ON-FARM 4 1 3 and mainly
ON-FARM 4 1 3 and mainly comprises premium makes and specialised machinery. “This we certainly need”, says Heinrich Meusel, “because under our production and working conditions, material wear and tear is very high.” SAFECUT HELPS Heinrich Meusel nowadays produces hay for household pets from 120 ha. Several Krone mowers are used. “The SafeCut system was behind the decision to go for this make”, he continues. “Beforehand, many of my fields had lain fallow. This leaves a field surface that can provide unpleasant surprises for the mower operator. SafeCut helps avoid damage under such conditions. But even when a roll pin shears, it can be replaced on the field in just a few minutes.” Heinrich Meuser has also experimented with double knife cutterbar, although not too successfully. His field surfaces often have sudden ups and downs. Revolving knives therefore work better. As a rule, the mower is immediately followed by the tedder for quick drying, with a repeat on day two. Sometimes the hay has to be turned again on the third day before swathing – all with machinery from Spelle. For baling, small bales are favoured at 80 cm and 1.9 to 2.0 m length with under 16 % moisture content. To spread out any labour peaks, a round baler is often sent into smaller fields as early as the second day. These bales then go into the farm’s barn drying plant. The same applies to hay carted home early because of rain. TRACEABLE 2 This farmer works with high performance transport capacity. “Not so long ago I invested in a bale trailer with hydraulic load securing”, he explains. “This is a real advantage. We no longer need to fiddle around with tension belts. It saves time and is much safer, especially evenings with the last loads of the day after sunset. We load the trailers with front loader and for unloading we use a compact telescopic loader. Traceability entails precisely recording which fields each load comes from and where the bales are stored. I work with a special food standard IT system. Every package of pet feed is stamped with a traceability code.” The automatic packaging system is sited in the farm buildings. Firstly, the bales go into a shredder with sieve system, then by conveyor belt into the actual packaging plant. Each portion of appropriate weight is first pressed into a form and then pushed into plastic wrapping. The packages are further packed into cartons and palleted ready for road transport. “It took quite a while before the packaging plant ran smoothly”, recalls Heinrich Meusel. “It has a highly complicated management technology and many adjustments were necessary. Even nowadays, my workers and I are continually 1 For “Hay Heinrich”, additional business enterprises feature landscape conservation, forestry and advisory services. 2 Thuringian rural entrepreneur Heinrich Meusel: widely known as “Hay Heinrich”. 3 Special machinery is applied on the sometimes very steep slopes. 4 The hay is harvested conventionally. But important for Heinrich Meusel is that the sward contains a high content of valuable herbs. making corrections. The plant runs yearround in two shifts per day.” BIO-CERTIFIED The hay fields are mostly on steep slopes and usually just one cut a year is made. “In order to encourage herb growth in the sward, we tine harrow each spring. Our USP (unique selling point) is that all our hay areas are certified as organically managed and that we produce real mountain meadow hay including valuable herbs such as spignal, yarrow and arnica”, points out Heinrich Meusel. “Most of our competitors sell only dried grass. Until we could really convince customers, I had to carry out lots of persuasion work, have plenty information at hand and carry out intensive discussions with end customers. There was, and still is, tremendous effort required in marketing, advertising and sales. I never set out to sell on price. Instead, I concentrate on quality. But now we have a good customer base and are listed by big chains e.g. Rewe, Kaufland and Tegut. Admittedly, there are still problems, for instance meeting delivery requirements in some cases, and the associated logistics. But the trade lays down the rules and we follow them. This gives us delivery conditions that are generally very stable.” Because, meantime, demand has overtaken own production, this farmer has founded the Thuringia Hay Exchange. Project partner is the region’s Landscape Conservation Association that collects suitable hay from growers. Quality is strictly controlled according to an official catalogue and the results govern payment. Deliveries now not only go to Hay Heinrich but to other customers, including riding stables. “What I’m especially pleased about is that there’s a good community feeling developed amongst our hay makers, and now we’re working together in other respects.” MANY IDEAS “The hay harvest lasts around one and a half months. And to better exploit my investment in special machinery I’ve started other