Chopper Head Mounts On Front Of Deere 7800

Chopper Head Mounts On Front Of Deere 7800 FORAGE HARVESTERS Forage Harvesters (31F) 20-6-12 When the head on a 13-year-old Deere 5820 self-propelled forage chopper began to show signs of age, Veatch & Sons Inc., near Roberts, Ill., decided they couldn't justify the cost of a new self-propelled chopper. And a pull-type machine was out of the question for the large amount of silage the custom cattle and grain company had to chop. So the company came up with a hybrid rig that's the only one of its kind in use in North America. It has the price advantage of a pull-type rig with the convenience of a self-propelled machine," says Brad Veatch. Their system uses a Kemper "row independent" 2200 chopper and head distributed by Taylor Implement Company Inc., Box 725, West Hwy. 24, Hoxi, Kan. 67740 (ph 913 675-3272). The German-built 7 1/2-ft. wide head cuts a variety of crops in any row width without use of conventional gathering chains. Instead, it features two large cutting rotors that spin at up to 700 rpm's to cut the crop and two large gathering drums that feed the crop into the machine. Heavy-duty gearboxes drive the head to make it virtually maintenance-free. The chopper and head mount on front of their Deere 7800 MFWD tractor with a LaForge front-mount 3-pt hitch (4480 Treat Blvd., Suite No. 230, Concord, Cal. 94521; ph 800 422-5636 or 510 827-2010; fax 689-7198). The unit required virtually no modifications to operate in this manner and it's direct driven by a front-mounted Deere add-on pto they installed on front of the tractor. This was the first year we used it and we were amazed with the chopper's versatility, convenience and user-friendly design," says Veatch. "For example, all you have to do to adjust the machine between crops is to select the right speed for the feed rollers from the chopper's 4-speed transmission and high or low range for the drums from the two pto shafts that come off the transmission. All it amounts to is simply stopping the rig, getting off the tractor, changing gears, and getting back to work." The head works great in thick-stemmed crops such as corn, sorghum and rye, Veatch says. "But it had difficulty cutting thin stemmed Timothy and brome hay," he notes. To distribute weight between the front and rear of the tractor, the Veatches mounted a 400-gal. anhydrous tank on the rear 3-pt. of the Deere 7800. To apply 6 lbs. per ton anhydrous, they had to custom-build a cradle to hold the tank. The Veatches pull Richardton 960T dump wagons behind the tractor. The Kemper chopper has an extremely long spout with 13 1/2 ft. of ground clearance, making it ideal for blowing silage over the tractor cab or to side-fill semis or dump wagons, he notes. "We paid slightly more for this chopper than a comparable pull-type, but we think the extra cost will be more than offset by lower maintenance costs and the increased versatility of the tractor-mounted design," he says. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Veatch & Sons Inc., 1321N 1600E Rd., Roberts, Ill. 60962.

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