Cattle feeding with the Feedo feeding belt

Farm report of the Tyrolean Feichtner family - From tie stall to loose housing plus.

Daniel and Elisabeth Feichtner ran a dairy farm with 25 cows, which was converted from tethered housing to a loose housing system with up to 44 cows in 2022 with a new loose housing system. The new barn was to be particularly animal-friendly and, in addition to the classic side run (located on the east side), also provide a south-side run for the cows. This meant driving into the barn with the tractor and feed mixer was no longer possible. Currently, the barn is occupied by 33 cows and young cattle, and the number of cows will be increased with the help of the farm's own offspring. At the same time, Daniel Feichtner had already successfully implemented a sophisticated feed strategy with three different silage cuts, which he was determined to maintain. "So it was clear to us", Daniel Feichtner explained, "that we needed a stationary feed mixer with a feed belt". This had to mix well and quickly while maintaining the structure of the roughage and not grinding everything up. The Feichtner family found the right solution at Schauer Agrotronic with the Strautmann fodder mixer wagon and the Feedo feed belt.

The old barn still serves as a feed store for the hay, grass and maize silage. The old indoor crane is used to fill the feed mixing wagon with grass silage and hay. The maize silage is pushed into the mixing wagon manually, also conveniently from above. A radio remote control allows the stationary mixer to be started and stopped. A scale display helps to always have the correct quantities in view. The mixing trolley is filled and the mixed rations are distributed once a day. "This saves working time and has proven its worth," Daniel Feichtner emphasises. With the feed table, which is only 1.6 m wide, the cows always have the feed in front of their noses and cannot push it away. This means that there is no need to refeed during the day. The feed is eaten up, except for a small amount of residue. When the feed belt is retracted and rewound, the leftover feed is pushed to the side and presented to the dry stallholders - so no feed is wasted.

As soon as the distribution process is started after the mixing process of the daily ration, Daniel Feichtner uses the remote control and the Feedo control to control the stationary feed blender and the opening slide on the blender. With the Feedo control, all functions can be controlled automatically via the single start function. With only half an hour's work per day, all the feeding for the dairy barn is done. In the old barn, this took three to four times as long and involved strenuous physical work. The Feichtner family is particularly pleased with this reduction in workload. With the installation of the feed belt, the barn building could be built about 3 m narrower, saving considerable construction costs. The Feedo feeding belt was thus really a cost-effective key investment in the construction of the new dairy barn, emphasises Daniel Feichtner. 

The Feichtner family also relied on the experience of their consultant Michael Riepler and the high quality of Schauer Agrotronic's barn equipment. The CompidentCow concentrate station complements the sophisticated feed strategy. With the update of the milk yield control data, the individual, performance-dependent concentrate feed for the cows can be specified conveniently and without significant work via the computer. 

A particular highlight is the new - extremely quiet - Top Safe Vario plus feed fence. It enables the setting of a flexible feeding place width and the fixing of the rung in the open position. This means there is no disturbing noise due to the constant opening and closing of the feeding fence. The maximum open position allows distressed animals to leave the feeding fence without danger.

One might think that the conversion from a tie stall to a loose housing system would not be a big deal. However, the example of the Feichtner family in Tyrol shows that every farm has its own individual requirements that need to be taken into account in the project planning and implementation. The Schauer Agrotronic team is pleased to be able to support the Feichtner family as a partner for their barn construction project and wish them every success and pleasure with their new dairy barn with the Feedo feed conveyor with a stationary mixer for mechanical feed delivery!

In short, a great project for an efficient and cost-efficient cattle feeding

Feedo feeding belt from SCHAUER:

• Cost-effective and all-day forage presentation
• Minimum labour input and maximum time saving
• Easy to fill using an indoor crane, stationary mixer, loading wagon or mobile feed mixer
• Available in sizes from 60 to 210 cm, individually adapted to your operation
• Infinitely variable speed thanks to frequency control
• Convenient operation during filling by radio remote control

If you have any questions or are interested in our dairy barn, please do not hesitate to contact us