Which Live Floor Should You Choose for Your Silage Wagon?

Published 31st August 2017
Combi CM/CX/RX

When choosing a silage wagon or combi feeder, one of the decisions you’ll make is which type of rear floor is best suited to your farming application and feeds. One of the first questions that come up is… 

Which options are there to choose from?

There are 3 types to choose from:

  • The conventional chain and bar floor
  • Hydraulic ram operated pusher blade
  • Chain operated pusher blade

Chainless-vs-Chain-Rear-Floor.jpg

Pros & Cons of each option

When it comes to Silage Wagons or Combi Feeders the chain and bar floor option is the most common choice, however recently Hustler introduced the PR Series which has some benefits which appeal to farmers who heavily rely on beet or crops grown on stony ground. Here are the pros and cons of each floor option:

Chain & Bar Floor

Hydraulic Cylinder Powered Pusher Blade

Chain Powered Pusher Blade

PROS: 

  • Load can be reversed if cross floor or elevator is overloaded
  • Loads can be ejected out the rear of the machine
  • More control of feeding 

PROS: 

  • Less moving parts, means less maintenance and less to go wrong
  • Ideal mostly feeding root-crops, less chance of beet getting caught in bars or chain

PROS:

CONS:

  • More moving parts to maintain

 

CONS:

  • Can’t eject the load out the rear of the machine
  • When feeding grass silage, load can be compressed and overload drives with no way to reverse the load

CONS:

  • High maintenance chain drives
  • More stress on chains and drives to move weight compared to a Chain & Bar floor
  • Can’t eject the load out the rear of the machine
  • When feeding grass silage the load can be compressed and overload drives with no way to reverse the load
 

Hustler’s Unique Comby PR series

Unique to Hustler is the PR Series Comby feedout wagons, which can handle any type of bale, silage or forage crop, but it is designed specifically for farmers who rely heavily on fodder or sugar beet as a supplementary feeder, with its unique hydraulic cylinder powered rear pusher blade that moves the load like an ejector type dump truck rather than the conventional chain set up. This reduces any possibility of breakdown and simplifies the body design. 

Take a look at the Comby PR Series in action

 

Comby PR Feeding out a load of Fodder beet-2.jpg