OT barn cleaners, patz, or badger

JayinNY

Well-known Member
Just thought Id ask what you guys who have barn cleaners like better, Patz, or Badger? My father in law has a Patz, never have any trouble with it. His friend, who Im helping for the winter has a badger, his son and I have had it break 4 times the past 3 weeks. Its old, tired and needs to be replaced. His dad wont do it. Maybe the Badger isent so bad when its new, but its not as easy to change links on it as a patz. Just a hard chain to work on, whats your take on them?
 
Patz a hundred times over a Badger. I'd even go Berg before Badger. Much easier to work on drive units and chain is very simple on Berg and Patz.
 
I bet a dollar that you guys are going through the same thing we did 30 years ago.Someone has a piece of junk barn cleaner that they wont replace, its going to keep breaking and that is going to cause alot of heated arguments after a while, that is why we ended up selling the dairy cows.
 
What are the first three letters of BADGER? ....BAD. Had a Berg for 30 years and it works great, cleans a 100 cow barn every day.
 
Your on the money, but its not my place to tell him to get a PATZ, his son, and I would like to see his dad do that, but I dont know. We have to get down in the crap, hook a come along to the broken ends, move the cleaner ahead to the ramp so we can get the slack out to mend it, grind off the broken link, bolt in a new link. While getting covered in crap. Patz would be better. lol
 
Berg and Patz are so similar, the chains will interchange. Break a link, replace a link, not find the connector in a long chunk, etc. Often just push the spring loaded arm and replace the link. Sometimes move the threaded adjuster. I"ve had both, like the Patz head better for adjusting drive chains, etc.
 
If you've got a skid steer loader and 2 shovels you'll be time, money and misery ahead by far to haul the chain out of the gutter and clean it by hand into the loader bucket.
We had a Patz for 30 years. I pushed the slide over last June and hauled the chain out. There will never be another.
Patz is probably easier to fix but I can assure you... when they get older, you're going to do plenty of fixing. The last day here... I think the chain jumped the bull wheel more than 20 times and we never got it around the barn. That was F*****g well it, right then and there.

If you go with a new one, do yourself a big favor and go with an EvacuAir system. Eliminate the outside boom, the frozen chain and 70% of the strain on the chain. A Patz would probably last quite well in that situation.
We're in the process of planning a freestall so we just decided to tuff it out for a while with the shovels. If it was an extended period of time then I'd make a pusher for the loader and bust the reverse corner out of the concrete.... but I will NEVER buy another gutter cleaner.

Rod
 
Sounds like you are having trouble with the chain, not the drive unit. Dosen't matter what brand or style of chain you have they all wear out eventually. I suggest that your father in laws friend converts from roller chain (flat link), to hook-link chain. Hook-link is much easier to take apart and put back together, best of all no tools needed. The Badger drive unit is more reliable than Patz or Berg, they are gear driven,( no roller chains to break) and more compact (shorter). We use a Badger drive unit, every day, that is approx. 45 years old, keep it well greased, replace the belt ocasionally and rebuilt the original GE motor once. We converted to hook link chain 25 years ago, had the same problems you described, made a big difference.

Good Luck.
 
I put a used patz in my barn and have no complaints yet and if your dads buddy doesn want to spend new price clinton tractor in clinton has plenty of used ones with lots of life left in them. I seen alot of patz barn cleaners that have been in barns a long time and worked at a farm when I was in high school that had one of those badger cleaners that was only 6 years old that we had to pull the chain back out of the spreader and reconnect after it broke but the barn was 100 cow tiestall so thats alot of chain to pull. Fixing junk everyday can really ruin a person in a short period of time
 
We used to have an Olson,what a piece of junk.We now have a Patz barn cleaner and silo unloader.Both are good units.

The key to ANY barn cleaner chain is lubrication.We have a container mounted to the bottom of chute that dribbles used oil on inward chain while it runs.Makes a HUGE difference in years of service.
 
our barn held 32 cows and thwe gutters are 12" deep, there isn't anyway we would have went back to scooping it out by hand, we had a Clay gutter cleaner, maybe not the best but far better than a scoop shovel.We had more to do than spend 2 hours cleaning the barn. Work smarter not harder.
 
Could be worse, it could be a Cornell. They are basically a log chain with paddles. Thats what I had for the first 15 years here, it was an almost new chain when I bought the place and was OK but not great. When they are worn out they all are terrible. I replaced it with a used Patz drive unit and new Berg hook and eye chain. When this one wears out, I'll probably cement the gutters full and scrape it out with a skid steer like a free stall barn.
 
