COVER STORY
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amazing graze Ireland’s own Abbey Machinery offers single and twin auger vertical mixers that can handle heavy feed loads reliably and with minimal maintenance
The reason we use a fluted auger is that, in Australia, we traditionally use much lighter crops, so we use straw rather than silage and grain silage.
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ocally, one of the major positives of 2020 has been the breaking of a long-standing drought in parts of Queensland and New South Wales. The dry conditions had knock-on effects on total grain production and saw sales of hay balers increase strongly, as demand for fodder rose across the country. Russell Dalziel, the Australian business development manager for agricultural equipment importer Farmgard, says the same is true of mixer wagons, which experienced a surge in popularity at that time. “During the drought a lot of people were buying in feed, but then to get the best out of the feed they were mixing it up with other additives to get the best out of their animals – to give their animals the best chances of survival and growth,” he says. Dalziel adds that farmers wanting to feed their livestock – either taking on complete responsibility or supplementing available foods – should consult an animal nutritionist to ensure they were supplying the right things. “Mixers give them a mix of the right foods, proteins, fibres, etc. to get the best growth results,” he says. “There are guys who mix all sorts of things within the mixer. The base is obviously stray, hay and silage, but they will mix grains, they will mix molasses – all sorts of things like that.” Farmgard Pty Ltd, based in Truganina, Victoria, has imported feed mixers from Ireland’s Abbey Machinery range for about
15 years to both Australia and New Zealand. But, Dalziel says, in Australia the imports were previously done through a third party distribution arrangement in New South Wales. “But now we have expanded the operation to do it ourselves – and our target is to provide feeding solutions to all Australian farmers in every state and territory as required,” he says. Established by the Cavanagh family in 1947 and based in County Tipperary, Abbey Machinery is Ireland’s oldest agricultural machinery manufacturer – also producing slurry and muck handling and grassland management equipment. Its range of feed mixers is extensive – from single auger units with a 7 cubic metre capacity, to the 33 cubic metre capacity Tri-Auger VF3350. While all models are available for order in Australia, Dalziel says Farmgard targets two sizes of machines to maximise container space, thus reducing freight costs, which are in turn are handed on to the customer. These sizes include the single auger VF 1250 – with a capacity of 12 cubic metres – and a twin auger unit with a 20 cubic metre capacity, although a rubber extension takes it to 24 cubic metres. The two twin auger machines are available with either a front or side door discharge and a single or tandem axle, and all come standard with a fluted auger with 15mm auger flighting, which Dalziel says allows better distribution and mixing of the crop.
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19/11/2020 1:11:20 PM
