[RickB]

Thats hilarious . I could tell the exact same story about a guy I used to pick corn for. He had to use feed bags to plug the rust holes and he had a 105 hp Same though! What a howl that Wetmore made at 1000 rpm.

 

[rrlund]

Does it have a PTO drive on it? If not, you'll need a tractor with a belt pulley.

 

[anderson farms]

Thanks guys. It is pto and is on a carriage. My little tractor is 25 hp I was hoping to find a little dilly model or the one in between I think its the glutton. I will probably still try and patch her up and see if we can get it going if nothing else to try and save it from the junk man. We were going to use it for hog feed and if I could find a smaller screen chicken feed. Chopping hay for the goats and lambs would be a bonus. Maybe I need another tractor?

 

[Aaron SEIA]

It'll grind corn fine enough for chickens with the 3/4 screen. I'm not sure why you want to grind hay for the goats and sheep. They'll eat it off the bale just fine.
AaronSEIA

 

[Farmallb]

I have a wetmore. Paid $10 for it. It does grain fine. Dont remember what screen it has in it. I chop a bale of hay up a year and use it when planting plants in my garden, I chop up a bale of alfalfa. I dont think chopping hay would be good for animals due to the amount of fine dust it creates that I think would possibly be bad for them if they injested it.

 

[Aaron SEIA]

I've ground some hay for older horses. Their teeth go bad and they can't chew up the bigger stuff. They love ground hay and it buys them a few more years of life. The dust doesn't seem to be an issue.
AaronSEIA