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vor 6 Jahren

XtraBlatt Issue 02-2017

  • Text
  • Krone
  • Machinery
  • Forage
  • Silage
  • Maize
  • Agricultural
  • Cows
  • Farmers
  • Menschen
  • Bale

MENSCHEN INFORMATION 2 1

MENSCHEN INFORMATION 2 1 1 Repeated control is important: In maize silage all grains must be broken into more than a few André Hüting also wishes more awareness in the contentious theme maize grain cracking. “Not only cracking, but instead at least quartering is required. Still better is milling.” From his viewpoint, there’s often a problem here on the part of the farmer monitoring of the harvest – and with the flexibility of the contractor. “In the past two years there have been heavy discussions within the sector over technical solutions for length of chop. However, it’s not the chopping system that is the decisive factor but instead the driver that operates it. He must, according to the instructions from the customer, continually check the forage quality and adjust the machinery according to the crop he’s working on. And when the result is not right, the farmer should have the courage to immediately stop the harvest operation. It cannot be that, just through one day’s logistic optimisation, feed quality is adversely affected for 364 days.” The argument that the contractor cannot, or will not, follow these instructions where the farmer seeks only the cheapest deal and seems unwilling to pay extra for a little more effort definitely applies, says the vet. But extra costs for more time and optimum work quality can be justified in every case. “Let’s take the example of a 50-ha forage growing area. If the contractor got 30 euros/hour more for his work, that would be an extra cost of 1500 euros. The feed value on this area would have a value of certainly 150,000 euros. Good silage supplies 80% of required ration energy, poor silage only 50%. What’s the importance of just an extra 1500 euros when the contractor successfully manages to secure much higher feed quality? The higher milk output from the forage and, above all, the better animal health compensates for this many times over. The farmer should speak to the contractor on this theme very definitely – or vice versa,” emphasises André Hüting. pieces. 2 Veterinary surgeon André Hüting is convinced that most illnesses of beef cattle and dairy cows can be avoided in the first place when feed quality, feeding management and husbandry are all correct. CONSOLIDATING IS THE BENCHMARK A further bone of contention in the subject feed quality he sees as the consolidating of feed in the clamp. With grass, the material is, after all, nowadays tipped on the clamp surface from trailers driving lengthways over it. “However, the layers of grass spread before consolidation should never be more than 20 to 30 cm deep. And two or three vehicles for compacting is always better than just one. If the consolidating driver is faced with another load before he has finished rolling, then that’s very bad planning. If need be, the forage wagon just has to wait. This is why the consolidating should be the benchmark for the speed of the entire harvesting chain – not the silage harvester!” The situation during clamp filling, incidentally, is even more important with maize. It is absolutely suboptimum if the forage transport vehicle tips trailer contents in front of the clamp and a single consolidating driver has then to spread the forage material. “For this reason, it’s also better with maize if the silage wagon drives lengthways over the clamp distributing the load.” In this way, loads with varying dry matter content material are better distributed by the different wagons coming onto the clamp. 50

Landtechnik van Laak MORE FAMILY SERVICE For the agricultural and construction machinery specialist firm van Laak in Kalkar, forage harvesting machinery is a definite focal point. A fast and professional service and good customer contact are of the highest importance for the van Laak team. Should you have walked through the main door of the van Laak Agricultural and Construction Machinery specialist firm in Kalkar this August, you’d have found yourself in a light-flooded, but almost empty, hall. The smell of fresh paint and newly-laid flooring would have given away the situation: the hall, completely empty but for a few rolls of bale netting, was being redecorated. “For us, the sales area is just like a visiting card. And 51