FORAGE HARVEST

Forage chain and harvest techniques

A significant portion of forage cultivation is influenced by factors such as seed mixtures, fertilization, soil quality, and weather conditions. However, the performance of your machinery chain also plays a crucial role. Just like other aspects of forage farming, attention to detail is essential. Your forage machinery chain should be well-maintained and capable of handling higher capacity and working speeds than typically required. Mowers, tedders, and rakes should be carefully adjusted to avoid harvest losses and soil contamination.

Choosing forage machinery
When it comes to the machinery chain, there is often talk of capacity, precision, and timeliness. The machinery chain significantly impacts the accuracy of various work processes, including waste, harvest volume, and forage quality concerning factors like nutritional value, moisture content, cleanliness, and palatability. Evaluating each step from mowing to storage can help identify strengths and weaknesses in your machinery chain. It's important to find the right combination of equipment in terms of size and specifications.

The weakest link
It's often said that a chain is only as strong as its weakest link, and the same goes for your forage machinery chain. Are there areas that need improvement? Could a different type of machinery, increased capacity, or additional labor enhance workflow, forage quality, and cost-effectiveness?

It's easy to focus on specific brands, but the focus should be on the features and functions that are truly important, seeking machines that meet the requirements and needs you have.

Evaluating capacity and functionality

It's important to establish a smooth workflow and ensure that different forage machines work together seamlessly to achieve high efficiency and forage quality. To select the right forage machinery and optimize the forage chain, you can review the capacity of each machine both in theory and in practice under various conditions.

There are often trade-offs between capacity and consistent high quality. If you mow the field with a wide 9-meter mower and gather it into a windrow instead of spreading it widely, it goes faster. However, if the windrow becomes too large, there's a risk that the dry matter (TS) content will be 60% at the top of the windrow and 20% at the bottom, resulting in significant variation. Generally, it's important to maintain consistent quality in the forage.

How many hectares per hour or how many bales or kilograms of dry matter can the machine handle normally? How many days with favorable weather conditions are needed to harvest with the right quality? What should be the time interval between mowing and harvesting? What specific requirements do you have for precision and functionality? What compatibility requirements exist with the tractor and ISOBUS systems, etc.? What power requirements does each implement have? Can you use another tractor if the primary one stops?

Maintenance and Reliability

Having reliable forage machinery of high quality is essential to achieve good and uniform yields. Machines should also be user-friendly, delivering stable and reliable results. Downtime and disruptions can be costly and frustrating, especially when time is of the essence. Reliability is vital for functionality, efficiency, and safety to prevent accidents.

Prepping Machines for the Season

When optimal conditions for operation arise, your machines should be ready to go. Ensure that your machines are in good condition before the cropping season begins. Schedule maintenance and service recommended by the manufacturer and service workshop for your entire machinery chain. In addition to maintenance, machine settings should be checked and test-run before the harvest begins. It's also wise to keep critical spare parts on hand to reduce downtime. To streamline preparations across multiple individuals and avoid relying on memory alone, structured maintenance plans are beneficial.

Learn more about maintenance plans here and how they can improve operational reliability and increase resale value.

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FORAGE HARVEST

Forage chain and harvest techniques

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