When harvesting grass silage, every farm manager wants to obtain the highest possible forage quality to increase profits. Agricultural machinery manufacturer Pöttinger clearly focuses on precisely this requirement when developing its machines.
One of the main factors influencing feed quality is the theoretical chop length, and this is exactly where the company’s loader wagons and round balers score with their short chopped length.
On the one hand, short-chopped forage leads to a faster pH-value reduction. This reduces the risk of fermentation failure and has a positive effect on the stability of the grass silage. On the other hand, it has a positive effect on livestock health and performance.
Cattle only have incisors on their lower jaw; the upper jaw consists of a horn plate. Consequently, the grass is swallowed almost without having been chewed. When it is short-chopped, the forage has a larger surface area and more energy is absorbed. In addition, it stimulates salivary flow, which in turn has a positive effect on rumination.
The optimum chopped length is between approximately 20mm and 60mm. The higher the proportion of short particles in the segment up to 60mm, the better the performance of the ruminant.
Pöttinger offers a chop length of 36mm on Impress round balers with 32 knives, that is loader wagon quality. For the Torro and Jumbo high-capacity loader wagons, the theoretical chop length is 34mm.
According to a study by Josephinum Research Wieselburg, the distribution frequency of particle lengths with Torro and Jumbo loader wagons is 86 per cent with les than 40mm, and for particle lengths of 40 to 80mm is just 11 per cent.
Only really sharp knives can guarantee optimum chopping quality, lower power consumption and increased output. The sharpness of the knives deteriorates continuously during intensive operation. When wear increases, the TwinBlade reversible blades can be turned without the need for tools. This ensures that the knives remain permanently sharp during a long working day or with a high proportion of whole crop.
The Impress round baler also features 32 TwinBlade reversible knives in the new pull-out Flexcut 32 short-chop knife bank. Pöttinger has thus managed to integrate loader wagon chop quality into a round baler for the first time.
AutoCut fully automatic sharpening on the loader wagon guarantees the knives are always sharp during operation. The power requirement, and therefore the fuel consumption, is up to 20 per cent less as a result. Time spent on maintenance is greatly reduced (by about 45 minutes per day) because automatic sharpening can take place during a break and the driver doesn’t need to clean and grind the knives after a long working day.
The loader wagon and round baler processes guarantee the best quality forage and silage at low harvesting costs and high output thanks to the optimum chop length.
For more information visit: www.poettinger.at.