@SchillingFamilyFarms I have used to to bed pens in our feedlot and works well. this machine doesn't like to turn while the hammer mill is engaged. it makes the U joints hammer. if you shut it down and start it up every time you go into a pen it likes to plug the chute too. This machine would do well as a bunk feeder, or for lots of bedding at one time. it will do 5 times the work of a bale processer in the same amount of time. It's a GREAT machine for the money, and easy on the tractor too
So a follow up question....Does the PTO shaft line up enough to grind decent when you drive in a straight line I have 2 Hoop Barns 300 Ft long I would be driving straight down that barn bedding would that work?
Haven't found a good reason to remove it yet. the grinder chops it up, the cows eat it up! We remove the net from any bales we unroll on the ground for the cows.
what engine rpm do you run at. just bought one. would like to know what I need to do to have it grind as fast as you are. any adjustments I'm not doing right
John I'm sorry I missed your post, Probably too late now, but when I had the grinder I ran it wide open. You want as much speed as you can get to keep the hammers extended and have minimal "rock back" when you get into tough hay... That's what wears out your hammer pins.
You can figure about 1-1.5 dollars for fuel and oil depending on what you're grinding. The rest of it is just figuring the cost of the grinder and tractor against what a custom grinder would be. I figured we were spending around 10 to $12,000 per year with a custom grinder, and it took us about 3 years to pay off the tub grinder and tractor. Now if you own a high-horsepower tractor and you only have to buy the grinder you'll be paying it off much quicker. maintenance costs on the grinder are next to nothing I may have had a few hundred dollars worth of parts in it in 3 years
Found your Roto Grind videos tonight on here while researching them. I live in western Nebraska and am looking at one for doing round bales of grass and big squares of alfalfa. Since this video is 5 years old, what do you think of the Roto Grind now? Still like it? I don't want a bale processor and only have a 4450 for power on it. It looks like I have enough power. Have you had much maintence on it?
Glad you found the videos! First off I'll tell you I sold the grinder in about 2013 with around 3 years of use on it. The machine I would say was marvelous, and I'd still be using it today. What happened for us was we were chasing efficiency. We have a small feedlot, and it made more sense for us to go to a processor with on board grain tank than it did to keep and maintain the grinder, and the feed truck. We are all strictly dryland out here, no silage to be found, some years not even hay. For an operation with silage, I can completely see the need to stay with a grinder/feedtruck setup, but it just was more expense than we needed. The rotogrind in those three years ground somewhere in the neighborhood of 4,000 round bales- near 3000 tons. I had flipped the hammers 3 times (they can be flipped 4) and would put in new hammer pins annually. Not a real fun job, but not terrible. Cost to operate in terms of repairs were next to nothing, just keeping the hammer mill maintained. The tractor I used had plenty of pep, and in grass hay would push through around 15 bales per hr, alfalfa nearer 25/hr. We had alot of mixed hay, and I saw on average with the 150 hp tractor around 17-20 bales per hr. Tractor would use about 10 gallons per hour. savings on the customer grinder paid for the grinder and tractor in those 3 years... Not to mention the convenience of being able to grind when I wanted to, not when the custom job could fit me in. Always hated getting a bunch of hay ground before a storm, but hated to not have enough on hand in case the custom grinder couldn't get in for a couple weeks. lots of spoilage. The processor we've been very happy with. Minimal maintenance costs, hay is fresher than ground hay since it's being ground and distributed the same day. Only downside is you can't mix two different types of hay together, or feed combinations of different grains, pellet, ect. For us, it's a great fit, but not for everyone. I'd never hesitate to recommend the rotogrind to anyone who is looking for a haygrinder. Minimal cost, reliable, very few moving parts. if you have more questions, feel free to ask! I did a short video on the comparison between the processor and tmr mixer... wantto do something more in depth sometime soon. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Vyr9FauQXUM.html
DieselFume1 Thank you so much for answering me in depth. I raise sheep and it's all confined. Ewe/lamb and feed out lambs. Right now I do everything in bale feeders and my waste is astronomical. I'm looking for less waste. My manure mountain is 75% hay. Aggravating! My problem is also that I work full time so everything is before work and after. I don't have time to feed twice a day or even once a day, every single day. I like the idea of grinding and using self feeders. There is no self feeder that will feed whole bales off the ground either. Been there, done that, doesn't work. I don't need to feed grain so I think I'd be alright to fill the feeders with the Roto Grind because of that cool spout and call it good. I have two big feeders and would only fill them every 3 days. Might work. Any way, sorry to ramble. I really appreciate your info. It's a great help!
