‘Our Wyoming Life’ is putting the Hustler CakeBucket through the test! #hustlershowdown
‘Our Wyoming Life‘ is back with episode 2 of the Hustler Showdown! If you missed the previous episode, you can watch it here.
Today, Mike is going to put our brand-new CakeBucket LM180 to the test! This 100% hydraulically-driven auger bucket has been designed to handle any dry feed such as maize, corn, grain, beefcake, pallets, PKE and more.
For those who already follow ‘Our Wyoming Life’ YouTube channel, you would know that Mike is used to feeding out beefcakes to the herd, either from a feeder – that the cows unfortunately destroyed earlier in the year – or straight into the paddock, with a pull-type cake feeder. Although very practical for the ranch, the trailed cake feeder happened to clog out a few times due to moisture in the feed. So does the Hustler CakeBucket earn its keep? Watch the video to find out!
The Hustler CakeBucket LM180 embarks hydraulically-driven auger and side doors. Featuring discharge to either left or right-hand sides, the CakeBucket can be used in all types of feeding situations, outdoor or indoor.
The CakeBucket is mounted on the front loader of a CASE IH L106 Puma tractor lent by local dealer Torgerson’s LLC for the video, which is “a lot bigger than what we would normally use to feed out on the ranch,” Mike explained. As the tractor has fairly large axle tracks, Mike equipped the CakeBucket with two optional feed directors (one on each side) to prevent driving over the beefcakes – which would not have been the case if he had been using a smaller tractor or a compact loader. This also allows Mike to use his Hustler trailed bale processor, the Chainless TX205 to feed cakes and hay all in one pass!
The plan
Mike and Jeff (who joined for the testing sessions) decided to evaluate the CakeBucket based on three criteria:
- The ease of use – which is going to be a challenge as Mike would have to run two implements at once
- The functionality – how well it works on the field, how innovative and useful the piece of equipment is on his ranch
- The ‘out of the box’ criteria – which is trying for something that is needed to be done on the ranch but for what the equipment is not originally specifically sold for
Mike is storing his beefcake in a repurposed water tote, so he had to manually load the CakeBucket from the top, but he could also have scooped up the feed from a big pile on the ground as the auger bucket is designed to be used as such!
This is probably when Mike realised that the 1.28 m³ (1.67 yd³) capacity of the CakeBuket might be overbuilt for the ranch!
The test
The CakeBucket went through the test beautifully despite some difficulties to manage the two implements and the camera at once. At this time of the year (October), Mike doesn’t usually feed out the herd quite yet as they still have summer grass to get through – but the ladies were still excited to see what was happening and looked “pretty dang happy and that’s all that really matters, right?” Mike said.
The feed pallets and the hay were laid in a long and thin windrow, straight onto the ground.
“It obviously laid the hay right on top of the cakes, so it’s kind of cool because the cows are actually going through, they’re looking for the cake that’s underneath the hay, hide and seek for the cows!” Mike explained.
Next, Mike decided to test the bucket with creep feed for the calves, which is a smaller material than the cattle cakes. A few creep pallets managed to escape from the auger bucket through small gaps at the back of the auger, but still spread nicely in the field.
The results
“The CakeBucket is big, it is huge, we figured this thing could at least hold a ton of cake, that’s enough to feed a thousand cows a day, which is way more than what we need,” Mike explained. So unless Mike found a way to cover it to hold enough feed for a week or two, it is probably too big for the ranch. However, “if you got enough cows that you need this, this is great, this is awesome,” Mike said.
“The concept behind it is great, the mechanics work well, everything seems to work really well, and the auger does exactly what it’s supposed to do,” Mike concluded. But does it stay on the ranch? Watch the end of the video to find out!
Stay tuned for the next episodes of the Hustler Showdown on ‘Our Wyoming Life‘ – make sure to subscribe to get notified!
