Woe is me....

My good old reliable Berg sable cleaner is at about the end of it's life. The slide shoot is rotting out , the drive unit is worn out , and the paddles on the gutter chain are starting to snap off, at the rate of one a week. Called my local Berg guy , and asked about a new cleaner . He told me that he hasn't put in a new cleaner in over 10 years , an only sells parts now. Told me he could order in every thing I would need ,but wouldn't install the cleaner. $25,000.00 price tag and I still have to put it in myself. With a forty foot slide shoot , I would have to get a crane in to put the shoot up , and lift the drive unit in place. Just sounds like way too much $$$$ to me . So I am thinking about busting out the stable floor , and making a scrape alley , and clean out with a skid steer or compact tractor.
My 40 some year old Thomas skid already scrapes out 32 stalls in the new part of the barn but I don't think I want to rely on it to clean out another 73 cows. Cleaning out 105 cows stalls 7 days per week will bring it to a quick end too.
So I went skid steer shopping. And boy did I get my eyes opened!! CNH and Kubota now only build the larger skid steers, 60 hp and up , and well over five feet wide, too big .As well the price tag was big too , in the $40,000. range. So I then looked at compact tractors, 4x4 , and in around 24-26 horse , with loader, CNH, Kubota , and Mahindra. All were right around $20,000. For an ver grown lawn tractor.
Just when did ever thing get so costly ? Not sure just what I am going to do now , maybe I can find a decent used skid steer. One thing for sure, my stable cleaner will not last long when the weather turns cold. And the cows keep the manure coming steady. And the cows will still need to be milked in this barn the whole time we have the stable cleaner torn out , floor broken up , and new floor poured. What to do , what to do ? Bruce

Can you find a used unit or two? When grain prices were high in Minnesota, many small dairies quit milking, rented out the ground at high prices, and laughed all the way to the bank.

What about a used stable cleaner? With the number of tie stall dairy barns that have been abandoned in Ontario in the past decade, I would think that there would be stable cleaners that were not wore out available. Some of the barn equipment dealers, like Embro or Avonbank might be able to give you leads.

There are two old dairy farmers brothers here in nj ,they have a barn cleaner they bought new,used it a few years, and then stopped farming,do you want me to check into what kind it is?
I know nothing about the cleaner ,but would be glad to find out about it,the brand etc,if it makes any sense,,just let me know if it might help? As far as skid steer ,I have run a New Holland for s friend of mine many years,To me they are a great machine,as much as I know.

Bruce I would dump the barn cleaner. They are high maintenance in cold weather around here. Especially with a forty foot slide chute.

As for smaller skid steer loaders. Look at Bob cat. I have owned several brands, JD , Bobcat, and Case. All in all I like the Bobcat. I like foot pedals myself. Hand controls hurt my wrists if I run one long. I despise pilot controlled ones. Some of the newer ones are pilot controlled only. So check the controls out closely. You a bigger fellow so make sure you are comfortable in what you buy.

I bought a nice Case 440 and HATED it. The lever controls pivoted at the bottom of the lever not just the top part. So I had to set there holding my knees together to operate it. So really ride and drive any you are looking at.

There are good buys right now on late models skid steer loaders. Lots of people want new ones so there are late model trade-ins around. Believe it or not a good place to look is at rental units. I avoid the long term rented ones. The ones that are daily rentals are usually used in less messy areas than long term rentals. Sunbelt is one company I have had good results with.

I would avoid the compact tractor and loader idea. They are not really designed for heavy daily use. I am not sure how they would be long term in the environment your wanting them to work it. Also they are not near as nimble as a skid steer. I think this would be an issue in a barn.

Bruce, We pulled the barn cleaner out and built a push off for a local farmer last year. We also did the concrete work for the new parlor and heifer barn. They milked for years switching cows from stall barn to free stall. I have a couple pics of the push off ramp and so far they are happy. Back in the 80's I worked for the local Jamesway dealer installing and repairing barn equipment. I know I was irritated when my barn cleaner broke the chain numerous times because the chain was wore out! The last pic is my dad and I building our freestall in 1988.

You deserve a new one from this company:

http://menschmfg.com/manure_vac.html

The Amish still use and make that style of system it's horse power the horse is hooked to the cable. They get sneaky it's deep gutters not a pit bend the rules a lot.
I tore my barn cleaner out and simply dropped the skid loader in the gutter and pushed it out. Check around bobcat is a better choice.

Bruce
Have a look on Kijiji Ontario
Ad ID 1153281628
Complete Berg stable cleaner for $1500.00
No idea if it is the same as yours but it looks pretty good in the pictures and with any luck might have all the parts you need to bring yours back to life.

Just curious. When you say CNH, did you look at Case, NH, or both? Neighbor who gets my straw has a NH, and a Bobcat. He likes the NH better.

With a 40 foot slide chute, I assume you dump onto a stacking slab, rather than into a spreader? If buying used chain, you want enough from one barn to replace all of yours...buying from two barns gives you chain that may not be worn the same, stretched the same, etc., and will wear out even new sprockets. I think new Berg/Patz links are 6 inches long....measure about 10 feet of a used chain to gauge wear. Same number of links will be longer than new chain.

There are a lot of good used skidloaders available, but try out various control systems. JD Seller likes foot controls, I like hand controls...I"ve had both...just buy what you"re comfortable with. Late model ones have both controls available in the same machine, controlled by solenoids, instead of mechanical linkages. That"s another can of worms, especially when used in a harsh environment like dairy manure.

Keep the stable cleaner and put in a pump instead of the chute. Your drive will only have to move half as much chain as now, and you can probably find enough good links for the chain you do need. No chute, everything inside, no cold weather issues, the pile outside will never have to be moved til spreading time. You can do other jobs while the cleaner is running vs operating the skid loader, which also can make the floors very slippery. As well, just walking through the barn, you are in the manure alley and always wet or dirty. Plus, once the chain and unit is done, you could still use the skid steer to push manure into the pumps pit. Either that or put up a free stall barn with alley scrapers and one or two robots....close to a million.....Ben

Ditch the barn cleaner. If you can use a skid steer, that would be a better route. What kind of barn is this in??? As mentioned below, there are many, many out there. And unlike the barn cleaner, you can sell it again if you don't want it. The barn cleaner will only sit there as a monument.

What's left on my Jamesway gutter cleaner is laying in the edge of the swamp. I don't need it with beef cattle. Just sayin.

Geeze Bruce, unfortunate time to have to reconfigure the old barn. We installed many a Jamesway barn clealer systems and familiar with the Bergs.
It will be a real hassle to knock out the old concrete and pour a new alley ways that you can clean with a skidsteer this time of year, while trying to milk the cows, but I think that is the best option. A newer bigger skidsteer can also be very useful for other farm tasks. Here on the farm the Case 1845 skid steer is the rock picker during spring planting season, plus seed pallet and fertilizer bag mover and prime wagon manoverer to place gravity wagons to the augers during corn and bean harvest times, and plow the snow from the drives in the winter.
You need to think beyound the manure handling box, for uses for a new and better skidsteer.
Loren

You have a tough decision to make for sure. If your keeping the existing barn for the foreseeable future a new cleaner for 25 000 and you let it run while doing other chores might be an awful lot cheaper than tearing out and pouring new cement replacing a skid steer adding an adding to the list of chores. Just a lot to consider? Either way would work fine but if you plan to milk in your existing barn for the next 5-10 or more years a new cleaner might be pretty convenient.

going to follow this tip , Thanks . It isn't to far from me , maybe 50 miles east
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