Yes, work smarter, not harder. We've got 32 cows in there now and we clean the barn in 20 minutes. Note I said SKID STEER, not wheel barrow.
I can remember lots of days that 20 minutes hardly got the chain free on the boom during the winter. Then another 20 minutes to run the chain around IF it didn't break or derail which required babysitting continously. Then if it did break or derail.... it could be anywhere from 15 minutes to 3 hours. So yeah, work smarter, not harder. Myself and my old man are done in 20 minutes and we didn't work too hard with the shovels either.
There is NO WAY I will ever drop 25K to replace that piece of misery with another like it. EVER.

I do know of several that use the pit/airlock system and everything is inside the barn... there is no reverse corner, no frozen chain and no boom. Those systems work quite well with very little trouble.... but I've got no intention of staying in a tiestall barn long enough to justify that kind of money.

Rod
 
I have had 3 differnt stall barns with Patz gutters. I totally diasgree with Rod, there is no reason to be scooping manure out of the gutter by hand. Fix what is causing the chain to jump and be done with it. There is no reason to spend an hour busting the chute loose. It doesn't take a whole lot of common sense to line the chute with the high strength plastic and never again have to worry about the chute freezing down. It is just makes no sense to take out a gutter cleaner. If the reverse curve is worn out, then unbolt it and bolt in a new curve. If the drive star is worn out, either weld the teeth back up or put one of the new five tooth stars on it. There is nothing on a Patz that can't be fixed to make it work. On the other hand there is nothing on a Badger that can easily be fixed to get the gutter run out. My last tie stall barn had 102 cows on one chain and the entire heifer barn on another chain. I spent 3 years working at the MSU campus dairy and in one barn they had 80 cows in 4 different rows with the Patz gutter winding between the rows. There is no system as efficient as a gutter cleaner, you just have to keep up on maintanance and when parts wear out, replace them. I did like one other poster did, I had a 5 gallon teat dip jug with a spigit that I laid over the concrete holding the reverse curve. I had modified the spigit so when I turned it on it just dribbled. Every morning when I ran the gutters out I turned that spigit on and let it slowly dribble used oil on the chain just as it comes into the reverse curve. The first chain lasted 8 years, the second one lasted 14 years, the third chain only lasted 7 years, found out later that was when Patz started making the chains themselves instead of the local foundry in Pound making them, and Patz made an inferior chain which didn't last. The 4rth chain is still in the barn and ran 11 years. I had my chute frame made from stainless and put in the plastic liner and stainless liner in the reverse curve. Keep the corner wheels greased as well as the drive head. Oil the chain and it is the most reliable manure removal system out there.
 
I had a Jamesway with the pintle chain,same as a Badger. It was a pain in the backside. I spent 22 years wishing I'd have bought a Patz instead. I replaced the chain in mine with new Badger chain 3 times. Awfully pricey in a 44 stanchion barn.
 
Almost 30 years ago I spent 3 years on a dairy with a worn out barn cleaner and a worn out silo unloader.

It became miserable. It's the only job I ever quit without having another lined up to go to.
 
You know there's just one little problem with your theory....
Replace this and replace that and replace something else... soon adds up to be 20 grand on a Patz cleaner. The only thing left on this one worth salvaging was the 5 horse GE motor sitting on top. The boom was finished. Broken spine. The reduction unit was rebuilt so many times there was nothing left but the frame. The bull wheel shaft worn out and been rebushed at least once. Chain completly worn out. Reverse corner worn out and replaced at least once over the years along with the boom. Add to that, every corner wheel was worn out and the boxes themselves rotted away. Last time we priced it... it was over 20 grand and that was quite some time ago. The question becomes... How deep do you want to dig that hole???
We're in a position where that's worn out, the stall work is finished. The milking system is finished. To replace everything that needs replacing with new gear would run over 75 grand. For a 40 cow barn. All that so you can kneel under a cow twice a day. There's sh!t for brains... then there's SH!T for brains.
The choice here is that the cows go to a freestall or they go on a truck, but I'm not sinking that kind of money into a tie stall barn.
Your mileage may vary...

I could see mabey replacing the chain and drive unit and adding an air system if everything else in the barn was good but there's simply no excuse for having a boom anymore. It's just a misery maker.

Rod
 
you know those damn tractors are pretty expensive to, they keep wearing out parts and tires and need oil changes. Lets just haul them out behind the silo and get a team of horses. Thats the same mentality. Just doesn't make sense. I understand people going to free stalls but doing it because the gutter cleaner is worn out is almost funny. I have worked in over a dozen free stall barns and have only seen one that was as simple and required as little labor as a gutter system. That was a huge free stall barn that had the automated Patz cable scraper. Every other barn required to much human attention or time to keep things clean. Not as simple as throwing the switch on the wall.
I guess the maintenance on the Patz system wasn't as big a deal for me. No one says every part has to have blue paint on it. As I mentioned, my chute was not Patz once the first one wore out. A local welding shop made the new one from stainless that sets over a treated 2x8 backbone. Patz didn't even have the high stength plastic when we bought some and put it in as a liner.
It just seems funny someone is giving up on something as simple to maintain as the gutter cleaner because it is to difficult. The only real expensive item on the whole thing is the chain, I know it is over 20 bucks a foot. but for the rest, just fix it as it requires repair or replacement, just like you do your tractors or combine.
 
