Side mounted harvester

Muckit

Just wondering if there is anyone on here that makes their own silage with a side mounted harvester? I think NC did a 'multi chop' version, and of course their are the reel types that pick from a row.

If you meadows near yard would it be an alternative to using a wagon for a farmers own use?

moy83

We use a side mounted harvester . I put up a pic last week in the pictures thread but cant seem to put it up here . It is an alternative to the silage wagon but to be honest the wagon is probably better .
With the side mounted there is my dad cutting , brother drawing (if he is around ) , me buckraking and uncle packing (if he is around) . If they werent around it would be pretty hard to get anyone to do it with us .
It took us three and a half days to do about twenty five acres which is too long really .

If we had a small wagon dad could mow it on his own , let it wilt if the weather was favourable and then start picking up himself , and it would just need me on the pit .
So labour and wilting would be the most reason I would go for the wagon silage .

An inlaw of ours has the NC multi chop not sure what the advantage is but I think he can eat up the grass a bit quicker than our single chop .

moy83

flatout11

Muckit wrote: »

Just wondering if there is anyone on here that makes their own silage with a side mounted harvester? I think NC did a 'multi chop' version, and of course their are the reel types that pick from a row.

If you meadows near yard would it be an alternative to using a wagon for a farmers own use?

are you after a single chop, small percision chop or trailer double chop,
you should be able to pick up a tarrup single chop handy enough, the nc may be a bit harder to find - its essentially a larger output single chop (bit wider etc) that has a higher cutting bar so can take in small rows aswell - not sure how successful it would be at the latter

Muckit

Only dreaming really. I'd be thinking either multi chop or double chop, not single. I have an 85hp tractor and a good trailer that has sides to suit side mounted harvester. If we had 12 acres in a pit that would be tops. I'd be planning on taking off harvester and picking up and drawing with the one tractor, well that's what side mounted harvesters were designed for right?

If I got the loan of a tractor, all I'd need is the harvester and a small buckrake. Take little room up in a shed with the spout off and minimal investment

20silkcut

Moy 83 when you say your uncle is packing what do you mean? Is that rolling the pit?

I often wonder why single and double chop silage fell out of favour so much. Surely not having to mow is a great advantage labour wise. Why was the technology never progressed with bigger working widths etc ?
Trailed precision chop harvesters took over in the 90's why was that so?
Surely a single or double chop harvester with an increased working width (8 or 9 foot) would beat a precision chop in labour units anyway.

moy83

Muckit wrote: »

Only dreaming really. I have an 85hp tractor and a good trailer that has sides to suit side mounted harvester. If we had 12 acres in a pit that would be tops. I'd be planning on taking off harvester and picking up and drawing with the one tractor, well that's what side mounted harvesters were designed for right?

If I got the loan of a tractor, all I'd need is the harvester and a small buckrake. Take little room up in a shed with the spout off and minimal investment

I think it would be a pain in the arse taking the harvester on and off for every load . It would take at least 10 or 20 minutes every time between putting it on and taking it off again .
If you had a neighbour to share with , a second trailer and tractor would be much easier .
If you sold that auld arch trailer with the money they are making you would get a small wagon for nearly the same money

moy83

20silkcut wrote: »

Moy 83 when you say your uncle is packing what do you mean? Is that rolling the pit?

I often wonder why single and double chop silage fell out of favour so much. Surely not having to mow is a great advantage labour wise. Why was the technology never progressed with bigger working widths etc ?
Trailed precision chop harvesters took over in the 90's why was that so?
Surely a single or double chop harvester with an increased working width (8 or 9 foot) would beat a precision chop in labour units anyway.

