At Bower Brook Farm, Eardisley, Tony focusses on producing a range of forages for his 220 beef cattle. Each season, he aims to produce over 2,000 tonnes of silage comprising grass, whole crop barley and maize. The goal is to achieve heifer dead weights of around 320kg and 370kg for steers, all within a 10 to 12-month time frame.

When the time came to replace its worn-out horizontal machine, Tony looked at the different options available and settled on a Kverneland Siloking twin auger machine from the TrailedLine 4.0 series, supplied by local dealer TH White of Hereford.

“We wanted more capacity and better performance, but in a simple and straightforward package,” he says. “Overall width was important, as was a single axle design, to retain a high degree of manoeuvrability so we could just swing straight round at the end of every feed passage.”

Specification for the 16 cubic metre capacity Premium 1814 model includes unloading doors on the off-side front and nearside rear. The TrailedLine 4.0 Premium also carries Silonox hardened steel on high-pressure wear points around door edges, tub risers, and floor plates in the door area, while a four-pinion planetary gearbox is part of the specification and is capable of handling high torque loads.

“There’s no doubt we’ve shortened mixing times with the Siloking machine,” he says. “Having two vertical augers does move the ration around the tub with ease, and it mixes very quickly. As soon as the last ingredient has been added, we can drive to the sheds and feed out – there’s no waiting needed, which reduces the risk of over-mixing.”

“With this machine, we’re creating a lighter, fluffier ration that is no longer being sifted and sorted at the feed barriers, so it’s being eaten pretty quickly,” adds Tony.