Feed Dispenser

a machine for filling feeders on livestock farms. A distinction is made between feed dispensers for cattle, which deliver all types of chopped feeds and mixtures of primary feeds and concentrates, and dispensers for hogs and poultry, which dispense all feeds, including semiliquid ones, and separate concentrates. The basic units of all types of feed dispensers are a supply bin and feed delivery conveyors.

A distinction is made between stationary and mobile dispensers. The former have a built-in connection to the feeders and dispense feeds according to a strictly determined pattern along the feeding line. The feed delivery conveyors are located inside the feeders or above them. The dispensers are usually run by electric motors. They are filled either manually or with mobile loaders. The use of stationary feed dispensers is most advantageous if the feed storages are situated next to the building where the livestock is housed. The delivery of feeds to the feeders can thus be automated.

Mobile feed dispensers do not have a fixed connection with the feeders; they can be moved within the building and can be brought to the feed storages, feed preparation areas, and the fields. There are trailed, mounted, and semimounted types. Mobile feed dispensers are general-purpose machines. In addition to their primary job—transporting and dispensing feed to feeders—they can be used for laying in silage, haylage, and other feeds and for hauling various loads. They are driven by a takeoff shaft from the tractor engine or by an electric motor.

In foreign countries with highly developed animal husbandry, stationary and mobile feed dispensers of various designs are used; they function on the same principles as those produced in the USSR.