Straw Bedding Simplified. Chopper Rebuild.

This video is about rebuilding a very old Teagle 5050 straw chopper to run behind my vintage Massey Ferguson 135. The chopper was a wreck but with a little TLC and a simple modification will it be a success...
Spreading straw bedding by hand is a time consuming job carried out on most livestock farms daily during the winter months. Dry bedded sheep sheds are particularly difficult to keep bedded correctly during lambing time.
I also touch on the importance of a fresh bed every day.
It raises a few concerns but are they really a problem....
I hope you enjoy the video and if you do, please gives us a like and click the subscribe button and bell for future content.
Feel free to drop me a comment and also if you have any questions or suggestions....
Thanks for watching,
David.

[@lindaarmstrongjackman9788]

I admire how skilled you are at repairing machinery. 👍👍 Good results with the chopper. Wishing good weather for you. 😁

[@sheepschool365]

Thank you very much!

[@m.m.6300]

So impressed! Love your videos and look forward to every single one. I’m not a sheep farmer but I really respect people that see the value in fixing up old machines and put them to good use! 👍🏼👏🏻

[@sheepschool365]

Thank you so much!

[@robertmcdermott241]

Waste not want not great work Keep them coming Beautiful old tractor keep her lit

[@sheepschool365]

Thank you Robert!

[@padowado]

Great workmanship on chopper...thanks for sharing Patrick in County Meath 👏 👍 😂

[@sheepschool365]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@johnlydon533]

Great job 👍🏼👍🏼. Enjoyed Watching

[@sheepschool365]

Thank you 👍

[@kayestafford5214]

Very nice care of the sheep and recycling the chopper

[@salmonhunter7414]

The chopper works great. Saves time and bedding.

[@sheepschool365]

It's a great machine 👌

[@marks7502]

great editing and direction, and acting

[@sheepschool365]

Thank you, glad you enjoyed it 👌

[@ktm594]

I have to say I enjoyed this video. You're handy. 135 sounds well. Nice engine

[@sheepschool365]

Thank you. Glad lad you enjoyed..👍

[@ronaldlucas5360]

Interesting. You do very well at welding and making things work.

[@matthew-gn4qd]

brilliant fabrication and repair, it seems to do the job well.

[@sheepschool365]

Thanks you 👍 It's a great machine and really saves on the bedding.

[@petermchugh6253]

Really enjoyed your video again, you made a great job of that straw bedder, brought it back to life, looking forward to your next video.

[@sheepschool365]

Thanks Peter 👍

[@azamyahmad]

Welcome back Sir .. absolutely another beautiful great upload .. thanks for sharing .. Merci beaucoup

[@sheepschool365]

Thank you for your kind comments as always 👌

[@andeemillicent9405]

Wow! You’re amazing! You did that flawlessly, what a great job 👏

[@sheepschool365]

Thank you so much!!

[@Hillfarmlamb]

Great machine for the job nice refurbishment job 👍👍

[@sheepschool365]

Thank you 👍

[@garymadden2656]

Great video David hi that is a handy piece of kit nice work 👌

[@sheepschool365]

Thanks Gary. It's a powerful machine for the bedding...

[@calvinhannon3417]

Make more videos please love watching them but feels like a month waiting for each 1 when it's only a week 😆 keep up the good work

[@sheepschool365]

Thank you. Aiming for weekly video but the lambing is relentless 😁

[@aidandonaghy8853]

Put a little ram on the spout an pipe it up to tractor great job 👏

[@sheepschool365]

Definitely be a great job but don't have a spare spool valve at the minute... maybe when I upgrade the 135

[@patrickmurphy6847]

Some man for one man keep them coming

[@tommaheady5230]

Lovely good on the new shoot. Good stuff sir ✌️

[@islandrockfarm6835]

Great videos David continued success with them James

[@sheepschool365]

Thank you James 👌

[@islandrockfarm6835]

That’s a great idea David for feeding your sheep with the digger very handy

[@patricksbonner1980]

Top work. I am the same always fixing stuff. Hard to beat having a good mig welder 👍

[@sheepschool365]

Thank you. Never be short on something to fix around a farm!

