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The Rural Voice, 1998-05, Page 42Silo Unloader Technology Takes a Giant Leap Fon‘ard! The Silo Unloader Experts BIG JIM ua ntu rn -SYSTEM SIMPLY THE BEST! You know tower silos are the best way to store feed. Now Jamesway® gives you the best way to fill and feed fast, with great reliability. Plus, you get: • Better Feed Quality • More Feed Storage • A Clean Chute The all-new industrial -design Big Jim QUANTUM System can be installed in any type of 20' to 30' forage silo ... conventional or oxygen limited. And since it requires little maintenance and has no doors to change, you eliminate trips up and down the silo. CALL US TODAY FOR A VIDEO AND BROCHURE. Itill <, JAMESWAY LYNN LOWRY FARM SYSTEMS LTD. R.R. 1, Kincardine, Ont. 519-395-2615 Wingham Area (John) 519-357-2018 We Handle Everything (Almost) LEASE 1T TODAY WITH ONE PAYMENT DOWN! B.J. BEAR GRAIN CO. LTD. B.J. BEAR GRAIN CO. LTD. WET BREWERS GRAIN • An excellent source of By -Pass PROTEIN • Available in Full or Split Load Quantities OTHER FEED INGREDIENTS AVAILABLE For further information on These and Other Feeds Contact: B.J. BEAR GRAIN CO. LTD. 25 Industrial Drive, Unit 7B, ELMIRA, ONTARIO N3B 3K3 1-519-669-1750 38 THE RURAL VOICE include TMR, they felt they'd rather do without the barn if it meant doing without TMR. They installed an electrically - powered round bale chopper — perhaps the only one in western Ontario — saving the necessity of getting a larger tractor to power the chopper. The electrical power also let them place the machine right in the feed room, which is an old bunk silo on the side of the old barn. The bale chopper can easily be fed through Targe doors that allow the tractor to bring in bales from outside storage. Once chopped, the hay goes to a conveyor and into the mixer. They use a TMR cart to take the feed from the mixer to the feeders in front of the cattle. The old square baler has been sold. Now they never handle the forage by hand from the field to the cow. They use both round cured hay and baleage as well as corn silage. Besides the cost saving of enlarging their tie -stall operation, there were lifestyle considerations. "We like the way a row of cows look," Jocelyn says. "We like to work with the cows. We're not particularly interested in doing a lot of cashcropping or field work." "And we like to be able to treat them (the cows) as individuals," Ken adds. "The whole philosophy of free stalls is that the cows are treated as groups whereas we like to treat our cows as individuals." They're happy now with the new barn but it was surprising how long it took to develop the new routine needed to manage the barn, Jocelyn says. "The first few months we wondered 'what the heck have we done', but it's got a quite a bit better now." Two people do the milking and it takes two to two -and -a -half hours to complete the morning milking and two hours at night, barring interruptions. It's about the same time they spent with fewer cows in the old barn. They need any time that can be saved because of their heavy committment to off -farm volunteer activities. Jocelyn is the partner who's most busy off the farm these days. She's a leader of a girls' group at the church,