Corn silage harvest is close. That means many operations are about to push their mixers hard, loading heavier, mixing longer, and feeding more groups as they transition off summer forages. It is exactly the kind of pressure that exposes the gap between a machine that mixes adequately and one that delivers consistent, high homogeneity TMR batch after batch.
The 7013 VT sits at an interesting point in the lineup. At 13 cubic meters (459 cubic feet), it is big enough to handle two larger round bales in a single load, yet it stays within standard-duty territory. For operations in that 200 to 400 cow range, particularly those feeding multiple groups with different nutritional needs, that combination matters more than most buyers realize before they are in it.
What Homogeneity Actually Requires
Ration uniformity is not just about mixing time. It comes down to how the machine physically moves feed. A tub with round sidewalls allows a bale to spin on contact with the auger rather than being forced into it. The auger sweeps, the bale rotates, and you get surface processing instead of thorough breakdown. Flat-sided walls change that dynamic entirely.
The decagonal tub design on the VT series uses ten flat panels. When a bale contacts a flat wall, it cannot spin freely. It gets pushed back into the auger with consistent pressure, which means the auger cuts rather than just brushes. The result is faster, more uniform breakdown of long-stem material, and that translates directly into a more homogenous final ration. If you want to understand in detail what the tub geometry does to feed behavior, this breakdown on decagonal tub design covers the mechanics thoroughly.
Twin counter-rotating augers reinforce that effect. A single auger creates a predictable flow path that forages can learn to avoid, so to speak. Two augers working against each other constantly interrupt that pattern, folding material into new positions rather than cycling it around the same loop. At 13 m³, you have enough volume to load a full ration for a large group without crowding the augers, and enough tub height to process whole bales without bridging.
The Gearbox Question at This Capacity
This is where a lot of buyers do not ask the right questions until something goes wrong. A 13 cubic meter load of wet silage, hay, and concentrates puts serious torque demand on the drivetrain, especially at startup with a cold or frozen load. A two-stage planetary gearbox at that capacity is working near its ceiling. A three-stage unit distributes that load progressively across each reduction stage, so no single gear set takes an extreme hit. Less stress per tooth means lower contact pressure, which means less wear over time and less shock transferred back to the tractor PTO clutch.
The LEO-AGX701 gearbox used on the 7013 VT is rated for continuous torque of 18,020 Nm and intermittent torque of 24,010 Nm. It runs on a 1,000 rpm PTO input rather than 540 rpm. At 540 rpm, the torque multiplication required to drive augers in a machine this size puts the gearbox and the tractor under considerably more stress. That is not a theoretical concern. Operations running large-capacity mixers on 540 rpm inputs are shortening gearbox life and riding their PTO clutches harder than they need to.
Handling Bigger Bales Without the HD Price Tag
The appeal of the 7013 for a lot of Midwest operations is practical. You want to process full-size 5×6 bales without pre-processing. You want to handle the volume a 300-cow dairy needs without making two batches. But you are not ready, or do not need, to step into a 16 m³ HD machine with heavier construction costs and tractor requirements to match.
The 7013 VT handles larger bales and higher daily volumes while staying within the standard-duty category. The logging-chain hay retention system helps here too. Rigid pipe retention bends or fails on frozen or particularly tough bales. Chain absorbs impact and keeps working. It is a small detail that matters most on early mornings in January when a Wisconsin operation is pushing frozen hay through before the first feeding shift.
Knife maintenance at this volume is also worth thinking through before purchase. The V2 modular knife system uses tungsten-carbide coated replaceable outer edges on a fixed base plate. You replace only the worn section, not the entire knife assembly. Inner and outer blades are interchangeable. Over the life of a machine that is mixing twice or three times a day, that difference in replacement cost adds up to real money.
Scale Accuracy at Heavier Loads
Ration homogeneity at the animal depends on mix quality inside the tub and on weighing precision going in. The 7013 VT carries load cells rated to 10,000 kg (22,046 lb) capacity as standard. That headroom matters on a 13 m³ machine loading dense silage. Load cells sized only for a lighter machine will drift or read inaccurately under heavy loads, and an inaccurate load reading means you are not building the ration you think you are building. The integrated 20-recipe programmable scale supports batch repeatability across groups, shifts, and operators without requiring an additional controller upgrade.
For operations that are still figuring out whether a 13 m³ machine fits their current and near-future herd size, sizing a vertical TMR mixer before you buy walks through the calculation properly, accounting for dry matter density, group structure, and daily batch count rather than just headcount.
Where the 7013 VT Fits in a Multi-Machine Setup
Some operations running a 13 m³ machine as their primary unit find value in pairing it with a compact mixer for hospital pens, fresh cows, or weaned calves. The 7013 handles the high-volume main groups. A smaller machine handles the precision groups that need a ration formulated differently and mixed in a quantity that would be a damaging partial load in the bigger tub. If that scenario fits your operation, running a mini mixer alongside a primary unit covers the practical case for that approach.
What the 7013 VT Is Not
It is a standard-duty machine. Operations running three or four full loads a day at maximum capacity, every day, year-round, should look at the HD series. The construction is heavier, the materials are thicker, and the commercial-duty machines are built for that kind of sustained throughput. The 7013 VT is sized for the operation that has outgrown a 10 m³ machine and is not yet at the scale where full commercial iron is the obvious answer.
For producers approaching silage harvest with a mix quality problem, or with a ration that is inconsistent enough to show up in milk production or feedlot conversion data, the machine doing the mixing is usually worth looking at before anything else gets adjusted. Ration formulation only delivers what the mixer can actually produce.