Your lucky you can get a skidsteer in there. Probably isent bad shoveling out the gutter everyday. There isent any was to get a Skid steer in this barn, I dont even think a bedding chopper will fit between the ends of the rows and the wall, over the gutter cleaner. Its a 50 tie stall barn, but its only got 21 head in it. One night last month we spent 3 hours fixing it. Its just shot, and I dont think they maintain it real well. My Father in law does what other guys said with his Patz, has a old milk can full of used oil that drips oil on the chain. If this other guy stays in business, hes gonna have to do something.
I remember when he showed me how to do the chores and was showing me his cleaner he said "dont take your hand off the power switch while its running" now I can see why, must not have any faith in it himself, .lol Jay
 
Are you kidding, over $20 bucks a foot? I had no idea. Nowonder they wont replace theres lol
 
I know it is expensive, I got a quote a few years back but don't remember the exact price. One good thing is Patz now has a 15 year warranty on the chain. They had to do it because they were making junk chains for awhile and the local Pound Wisc foundry that had been making the chains for Patz for years was now selling chains that were cheaper and would outlast the ones Patz was casting. I can't think of the name of the competition but they have all the parts for the 400 system and they are cheaper than blue paint.
 
Low budget, how are you using your barn? Do you only use the barn to milk the cows and house them in a different area, or are the cows housed and milked in the same barn? If it is the latter, you might not pass inspection, in MN you would not pass. Usually cows housed and milked in the same barn are required to have gutters to contain the manure.
 
I dont get some of you people sometimes. A 40 cow dairy cant support new shiney eqiupment so why do you talk like everything has to be replaced with new There is plenty of used cleaners, milking eqiupment., machinery and used silo unloaders out there. Patz box corners can be replaced with out busting concrete and the corners in my barn have the same boxes that held the corners in the barn I took it out off. I stared shipping milk in 08 and I started with a barn that had nothing in it. we put in stalls, milking equipment, pipeline, barn cleaner and a unloader in all for under 14k. The stalls wee new CK stalls but everything down to the water bowls was used and I had to look hard for some of it and nothing gives me more than expected problems. Chute is home made out of pressure treated lumber and lined with plastic. It no wonder when milk dropped last spring every dairy farmer started crying. Like you couldnt expect it to happen. Give up the shiney new stuff and buy what you can afford and justify. Its not BS
 
I dont get some of you people sometimes. A 40 cow dairy cant support new shiney eqiupment so why do you talk like everything has to be replaced with new There is plenty of used cleaners, milking eqiupment., machinery and used silo unloaders out there. Patz box corners can be replaced with out busting concrete and the corners in my barn have the same boxes that held the corners in the barn I took it out off. I stared shipping milk in 08 and I started with a barn that had nothing in it. we put in stalls, milking equipment, pipeline, barn cleaner and a unloader in all for under 14k. The stalls wee new CK stalls but everything down to the water bowls was used and I had to look hard for some of it and nothing gives me more than expected problems. Chute is home made out of pressure treated lumber and lined with plastic. It no wonder when milk dropped last spring every dairy farmer started crying. Like you couldnt expect it to happen. Give up the shiney new stuff and buy what you can afford and justify. Its not BS
 
Graetz Mfg. Inc. They originally designed and manufactured 400 cleaners, 98 silo unloaders, and conveyer chain.

Patz chain only 5 year full warranty, 15 extended written warranty.
 
That sucks....

Mabey watch the consignment auctions for used chains and drives. I'm after buying a few used drive units at auction in the last 5 years or so. Got lucky on one when I got the 5 HP motor... Another guy was going to buy it but thought a motor that big ~had~ to be 3 phase so he never looked at the tag. Twas his loss.... But I haven't seen any chain for sale around here in some time now. Most of it's long since cleaned out that was any good.

Rod
 
I'd hazard a guess that it's over 40 bucks a foot unless they give a steep discount on a large volume of chain. I think the last flites we bought were somewhere between 15 and 20 bucks.
The way I look at it... if I was to spend 25-30 K on that or a tractor it's going to be on a tractor or skid steer. At least I can use the tractor or loader for a variety of other things. The chain just sits there and rusts. Chain is tremendously over valued for all it does.