[@chrisastley7923]

Get your self an A frame hooking up is a doddle 👍

[@sheepschool365]

Good man, thanks for that 👌

[@chewder]

Get a A frame on the 135 I'm sure you could make one then stick a female on your link box I have a piece of strap hanging off the linkage so I can lift trailers on to the pin hitch If I had pick up hitch I wouldn't be able to use A frame because of the T bar

[@salmonhunter7414]

That is what most farmers do. Make it work for little money.

[@sheepschool365]

Unfortunately we don't have much choice. Especially sheep farmers ...

[@tommurphy7499]

Really enjoying your videos from Nebraska, USA! Trying to get my shed ready for lambing in a couple weeks but I also work better under pressure! A lot of joint ill comes from the navel (it’s like a straw sucking up everything from the environment) but yes definitely cleaner environment the better! Good luck my friend.

[@sheepschool365]

Thank you Tom. Good luck with your lambing 👌

[@mloshaughnessy]

Brilliant video, looking at the very same project

[@sheepschool365]

Good luck with your project...👌 Chopper is a super job for bedding and cuts time to less than half.

[@johnsheahan7914]

Great video as always keep up the great work and videos I am new to your channel

[@sheepschool365]

Thank you and welcome to the channel!

[@tc6573]

Could make a gate / door for the back. I think it is just a cross bar design. Good job getting her going!

[@sheepschool365]

Something simple would leave it safer and it is inclined to throw bits out the back when bale is nearly gone..

[@thomasjones3946]

Great one just found your channel 👍👍

[@sheepschool365]

Thanks and welcome to the channel 👌

[@dof674]

Some man, you’re very handy with your ideas, just as well I suppose with the amount of ewes you have!!! 😅

[@sheepschool365]

Glad you like them!

[@ChucPhuongBinh2023]

❤❤❤❤very good

[@mourne]

just subscibed. great channel. i farm pedigree simmentals in county down

[@sheepschool365]

Welcome to the channel! Thank you...

[@emmettmccabe1796]

Very good videos learn something ever one 😁👌🏻

[@sheepschool365]

Thank you. Glad you find them useful..👌

[@justinmeegan2328]

Just a quick tip shorten the arm on the tractor might speed up the flow of shuf coming out ,love the videos

[@sheepschool365]

Thanks for the tip. I will give it a go 👌

[@kieranmccarthy6734]

Great job David- loving the videos.Wish I wS as handy as yourself! Obviously stones are rare in straw near you. Mind your hands though with the spout!unfortunately spares don't come with the kit! Great breed of ewes you have there. Keep the videos rolleyn 😂

[@sheepschool365]

Thank you. Glad you like them!

[@wendyrowland7787]

You did an amazing job on the chopper but I am not sure that the flying straw with all the airborn moulds is good for the lung health of man or beast, and perhaps get eye infections.I know the fleeces are currently of little value and the hair follicles are designed to push out debris but I wouldn’t want to keep loading them up. We had to buy in big bales of barley straw. It wasn’t difficult to peel off wads and throw them into the pens. The sheep got a bit of occupational therapy rootling through it and soon spread it around. I know you didn’t want to go down the slatted route but in Ireland where straw is scarce, I would have taken that option. You can always fill it in later for alternative use. If I had my time over, I would have chosen slats.

[@sheepschool365]

Thanks Wendy. I have a little more eye trouble this year but thankfully rough bales are gone. Will probably buy round bales of straw for next year..

[@wendyrowland7787]

@@sheepschool365 do watch out for the spores getting into your lungs, I had a huge issue having contracted aspergillosis. Haylage was a good thing but even the best straw gave me problems.

[@kevinstrachan4442]

Great stuff! Just started lambing my 120 Llyne cross ewes today outside, beltex x texel is better than pure texel tups in my opinion, texel tups on young sheep was a nightmare last year even with a careful ration. Good luck!