Ya packing is just what we call rolling
I would say percision chop would still be quicker , and you could squeeze more grass into a pit maybe ? ,and you could wilt it aswell which you cant do with single chop
I dont know if a single chop of eight or nine foot would be able to cut and blow the grass up the chute but im not sure about that either .

flatout11

20silkcut wrote: »

I often wonder why single and double chop silage fell out of favour so much. Surely not having to mow is a great advantage labour wise. Why was the technology never progressed with bigger working widths etc ?
Trailed precision chop harvesters took over in the 90's why was that so?
Surely a single or double chop harvester with an increased working width (8 or 9 foot) would beat a precision chop in labour units anyway.

output per day is limited with these machines hence the move to percision chops (other benifits aswell) and then to self propelled machines.... time is money and all that!!!
you could fit the older jf percision chop harversters (jf 900 etc..) with a direct cut option but this never took off - asking a bit much of the machine or tractor aswell

moy83 wrote: »

Ya packing is just what we call rolling
I would say percision chop would still be quicker , and you could squeeze more grass into a pit maybe ? ,and you could wilt it aswell which you cant do with single chop
I dont know if a single chop of eight or nine foot would be able to cut and blow the grass up the chute but im not sure about that either .

the nc is capeable of handling it but needs a bit of power to do it - id opt for a jf 800 far quicker if i was going down this route

Muckit wrote: »

Only dreaming really. I'd be thinking either multi chop or double chop, not single. I have an 85hp tractor and a good trailer that has sides to suit side mounted harvester. If we had 12 acres in a pit that would be tops. I'd be planning on taking off harvester and picking up and drawing with the one tractor, well that's what side mounted harvesters were designed for right?

If I got the loan of a tractor, all I'd need is the harvester and a small buckrake. Take little room up in a shed with the spout off and minimal investment

unless you can get someone to draw for you buy a wagon id agree with moy 83 comments below
also at 85 hp you would be a bit shy for a nc multichop machine i think you would need 100hp plus especially if you were in heavy first cut

moy83 wrote: »

I think it would be a pain in the arse taking the harvester on and off for every load . It would take at least 10 or 20 minutes every time between putting it on and taking it off again .
If you had a neighbour to share with , a second trailer and tractor would be much easier .
If you sold that auld arch trailer with the money they are making you would get a small wagon for nearly the same money

moy83

I think the outlaws same is 180 hp that he runs his NC with . I'd say it doesnt need quite that much power to drive it ,but he is in a hilly/ boggy spot and the extra horses and oversize tyres are handy for the terrain

Manoffeeling

Did you ever try to empty the trailer while hooked to the harvester? I know it would be safer with a tandem axle, but just wondering.

flatout11

Manoffeeling wrote: »

Did you ever try to empty the trailer while hooked to the harvester? I know it would be safer with a tandem axle, but just wondering.

once its locked in it cant really go anywhere - the arms will only lift up so far

Manoffeeling

flatout11 wrote: »

once its locked in it cant really go anywhere - the arms will only lift up so far

Once the trailer won't damage the harvester, shure it would be the finest.

vincenzolorenzo

A man I used to wrap for had invented his own wagon style double chop system years ago. He used to draw the whole lot in from the field and had fitted some sort of leg to the back of the trailer that would stop it heeling up and bringing the harvester with it when he was tipping it. Some man for the inventions, I should have taken a photo when I was there!

Manoffeeling

vincenzolorenzo wrote: »

A man I used to wrap for had invented his own wagon style double chop system years ago. He used to draw the whole lot in from the field and had fitted some sort of leg to the back of the trailer that would stop it heeling up and bringing the harvester with it when he was tipping it. Some man for the inventions, I should have taken a photo when I was there!

A 16 foot tandem would be fairly safe

Sam Kade

When I was a farm apprentice back in the early 80's one of the other apprentices was telling me that on the farm he was placed the farmer cut his own silage. He had 50 acres first cut, he had a single chop and drew with the same tractor and had a major for backing up. The farmer did all the work himself cut, draw and back up :eek: 6 acres a day was about the go of that system if you had another person backing up.

vincenzolorenzo

Hard to imagine the silage quality would be up to much using that system! Having an open pit for a week and a half :eek:

keep going

vincenzolorenzo wrote: »

Hard to imagine the silage quality would be up to much using that system! Having an open pit for a week and a half :eek:

Theres a guy near us does that and has grand silage.The secret is to layer the silage so that no older silage is exposed and this fella even puts it up himself but packs it well

Sam Kade

keep going wrote: »

Theres a guy near us does that and has grand silage.The secret is to layer the silage so that no older silage is exposed and this fella even puts it up himself but packs it well

Exactly, we often spent a fortnight in wet weather putting in double chop silage covering the pit on very wet days and it always turned out perfect.