# Alfalfa Hay in a tree shredder ?



## Rev144 (Jan 22, 2011)

I am wondering if anyone uses a tree shredder to grind up flakes of alfalfa and stems for the goats. This way they eat it all and you dont have a big waste of stems!

If you use this method, what brand of shredder did you get? Does the system work well? do the goats eat the chopped ups stems?


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## Steve (Mar 12, 2011)

we did that with a grain grinder,mixed alfalfa with our cow feed to make it stretch farther.the grinder did it well,not sure how the shredder will work.I did put dried cornstalks in one to get them small enough to feed with my goat feed,they blew everywhere and it was a waste of time.

If you have a big screen like material you can catch it in try it and let us know how it goes.


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## GoldenSeal (Sep 14, 2010)

Interesting idea. I was thinking about getting a bale shredder but if this works is a heck of a lot cheaper than a bale shrWeser. Let us know how it works if you do it.


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## milk and honey (Oct 31, 2010)

I love it when people think "outside the box"... (I spend most of my time there, and appreciate the company) That looks like a great idea... Let us know if it works OK?


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## Randi (Apr 22, 2011)

Great idea! I tried it with a food processor. Don't do that.


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## Farmgirl675 (Oct 21, 2010)

We have done this for a long time...use it on stemmy hay, cornstalks, broccoli plants, bean plants even apples and pears and squash. The Model I have is a Troybuilt and looks alot like the one you pictured. 

We have ours mounted on a stand so it is about 8" off the ground and we tie a grain bag around the discharge to catch everything! We even run cedar boughs through it to put down in the horse stalls to help keep smell and bugs down! The goats ate the cedar!  

I also use a cement mixer to mix my grain! :greengrin:


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## peggy (Aug 11, 2010)

Funny to see this post. I was just thinking about that idea the other day when I was feeding my goats. Because we have had so much rain this year, we didn't get the hay off early so there are lots of stalky material in it. Needless to say the goats won't eat the thicker stuff and it goes to waste, so I was wondering if there was a way to cut it up so that they would eat it. Neat idea you have there!!


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## Steve (Mar 12, 2011)

well if you have a shredder and a mixer you can mix it with a little sweet feed and they should eat it right up,would be great to have a feeder to put it in too.

cement mixer, i love it!


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## Randi (Apr 22, 2011)

We use plastic rain gutters for feeders and they work great!


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