A new reverse-drive forage-harvester has been launched on the UK market by Somerset-based Noble Machinery. Built in Germany, the Lacotec LHII is can handle up to 500hp and is capable of the matching the output of smaller self-propelled foragers.
The machine has been developed in response to the increasing numbers of tractors with reverse-drive kits, particularly from Fendt, Valtra and Claas. It is being targeted at smaller farming operators that can’t stretch to the capital outlay required for self-propelled machines, but may already have larger, more-powerful tractors. It will also appeal to those that don’t like the idea of a costly self-propelled machine sitting idle for most of the year.
Although reverse-drive foragers have been available in the past, they’ve struggled to match the output of bigger trailed machines and smaller self-propelled units. Crucially, they’ve also lacked a corn-cracker and the ability to process maize kernels. Both these issues have been addressed by Lacotec in the new LHII.
These are high-specification harvesters with standard features that include: grass headers up to 3m wide or maize headers up to eight rows; ametal detector with adjustable sensitivity; auto-sharpening controlled from the cab with automatic shear-bar positioning and knock sensors; a full auto-lubrication system; self-contained on-board hydraulics for feed-roller and header drive, enabling stepless chop-length adjustment; integral cooling pack with automatically-triggered reverse-drive fan; and Isobus-compatible controls with colour-screen and joystick, if required.
The Lacotec corn-cracker is the machine’s most novel feature. Unlike conventional units that use pairs of rollers running at different speeds to crush the grain, this version uses interlocking discs running at identical speeds to do the job. The key advantage of this is that the discs present a much greater surface area to the crop as it passes through with the result that the corn-cracker is no longer the bottle-neck for material running through the forager, and power requirement is significantly reduced.
The Lactotec LHII is available now from UK importer Noble Machinery with prices starting at £60,000 (April 2012).
Technical specifications
Intake housing width: 560mm
Feed rollers: 4-7 depending on header, hydraulic drive
Chopping unit: 10- or 14-knife flywheel (1300mm diameter) with 10 or 14 blower paddles
Flywheel speed: 1,000rpm
PTO speed: 1,000rpm
Chop length: Grass, 8-36mm; Maize, 4-18mm
Spout swivel: 360 degrees
Weight: 2,900kg
Width: 2.6m
Power requirement: 200-500hp
For more information visit: www.noblemachinery.co.uk.
