Monday, December 9,

Best Equipment for Cattle Farming and Livestock Operations

By Caleb Hennington

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For cattle and livestock farmers, there's nothing more important than making sure you have the very best equipment for your farming operation. While there are many different types of equipment, from tractors to implements and attachments, there are some vital pieces of equipment we think every farmer should own to make their operation run as smoothly as possible.

Every piece of equipment you see listed here is available at Heritage Tractor, and our team of experts would love to help you find the farm equipment you need to run and manage your business effectively.

Let's dive into the six best livestock and cattle farming equipment that every farmer must have.

Equipment That Every Livestock and Cattle Farmer Needs

Tractors - From Compact to Robust

Every farmer needs a reliable compact utility tractor to help with everyday operations on a livestock farm. John Deere makes the best equipment for cattle and livestock farming. The 1 through 4 series tractors are great for small to medium-sized operations. The 4 Series tractors are loaded with premium, state-of-the-art technology and class-leading features you won't find from any other tractor manufacturer. The John Deere M, R, and M are all popular tractors for livestock operations, and come with powerful diesel engines that can make quick work of hauling, pulling, digging, or anything else you need them to do.

For larger livestock operations, the 5 and 6 Series tractors are industry standards for capable and powerful utility tractors. The 6M Series tractors are highly versatile, cost-effective, and fully customizable. With multiple frame sizes and engine options up to 150 horsepower, they're ideal for a wide range of livestock tasks. Check out the M, with 133 max horsepower and an improved turn radius, it's perfect for livestock operations.

Quick Facts

• 4 Series Tractors
  • Great for small to medium-sized operations.
  • Loaded with premium, state-of-the-art technology and class-leading features.
  • Check out the M, R, and M, all popular tractors for livestock operations.
• 5 and 6 Series Tractors
  • Industry standard for capable and powerful tractors.
  • 6M tractors are highly versatile and cost-effective, with engines up to 150 horsepower.
  • Check out the M with 133 max horsepower and an improved turn radius.

Discover Compact Utility Tractors from Heritage Tractor

Explore 5 and 6 Series Utility Tractors

Hay Rakes

If you're planning on making hay bales to feed your livestock operation, then you need to make sure your hay windrows are nice and neat for later collection. A hay rake is a fantastic tractor attachment that ensures your windrows are uniform and straight and ready for the baler. There are multiple types of hay rakes, including rotary rakes and carted wheel rakes. The hay rake that's right for you really depends on what you expect to get out of your equipment. Rotary rakes help to dry hay out and keep dirt and debris out of your rows. This makes for higher-quality bales. Carted wheel rakes, on the other hand, provide the best maneuverability and are better for tough raking jobs due to their ability to conform to varying landscapes.

John Deere's RR21, 22, and 23 models are great options for rotary rakes. If you're seeking wheel rakes, both standard and high-capacity rakes are available, including the WR12 and the WR31.

Explore Raking Equipment

Round and Square Balers

Balers are another necessary livestock farming attachment. They come in two varieties: round and square balers. Whichever one you choose depends on the type of operation you run. Square balers produce smaller, but stackable, square bales. They're great for livestock operations because of the versatility and storability of the smaller bales. Round balers produce much larger, cylindrical bales that are great for feeding many livestock at one time. Rather than using multiple smaller, square bales for your livestock, you can simply drop one large, round bale in your field or barn and feed your livestock for much longer.

John Deere makes multiple sizes of round and square balers. The small square balers produce small, stackable bales that are easy to store and transport. The 328 Twine Baler is a great starting option for smaller operations. If you prefer round balers and need a larger option that can handle greater quantities of hay, the L331 Baler is a fantastic choice. The 2.2-meter MegaWide pickup makes quick work of wide windrows.

Explore Balers from Heritage Tractor

Bale Spears

If you have hay bales, you need a way to pick up and transport those heavy bales somewhere else. That's where a bale spear attachment comes in handy. This tractor attachment typically features three prongs that are inserted into a round bale to safely and easily move it from one location to another. Whether you're moving your bales to the barn or setting them in a field for your livestock to graze on, a bale spear is essential for a successful operation.

The AB13 Bale Spear fits John Deere 600 and 700 Series loaders, and is equipped with a quick-change, global, and quick-attach attaching system. This quick-attach system makes is much easier to switch you attachments on and off of your tractor.

Read Up on the AB13 Bale Spear

Hay Tedders

Hay tedders are necessary for speeding up the hay drying process before the hay is ready to be rounded up into bales. If you're working with livestock and need to optimize your hay-drying process, then a hay tedder is a necessary attachment for your tractor.

