Based on the borders of Herefordshire and Worcestershire, brothers Ian and Graham Legge have seen a huge change in their silage work over the last 15 years. Where previously all of their customers would have been livestock farmers, today they’re now in a minority, overtaken by the region’s shift to biogas production.

Equipped with a 28-blade chopping cylinder, the latest forager supplied by Morris Corfield is worked fairly hard, clocking up some 800-900 hours each year with Graham in the seat.

Q: What is the biggest change with this new 970?

 “We were initially concerned about a shift away from a V8 engine to a straight-six but the reality is that it’s a whole heap better,” says Graham. “Somehow this new engine seems to deliver the power in a much smoother way and just hangs on in there when you really load it up. When you hit a lump of chewy grass it doesn’t die back as our previous machine would, it just carries on at the same pace.

Q: What’s the impact been on fuel use?

“Every time we’ve upgraded our forager we’ve seen an improvement in fuel use but it was the switch from the 800- to 900-series machines that really hit home,” explains Ian. “Still in service with us today as our back-up machine, our 890 uses 16-18-litres/acre in maize as an average. Our current 970 has cut that in half.”

Q: What other features stand out on this latest JAGUAR 970?

“The Dynamic steering system is just brilliant – it only takes small movements of the steering wheel to keep the header in the row and then it’s just one full turn to swing the machine right round at the end. All the little things just make for a less tiring day, especially when we’re doing silly hours,” says Graham. “Another big thing on that front is just how much quieter it is up in the cab. Your ears aren’t ringing when you’ve been in the seat for 18 hours. Moving to the 28-blade cylinder has helped it that department too. It runs significantly quieter and we can get chop lengths right down to under 6mm – important now that most of our customers are biogas plants.”

Why CLAAS?

“The reality is that CLAAS foragers are the best machines for the job. We’ve tried plenty of others but the JAGUAR can’t be beaten for out-and-out performance. “More importantly the service and back-up from MORRIS CORFIELD cannot be bettered. The mechanics are so helpful. If you’ve got a minor issue they’ll talk it through with you over the phone and nine times out of ten they’ll help you find a solution. When they do need to come out the response is always rapid and the depot nearly always seems to have the parts we need on the shelf”.