While moving from a straw walker combine to a hybrid machine can help to boost harvesting capacity it doesn’t have to come at the expense of straw quality.
Having used a wide-bodied LEXION 770 to clear some 1,100 ha for three seasons, the team at Shropshire-based Crop Spraying Services was a little apprehensive at the prospect of moving back to a narrow-body machine for harvest 2022.
Last harvest the team at Apley Farms took delivery of a brand-spanking CLAAS TRION 750 with 9.3m CONVIO header. Replacing an eight-year-old single rotor machine of a different colour, it has proved itself to be more than capable of dealing with the business’ 1,830 acres of arable cropping.
“Every time we’ve upgraded our forager we’ve seen an improvement in fuel use, but it was the switch from the 800 to the 900 series machines that really hit home.”
"We’ve just taken delivery of another CMATIC tractor – an AXION 850 in gunmetal grey which looks smart and, critically, will further improve the efficiency of what we do, covering more ground with less fuel.”
Shropshire is home to some of the UK’s largest dairy herds and many smaller ones besides. That’s no coincidence given that the county’s fertile soils and damper than average climate produce some of the heaviest crops of grass in the country. Contractor Adam Richards knows this better than anyone.
There’s a good reason why forager manufacturers view the north west of England as a proving ground for their machines. The region’s climate is about as good as it gets for growing grass, producing waist-high rows of chewy, damp crop that will test any chopper’s mettle.
In seven harvests we haven’t once had a single issue that has stopped us. In fact, the only repairs we’ve ever done have been a handful of belts and bearings during the winter service. I’d say that’s a pretty good track record.
With 400-500 hungry beef cattle to feed at any one time as well as an anaerobic digester the Hinwood family know the importance of making the most of all
they’ve got.
Having run a pre-series JAGUAR 880 last season, E R Goodwin & Sons have not
only been impressed by its performance, but also by how their running costs have
been slashed.
As far as agricultural contracting goes, Banks’s Agricultural Contractors Limited of Cherrington are dab hands after operating for around 32 years, and still a family run business.
Mr Hyde, Church Stretton, is predominantly a beef and sheep farmer. With around 60 Limousine cattle and calves and around 2,500 sheep at any one time, he is always on the go and needs a machine he can rely on.
Mr Keith Cambidge works with his brother managing their 150-cow dairy herd, plus 250 calves, 200 acres of arable land, the same of grassland and maize for the cattle. They both do a lot of contract work locally and seasonally drive combines for local farmers
"When the tractor was delivered, CLAAS UK went through everything to make sure that we could change things to suit our business. CLAAS showed us a lot of new features."
When it came to buying a replacement tractor for his ARION 620, Jim Jones of J T Jones, Little Worthen didn’t need a demonstration of the ARION 630 CIS+, as he already knew the machine.