...and I'd be willing to bet that that if you looked at all the farms that quit, many had nobody coming behind to take over. That would be the number one reason... but the day the decision was made was when the gutter cleaner busted or the silo unloader quit and it required a major reinvestment. Silly as that seems to you, I'd bet money that it's true in about 75% of the time.

In my situation I've got a freestall barn sitting there basically empty because we're after getting rid of most of our beef cattle. So most of the equipment I need is already there. Used parlours are more available here in good shape moreso than anything else right now... and most of the old tiestall equipment out there is already sold off or rotted away. It's been 5 years or more since I've come across any amount of good used Patz or Houle chain.... so it's just plain not cheap to maintain tie stalls anymore.
If I've got to pour money into it, it will be for something expandable, not a sinkhole.
In case you haven't noticed... I hate tie stall barns and I make no apology for that.

Rod
 
yea, thanks, i talk to them every year at world dairy expo but couldn't think of the name. I do have to disagree, I don't believe they designed any of the equipment, they couldn't have and Patz patent it. I was told that as Patz grew and expanded, the local foundry was hired to make steel parts and once the patent expired, Patz was in trouble because Graetz could sell parts cheaper and it has higher quality.
 
in Michigan you are legal to have one wide gutter between the two rows of cows. I bought out one herd that took out the gutter cleaner and busted the alleyway out so the middle was all the gutter level and just used the skidloader to clean barn twice a day.
 
Barn cleaners are like all other equipment, 99% of the problems comes from the operator . I have had an Acorn pintle chain ,which is the same as a Badger, in a rented barn. Once the chain is wore out you have to replace it , end of story. Had two Patz cleaners in my last barn , one new and one used. They only had 16 foot slide shoot so freezing the paddles down was never a big issue, but after about 12 years you have worn the chain out, so replace it . In my current barn we have a 30 year old Berg, with a Houle sprocket and chain, on a 40 foot slide that cleans out 60 stalls twice a day. We always keep the same paddles outside, and use lots of straw, so the shoot is clean and freezing is never an problem. Personally I like the Berg better than the Patz unit as it has less moving parts. If you stop and think of the tons of material handled each year by this machine and its cost and then compare that to other peaces in your shed that only come out for a few days a year like a discbine or a big rd or big sq baler , that stable cleaner on a tie stall dairy is some of the best money spent, and probably the most neglected tool on the farm. And Rod unless your going to a 100 plus free stall with a drive Thur tmr feed , you can keep that sloppy mess that your cows are going to have to walk thru, and all the foot trouble that comes with it.
 
I'm not sure if the regulation is the same in New York. But I think my milk inspector would look the other way as long as I kept it reasonably clean, if not I'd tell him too bad like I did when he said I had to ship over a minimum amount of milk. My cows are only inside for milking in the summer and even in winter are out during the daytime when he is likely to show up.
 
Got the foot problems now.... so I don't see that changing much...and yes, ultimately it will be a 100 cow barn with drive through feeding. It's got the feed space now, just not the stall space.

Rod
 
Check out graetzmfg.com They claim they originally designed, patented, and manufactured hook-link chain. Also said that Graetz originally designed the 400 cleaner and silo unloader, but Graetz and Patz both patented them. Patz patent expired in 2002 or 2003. I also heard this from a Graetz rep. at Central MN Farm Show.

On patzcorp.com they say that paul patz invented hook-link chain in 1948.
 
Glad you can go up, and not out, arent many dairy farms left around here. The guy Im working for now was a dairy farmer, then went to raising holstein dairy replacements, and not does beef. And he may get out of that now too?? as beef priceses have droped, Good luck, hope it works out for you and your dad. J
 
Any barn cleaner system will give nothing but greif if it's worn out and in need of replacement.

Our barn has a badger, and we put in a used but rebuilt auger in the fall of '08. Night & day difference vs. the slide. Major improvement to say the least. We replace the bushings in the corner wheels every fall, as well as the pins in the bases for them. We busted out one of the reverse slides a few years ago and rebuilt it, and the other one just had the slide replaced last year. Also put in new chain, must have been last spring.

When kept up, it works great. When the chain is worn out, it's a nightmare. I've always heard Patz is better, but my only experience is Badger.

Donovan from Wisconsin
 
Just bought a 45 degree reverse curve 193.24 I think the guy said 12.00 a foot or so for low flites and about 14.00 a foot for high. just put a used patz in a barn that has not had one since 1979. chute I made 12' approx 300 in material. corner wheels took out of old barn...free. unit (rebuilt a year ago) 200.00, motor 200.00, chain (300ft used) 400.00. New electric approx 350.00. Made a home made oiler from a milk can.
 

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