[@wendyrowland7787]

Better to use a tup on young ewes that will give you R grades with no trouble or mortality such as a Lleyn or Charrollais. The Texel breeders are taking no account of the broad heads just as long as the bums are broad and too many come out of the side. No feeding regime will alter the size of the heads or getting stuck at the hips.

[@sheepschool365]

If you're unlucky to buy a very hard lambing ram it can soon break your spirit, especially in your outdoor job.. Best of luck with the lambing. Hopefully the weather is with you!

[@sheepschool365]

Definitely agree with Wendy there!

[@amedcom]

Thanks David for the nice video and excellent work/ skills. Didn't you get more wool picking with straw covered sheep? Please keep up the good work 👏.

[@sheepschool365]

Thank you! Not worried about the wool as unfortunately it's practically worthless here in Ireland.

[@amedcom]

@@sheepschool365 Sorry if I didn't convey the message. I meant straw on sheep will enhance the bad habit of wool picking/ eating among the sheep 🐑.

[@paulthompson8467]

Great video you made an excellent job on the chopper the shorter length of the bedding would be great for the lambing pens 👍

[@sheepschool365]

Thanks Paul. The chopped stuff is super in the lambing pens.. I saw Cammy had a ewe with bedding knotted around a foot. That happened here regularly before the chopper...

[@paulthompson8467]

@@sheepschool365 happens here too even with us using the wee square bales or idiot bricks as my friends call them🤣

[@olivercoleman930]

Would you have any fear of eye infection, pink eye and such.. Machine is doing a fine job chopping fair play though

[@sheepschool365]

Thank you.. Slightly more eye problems this year but I hope cleaner bedding will solve that problem!

[@jamesmason8944]

Yes but you forgot about the dust masks for them while you were spreading the dusty straw. Poor sheep will end up with farmers lung. Hahaha

[@user-to5ix4dx2m]

That's a great job you have done on it. Blowing the bedding out nicely. Would you find you'd use less straw by using this machine? What's the reach on the blow of the spout?

[@sheepschool365]

Have used 25% less bedding but slightly more sheep packed into shed this year. Pens are 5.5 meters wide and no problem bedding to back wall. Will blow further and faster with a 1000 rpm pto speed which I don't have at the minute.

[@alanchambers9818]

Great job how long do you get out of the bale of straw chopped rather than unchopped

[@sheepschool365]

Using 25% less straw with chopper but slightly more sheep in the shed this year..

[@alanchambers9818]

Great we are going putting up a sheep shed this year thinking of using Yorkshire boarding down to a 4ft wall any ideas

[@russellpetrie119]

with the lack of space would a mezanaine work like the transport lorrys

[@sheepschool365]

Would work but best option would be more ground level floor space.

[@andrewwelford7697]

You can get cat 2 balls for 135

[@sheepschool365]

Are they complete link arms or new weld on ends?

[@andrewwelford7697]

Just the balls they knock out on slot

[@Johnnycambell]

Do u think u will buy a modern farm tractor in the future

[@sheepschool365]

Will buy something a little bigger at some stage but I don't think it will be anything fancy. I definitely need something to lift the silage bales.

[@jamesmcateer9084]

What size is your straw choppers,

[@sheepschool365]

The model is a Teagle 5050. Think it has 1.5m diameter drum.

[@user-cu5rr1mu2k]

After all that effort and work do you really think it was worth it you could’ve done it by hand quicker

[@sheepschool365]

Chopper is much faster for bedding and uses much less also 👌

[@janedooher1436]

Those ewes are too fat, less feeding will make lambing easier

[@tcod3137]

I wouldn’t say that, look like there in good condition to me, ewes will have plenty of milk! Nothing worst than a sheep with no milk, like a pub with no beer!

[@wendyrowland7787]

How can you tell without laying your hand on their backs? As an experienced shepherd I can see they have very dense fleeces. Less feeding is likely to cause twin lamb disease and a poor lactation .

[@robertmcdermott241]

A empty sac does not stand up😅

[@sheepschool365]

Getting body condition right is tricky but always prefer to have ewes in good nick heading out to grass with lambs at foot as I don't feed anything only grass till weaning. Poor body condition usually results in poorer lambs at weaning time in my opinion...