enterprises: landscape conservation, forestry services and associated advisory work”, adds Heinrich Meusel. “Our business spectrum is therefore varied. In forestry work, for instance, it stretches from tree planting over fence building through to timber extraction. In landscape conservation there’s a lot of classic mowing work in difficult to access locations, but also renaturation, and stabilising of steep slopes. For the latter work I’ve developed a special procedure involving strands of hay. Particularly in the service sector, I’ve invested considerably in the last years. Since the beginning of this year we are using our own ‘walking excavator’, a backhoe that moves on hydraulic legs. Extra attachments for this are a mulching head and hydraulic tree shear. A forest tractor with crane and rear bogey are to be delivered next.” Ideas just keep on flowing from this young farmer and entrepreneur. He’s further processing the valuable flowers from his hay meadows for use in cosmetics. A farm shop to sell the ensuing products is just now being completed. And because environment and landscape conservation are not only a business for him but a real mission, he’ll doubtless soon have interesting new projects in this sector too. « 48 49
INTERVIEW LANDBAUTECHNIK-BUNDESVERBAND PERFORMANCE PROVIDERS Farm machinery dealerships represent the key interface between manufacturer and end customers. Why interactions at this point are not always stress-free, and what solutions to improve the situation might look like, is discussed here in an interview with Ulf Kopplin, president of the LandBauTechnik- Bundesverband (National Agricultural Machinery and Equipment Dealers and Repairers Association). XtraBlatt: Herr Kopplin, machinery which has become increasingly complex over the years ensures that the importance of the supplying, servicing and repairing dealership increases. Isn’t this development actually a very welcome 50 51 one? Ulf Kopplin: You’re correct in the assumption that highly qualified personnel are needed more than ever in dealership workshops to ensure reliable servicing of machinery that can include the very latest technological developments. This gives our member companies a central and growing importance in the relationship between manufacturers and end customers. However, there are definitely no grounds here for unrestrained jubilation. The investment needed to support this level of performance, and to encourage further the appropriate technical development, is gigantic. For instance, the cost item ‘vocational education and training’ alone represents tens of thousands of euros each year for every dealership, even when simply considering calculated training costs and related downtime through the days when the trainees are not at their workplaces. On top of this comes the required workshop equipment, joining another cost block that’s just as serious: the area of guarantee costs. All this is hardly possible any longer at the rates commonly charged. The dealerships are the performance providers of the branch. Their input must be justly rewarded! In particular, the so-called internal workshop hours drive costs upwards substantially for many dealerships. Assistance hours 5.3% XtraBlatt: Aren’t you complaining here from an already excellent position? After all, standard rates of 90 €/h for a skilled mechanic with a master certificate, or 65 €/h for one who has completed all basic training, cannot be called chickenfeed – at least from the point of view of the bill-paying customer. And not every dealership workshop provides highest standards in work quality and performance. Kopplin: As far as hourly rates are concerned, those charged by our farm machinery dealerships remain well below those of other technical sectors, e.g. for road going vehicles, or IT. And do not forget that the standard of knowledge and qualifications represented in a farm and construction machinery mechatronics engineer compared with colleagues in the other areas just mentioned is – in all modesty – substantially greater. I am absolutely convinced of that. In practice, there may well be differences in quality. But the future-oriented companies are all in a very good position in this context. And what I do not like is the current tendency, at least in some customer circles, to expect us as service providers to consider reducing our bills. What we charge now represents income that’s crucial for our businesses. That the economic situation in farming and therefore in agricultural contracting too, may be unfavourable is not an acceptable reason. Just think about it: Would you make a similar demand of your Distribution of workshop hours 2019 Paid-for time in workshops in agricultural machinery dealerships 2019 Absent 24.0% Internal hours 33.8% External hours 36.9% Internal time in workshops in agricultural machinery dealerships 2019 Rest 22.4% Depot/delivery/ demonstrations etc 14.9% New machinery 28.5% Used machinery Guarantee/ 10.9% goodwill 23.3%
