September | 2015 | Baer Family Farm

A few pointers when operating the High Moisture Corn Silo

All three components should be operated together:
- Run the unloader whenever the conveyor is on – We want to keep the conveyor full so that when we are trying to get the right amount into a batch, it is running consistently.
- Run the dutchman (the pole with chains inside the silo) whenever the unloader is running. By doing this we don’t have a time when the unloader is running without bringing any feed out. The feed that we have now works fine with the dutchman running constantly.
- You will want to stop the unloader a second before stopping the conveyor
- The dutchman can be stopped last – it is okay if it runs for a few seconds after stopping the unloader.
Scales remote reception – the scales remote gets best reception when the door of the breaker box is at a 90 degree position from the panel.
Always close the silo door on the bottom of the unloader. The doors should not be left open for any length of time. While it is okay to leave it loose between loads, it should never be open after feeding is completed for the day.

First implementation of feed tables in Delpro.

Two tables: Normal, Challenge
Challenge table is setup to feed at a rate based on 10lb higher milk production
Challenge table has minimum of 8lb – don’t want fresh cows to ever have less than 8lb
Normal table has a minimum of 3lb – don’t want any cow to ever have less than 3lb to keep her coming to the robot and having enough to eat to keep her calm
Heifers are on challenge table from 21 DIM to 90 DIM and Normal table from 91 DIM on
Cows are on challenge table from 21 DIM to 70 DIM and Normal table from 71 DIM on
Both groups are started with 4lbs at calving, and increased to 10lb by 10DIM

Feed Table from Nate Keifer:

Baer Family Farm – Dairy Operations