Can’t find a feed that meets your requirements? Hoping to reduce your feed bill? Want to start mixing your own animal feed? The first step is selecting a feed grinder so your animals can efficiently digest the grains. Here are two of the grinders we use to prepare feed on our homestead.
AMA Feed Grinder from Tractor Supply
From eBay: https://ebay.us/5Wdvym
This is based on a hammer mill design like is typically used on farms. However, it has one blade instead of multiple hammers. The great part about this grinder is how it can reduce the dust typically associated with feed grinding. All the feed & dust is captured inside the sealed plastic barrel. This is really handy when you need to grind feed in the barn. It does tend to pulverize the feed rather than crack it even on the largest setting but that hasn’t been a problem for our animals.
Pro: It is a lot less dusty than your average grinder. It also won’t ruin grinding plates if it runs out of feed. You can fill the hopper and use an outlet timer to turn it off when it is done. It is easy to maintain and repair.
Con: It isn’t very fast. It is a basic hammer mill design and if it is used heavily it will need parts like the grinding blade replaced. It doesn’t really have a cracked corn setting. It tends to pulverize the feed even on the largest setting.
Flour Grinder from eBay
This is more of a traditional grinder and my family uses one of them to grind a coarse flour for bread. You can easily adjust it so that it just cracks the feed without turning it to flour. It is harder to get replacement parts for this grinder. The grinding plates will eventually need to be replaced and I did find a source for them. There are cheaper versions of this grinder on eBay but they didn’t have the on/off switch. Definitely get the one with the switch as shown in the link above.
Pro: This grinder is quite fast for the hobby farmer. It can be set to just crack the feed or to grind into a coarse flour.
Con: If used heavily you will need to regularly grease the adjustment ball. It is hard to find replacement parts. You will eventually just purchase a new grinder and use the old one for replacement parts. Don’t wander off while grinding the feed. If you forget or it runs out of feed for too long it could damage the grinding plates or the ball bearing.
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