New Forage Wagon Chops And Hauls

New Forage Wagon Chops And Hauls HAY & FORAGE HARVESTING Forage Handling 7-2-26 A forage wagon that both chops and hauls, eliminating the need for a separate chopper and wagon, will soon be available for the first time in the U.S. after being used successfully for several years in Europe and certain areas of Canada. The Krone self-loading chopper wagon is manufactured by KMN Modern Farm Equipment, a Dutch company with North American headquarters in Westwood, N.J. Company representative Chris Abele says the company plans to introduce the machine this spring on their Illinois test farm and will have several machines in the field for the 1983 haying season. If all goes as planned, the machine will be available on a widespread basis by 1984, says Abele. Ray Feenstra, Abbotsford, British Columbia, is a Western Canadian dealer of the Krone feeder wagon. "It'll do the same job as a conventional forage harvester for half the in-vestment," he told FARM SHOW. "The machine has fewer moving parts so there's less maintenance and it's built to last more than three times as long as a conventional forage harvester." Here's how the new chopper/ wagon works: Up front, it has a windrow pickup identical to the one on the popular Krone baler. Hay, carried by a drum, rakes across the machine's 41 teeth which cut it to a minimum length of about 2 1/2 in. Unlike a conventional forage harvester, which may have 6 to 8 moving blades, the 41 blades in the Krone machine are stationary and all can be removed in seconds ù without tools. Once past the knives, a belt picks up the chopped forage and drops it onto the chain floor conveyor in the wagon. The conveyor carries the material towards the back of the wagon where it packs itself, piling up until the wagon is full. The load can then be dumped out the back into a stack, or onto a silage blower, in about 2 min. unload time, or fed out the left or right to livestock with a rear cross conveyor. All unloading operations can be controlled from the tractor seat. The entire bank of knives is spring loaded to pull back when a rock or other foreign object is picked up. All moving parts are openly accessible for easy maintenance and service. The Krone machine is designed for hay and grasses ù it can't be used on corn ù and Feenstra says the 2 1/2 in. chop length is well liked by his Western Canadian customers. "It makes good silage, and is especially easy to handle in bunk silos. The stationary knives use about half as much power as other choppers," he says, noting that the machines require 15 to 20% less horsepower than similar sized choppers, yet do the work just as fast. Because the chopper and wagon are combined in one machine that has an overall lower horsepower requirement, Feenstra says farmers can buy two of the machines and get the work done twice as fast for nearly the same investment. One drawback is that the entire wagon must be transported to unload, or the load some-how transferred to another wagon in the field. The Krone harvester will be available in three sizes ranging in price from $14,000 to $20,000. Fol. more information, contact: KMN Modern Farm Equipment, 12 Sullivan St., Westwood, N.J. 07675 (ph 201 666-3707).

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