Kachana Beef saves time & money with Thomas Engineering mill system installed by uniFarm

With no on-site milling capacity, Western Australia-based feedlot beef operator, Kachana Beef, was wasting important human and machinery resources by carting its own grain to a nearby commercial miller and back to the farm’s bunkers, until uniFarm stepped in to offer an efficient alternative.

THE CHALLENGE

Kachana Beef had always relied on extensive manual labour and use of trucks, tractors and a mixer to provide their quality feed products, but they were unable to control final feed recipes, and as a result, the quality of feed could vary significantly. In some cases, a higher presence of dust would deter the cattle from consuming the necessary quantity of the delivered product to gain weight. This shortcoming in feed conversion was negatively impacting feedlot efficiency and profitability. In addition, the minimal on-farm power made it essential for any system to operate off a generator (75 KVA).

THE SOLUTION

To overcome the issue of long days spent running their own trucks to deliver feed stock for external contractors to supply the milled grain, Kachana Beef required an upgrade to an efficient, high-output, free-range feed system with limited uncleaned grain storage. At no cost to the client, uniFarm visited a number of Australian mill manufacturers to determine the ideal hardware. In the end, the decision was made to install a Thomas Engineering mill system capable of feeding up to 1200 head of beef at a time.

uniFarm designed the hardware layout and installed this quality feed milling system with an output of up to 20 TN per hour, allowing two trailer loads of raw feeds (approximately 40-56 TN) to be delivered with minimal storage and milling occurring together.

Within four days of delivery, the new system was ready for operation. The silos are now positioned alongside the bunker shed, with the operator able to bring the grain to his own silos, dump it inside and mill it himself before dropping it straight out of the mill into the bunkers.

The new system includes:

• 24” AJ Thomas Roller Mill with 600m stand
• Infeed Hopper with double magnets
• 22KW motor (3 Phase) with 2 x DOL Sensors & Electric Drive kit
• x 4”/ 6m Auger
• KW (3 phase) motor with pulleys & belts & choke
• 2 x 6” Augers / 6 & 8.5m, 2.2KW (3 phase) motor with pulleys & belts & choke
• 1 x 7” Augers / 7m
• 5.5KW (3 phase) motor with pulleys & belts & choke

RESULTS & BENEFITS

The Thomas Mill system allows Kachana Beef to minimise on-site storage and keep feed stocks fresh. And most importantly, the system had paid for itself just 12 months after installation.

“As a feedlot beef operator, I needed a high-output, money-saving solution that allowed me to purchase grain in bulk,” says Gavin Watt from Kachana Beef.

“The new system makes it far more efficient and economical to carry out this process myself rather than pay someone else to do it. I also have the flexibility to change the texture of the feed to suit different circumstances,” adds Watt.

“Labour resources that used to be allocated to transport are now directed towards revitalising farm pastures and other operating infrastructure for greater productivity.”