Both the John Deere TD13 and TD34 are great options for turning hay windrow and maximizing drying time. Additionally, through JDLink, you can connect your hay tedder to your John Deere Operations Center to start receiving machine and crop data in real-time.

Discover Hay Tedder from Heritage Tractor

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Manure Spreader

If you have a livestock farm you know that animals create a ton of waste. It can be a dirty job managing the manure across your land-but why not put that manure to good use and repurpose it for your farm? With a manure spreader, you can do just that. A manure spreader does just what its name suggests; spreads manure across your farm. Manure is a fantastic natural fertilizer that can be used to produce healthier and more abundant crop yields. If your livestock farm doubles as a crop farm operation, you can use a manure spreader to harvest the waste from your animals and use it to benefit your soil.

For John Deere-made manure spreaders, look into the MS.This simple but effective spreader discharges the manure from the sides of the trailer and can be pulled by most higher-series utility tractors.

Heritage Tractor is proud to provide our customers with high-quality John Deere equipment options for all types of farming operations.

We have locations throughout Arkansas, Kansas and Missouri, so you're never too far away from the best John Deere livestock and cattle farming equipment on the market. Come see us soon, and let us help you improve your farm!

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The saw blades of John Deere rotary crop headers cut quickly and thoroughly at a high speed of rotation. As the fast-turning blades cut the full width, crops can be harvested regardless of the row spacing. Thanks to this row-independent harvesting technology, the field can be worked from any side, which is particularly important for down crop.

The fast-turning saw blades allow crops with a lot of weeds to be harvested easily. Besides maize, a wide range of crops such as sorghum, whole crop silage, oilseed, canola, pampas grass, and miscanthus can be harvested.

Key features:

• Fast turning saw blades can cut in difficult harvesting conditions to give the operator increased uptime.
• Headers can be used in various stemmed crops and there is no need for extra headers, which saves on the cost of operation.

After the fast-rotating blades cut the crop, the intake fingers push the plants into the gatherer drums that rotate in the same direction at low speeds. Every plant is pushed into the teeth of the gathering drum. The specially designed shape of the teeth ensures that both small and large plants are conveyed in a secure way.

The new and improved intake finger design allows for the crop conveyance to start deeper into the drum to ensure plants are more securely held prior to cutting, which in turns allows for a clean cut before being guided into the machine while maintaining control of the stalk.  Improving the intake area on the 400pro series headers allows for less cob and crop losses during difficult harvesting conditions.  The new intake drums with the new tooth design allows for better performance in down crops.

In the machine, the plants are taken off the back of the gatherer drum by scrapers. Depending on the width of the header, they are forwarded to the cross-feed drums or immediately fed into the angled feed drums in the middle of the machine.

To provide an increase in uptime and productivity the 400pro headers also feature a new-style gathering drum. This particular gathering drum allows for the top cover to be removed separately and quickly provide better access to the intake fingers for increased serviceability and easier access for cleaning.

Even feeding of the harvested crop bundled lengthwise to the chopper unit of the self-propelled forage harvester (SPFH) is crucial for an even cut. Only even, lengthwise feeding allows for the full use of the power installed on the SPFH.

Benefits:

• Bundling of lengthwise stalks is the basis for perfect cutting.

Two angled feed drums push the crop toward the feed rolls of the SPFH. The size of the feed drums depends on the size of the header; the six-row headers feature three rings that push the crop in the feed rolls of the SPFH. The eight-, 10-, and 12-row headers feature a lower version with only two rings.

In model year , the middle section will feature a new and longer front cover that protects cobs from being damaged by the gathering drums. In addition, this cover can be removed to assist in harvesting down crops.

Benefits:

• The feeding drum size, depending on the working width, provides the necessary space to use 10- and 12-row headers, which allows for the operator to feed larger crop bundles to the SPFH.

With the most recent generation of the small drum headers, leading performance is proven. Due to feed availability pressures, the variety of plants and harvesting conditions becomes more and more challenging. The investment into a special head is expensive. The John Deere small-drum header is a good alternative to harvest a variety of crops.

The most challenging is the optimization of the crop flow in the header. An open construction was the solution. All drum scrapers or holders of divider points are positioned out of the crop flow. An accumulation or blocking of weeds and leaves will be avoided.

Benefits:

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• The open design ensures the header is self-cleaning for cleaner silage.
• The open design is more reliable because dirt does not build up in the header.