Background
This farm in southeast Minnesota milks 1400 cows. The feed center provides feed for all mature cows and heifers. Animals are located on two separate sites as indicated in the picture below. The feed center is centrally located with plans for expansion.
General Layout
Commodity Shed/Loading Area
Dimensions of commodity shed (80 ft x 140ft or 24 m x 43 m)
=
Commodity shed layout
Side entrance from drive-over forage piles
Openings for delivery trucks to back directly into bays for quick and easy unloading of
ingredients
View of bays and mixing area
Another view of bays. Ingredients with higher inclusion rates are housed closer to mixing area
The bays holding home-grown forages are located closest to the mixer, while lower inclusion ingredients are located progressively further away. There is also one bay utilized for bag ingredient storage.
Commodity Shed Dimensions
- Forage bays are 19’ (5.8 m) wide x 30’ (9.1 m) deep by 10’ (3.1 m) tall
- Commodity bays are 15’ (4.6 m) wide x 30’ (9.1 m) deep by 10’ (3.1 m) tall
- Shed Sidewalls are 22’ (6.7 m) tall and pitched to the center
- Note the 5’ (1.5 m) high steel plate covered end walls for durability
Stationary Mixer/Truck Loading Pit
The farm uses a Supreme International 1200T vertical mixer. Bin socks are positioned to hit the center of the stationary mixer. Once feed is mixed, it travels up a 4’ (1.2 m) wide belt that is driven by a 20hp electric motor to the Roto-Mix delivery truck. Feed is discharged to the delivery truck in less than 5 minutes. The truck is parked so that the driver can exit the truck and have direct access to the stairs. This design is a non-drive through pit, requiring the truck to pull in and back out. It also has a flat approach, which is much easier on equipment than if the loading pit had a ramp.
Loading Pit Dimensions
- 47’ (14.3 m) long for truck (for reference, the delivery truck measures 36.5’ (11.1 m) long)
- 18.3’ (5.6 m) wide
- 4’ (1.2 m) deep pit with a 15” (38 cm) curb
Stationary mixer with bin socks
View of auger that carries feed from stationary mixer to delivery truck
View of truck access to stairs
Rear view of belt and delivery truck
Close up of belt that transfers TMR
20 hp electric motor that drives belt
TMR Electric Room
The room is ventilated with a side overhead door to control temperatures in the summertime. A 200 hp electric motor runs the PTO driven mixer, a 3-phase power system. The blue hydraulic pump shown runs the doors on the mixer and was added after initial installation as the 2hp pump that came with the mixer opened the doors extremely slowly.
Motor for TMR Mixer
Motor for discharge doors on TMR mixer
Overview of electrical room
PTO shaft from mixer to power room
Bin Setup
The farm has 6, 52-ton bins for dry commodity storage. Dry commodities and liquids are transferred into the commodity shed and unloaded near the back of the mixer to avoid getting hit by the loader when loading forages. These are 10” (25 cm) augers. The farm has incorporated the Easy Automation system into their feed center to further automate their feeding process. This system automatically adds correct weights from their feeding software (EZ-feed) for automated commodity loading. The program works off the TMR mixer scale head so only one ingredient can be added at a time to get accurate weights. This type of automation system can be set up to integrate with other feeding programs dependent on if the program is willing to interface. It also tracks the remaining inventory left in the bins.
Grain Handling Automation | Grain Handling Control System (easy-automation.com)
Bin setup outside of commodity shed
Inside view of commodity shed where augurs from bins come through.
Molasses tank; whey tank sits underground
Front view of mixers with augers. There is a T-splitter on the liquid manifolds
Grain Unloading System
In addition to the bin setup, the farm has a drive-over unloading pit that is augured to bins. This allows for delivery with no disruption to the feed center. Corn is dried and stored on site and can then be directed to the roller grinder to be processed and added to bins as needed through legs.
Overview of grain unloading system
Upward view of grain bin setup
Close up of auger system
Window for grain unloading system to see grain/belt moving while unloading into dump pit.
Roller Grinder
The farm has an IFA roller grinder system. This system is more costly than a hammer mill and costs around $40,000. The advantage of this system is that it produces an excellent particle size, typically less than 500 microns and generally with less deviation. There is also more throughput than a hammer mill, at processing speeds of 8 tons/hr. Roller grinders can run rollers at variable speeds versus a roller mill where rollers run at the same speed. Overall, it produces a high quality and consistent product.
Outside of grinder system
Debris collection for grinder system, which produces a cleaner grind
Inside components of grinder system
Debris removal for grinder system
Grain Particle Size Determination
Leachate Collection
This farm utilizes a very simple leachate setup. There is a holding pit at the lower corner of the silage pad. During heavy rains, the excess rainwater flows out into the buffer strip. When the holding pit is full, it is pumped out using a 7.5 hp motor.
