heavy weight of the battery pack an advantage for the ma- chine concept and we use the weight of the battery to put more weight on the drive axle, which results in more traction in the winter months, for example on snow and ice.” He ex- pects battery technology to continue to improve. Ammann believes that right now with the battery-driven electric equipment technology that’s available, electric feeding ma- chines are nicely suited for small and medium-sized dairy farms as they are cost-effective and efficient for feeding. He believes that “government grant programmes, similar to those in some European countries that support environmen- tally-friendly technologies on the farm will certainly drive the market for this technology.”
Feeding robot For automated feeding in the barn, Trioliet offers the rail-sus- pended Triomatic HP 2 300 hanging robot for situations in which there are differences in height between barns. “We have the Triomatic WP 2 300 feeding robot on wheels using a power rail if everything is quite even and a high capacity is required,” says Sales Manager Stefan Schulte. “One robot can feed up to 700 head of cattle and we can combine multiple robots in a system. We are currently building a system to feed
1400 milking cows. And finally, we have the Triomatic WB 2 300 battery-driven robot if rails are impossible (where there is low roofing or if the robot travels between barns with an im- portant driveway in between). All Triomatic robots have a 3m³ mixing tub with two vertical augers.” Schulte and his col- leagues notice that more and more farmers are interested in robotic feeding. “It’s hard to get qualified employees and also saving on labour and energy costs is getting more important,” he says. While he acknowledges that the cost of a robot feed- er is higher than that of a trailed mixer, he believes that the difficulties in finding qualified labour and the energy savings will propel the investment in robotic feeding. “Also,” Schulte adds, robot feeding can enable “dedicated feeding of all groups of animals multiple times per day, which increases feed efficiency.”
Mark Kruidhof and his family have had a T30 with WB robot since 2019 on their dairy farm (with a 150-cow milking herd) in Ommen, the Netherlands. Before they got it, they had an self-propelled feed mixer and decided to look for other feed- ing options because of diesel consumption and the time it took to feed all the animals. “We like how the Trioliet T30 is accurate in both the amount and the mixture of the feed,”
▶ ALL ABOUT FEED | Volume 28, No. 8, 2020 27
The 8 m³ Silok- ing eTruck TMR feed mixer.
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