Schouten Quickfeed silage wagon

By: Ian Harwood

Date: 05.10.2010

The Shouten Quickfeed silage wagon provides another cost-effective option in New Zealand’s range of mixer wagons

Schouten Quickfeed silage wagon

Can be driven by a small tractor
Robust construction
Thorough mixing
Handles bales easily
Can be customized to suit requirements

Mixer wagons allow the mixing of different feeds for a balanced diet, and prevent stock from picking highly palatable feed from less desirable feed such as straw.

They can be used to provide a balanced diet during seasonal feed shortages or for lifting production.

While they differ in design, they all require a lot of horsepower to drive, are very heavy and can be fairly expensive. And, the amount of horsepower required means a lot of farmers have to upgrade their tractors.

The arrival of Schouten Machines from the Netherlands provides a more cost-effective alternative. The Schouten doesn’t require high horsepower to drive and is competitively priced.

The Schouten mixer wagons have high speed PTO-driven horizontal augers fitted with razor sharp knives to chop baled feed, mixing the feed as it passes through the augers.

Glenavy dairy farmer Gert Van’t Klooster says the Schouten 15m3 mixer is ideal on his 1100-cow farm.

Loading and feeding

For the test we fed a mix of grass silage, PKE, brewer’s grain and potato waste, which is loaded in layers into the machine starting with the silage in first, PKE in next, with the wetter brewer’s grain and potato waste on top.

A tractor is not needed during loading with the Schouten – ideal if the farm only has one tractor.

When loading is complete a guard is lowered over the top auger to prevent material being thrown out as the high speed augers are very aggressive.

Feeding the load is easy with the 850mm wide hydraulically driven conveyor able to throw feed about two metres either side of the machine.

The mix

I was surprised at the finished product. The mix appeared very even, with any whole spuds chopped up well.

An advantage of loading in layers means the wagon can be loaded for the night-time feed after the morning feed has been done, as the unmixed feed does not deteriorate.

Key features

One of the things I like about this mixer is the simple design.

Unlike most mixers there are no big heavy gearboxes with the augers driven by a single right angle box and chains. Both chain drives to the augers are self-tensioning and have oilers fitted.

The floor is hydraulically driven with a reduction gearbox, however it does not appear to have a relief valve in the system, something you would expect.

The mixer is fitted with a three-point weighing system and the test machine had a wireless monitor in the loader tractor. Also fitted is a hydraulic jack to make hooking up easy and 65mm square nylon rail to protect the sides when loading.

The test machine had 500/70x17 tyres on a single axle making it ideal for turning on concrete, and the wide tyres also give good floatation on paddocks. The narrow wheel track may mean it is easy to roll with a full load.

Options

As the machines are purchased direct from the manufacturer, customers can have their mixer specified to suit their requirements. Delivery is around the 10-week mark.

The mixers can be set up to feed either forwards or to the rear depending on customer requirements and come in various sizes with single or tandem axles.

An interesting option is the additive hopper, which is mounted slightly forward and above of the augers.

Additives are mixed by an auger in the base of the hopper and then metered into the feed as it is mixed by the high speed augers.

Conclusion

The mixer has a relatively simple design, is well built and can be driven by an 80-100hp tractor. The machine’s ability to handle bales easily puts it at an advantage to some of the more expensive machines.

Specifications

Mixer type Horizontal
Cubic capacity 15m³
No of augers Two
Axle Single/tandem
Drive 540 PTO
Power required 60-120hp
Length 7.1m
Height 2.59m
Width 2.15m
Weight 3500kg