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The job of feeding that size herd is no small undertaking and involves a fleet of machinery that many a contractor would be proud of.
The farm does all its own work, from cutting silage with a John Deere self-propelled harvester to spreading fertiliser with a KRM (Bogballe) 3t machine with weight cell technology.
All that machinery is in place in order to make the most of the grass that is available to them.
They tend to take four cuts of silage each year and having their own gear allows them to cut when the quality is in the grass.
Putting it into the pit is done with a Volvo L60E which has clocked a nearly trouble-free 13,200 hours and having seen the loader it is a credit to its owners.
Trioliet Triomaster S 300 block cutter
When the silage is coming out of the pit a Trioliet Triomaster S 300 block cutter is used. This is the 3m³ version.
Mark believes that this was the first one of these on the island of Ireland when he bought it three years ago.
The Triomaster S is an imposing sight in comparison to other block cutters on the market.
This attachment has the capability to cut silage from a pit but also to handle many other feed stuffs as it has a large enclosed area once it has been closed.
Up to 3t of 30% DM silage and up to 2.4t of meal or powdered material can be lifted.
The way that it cuts the silage from the pit leaving a good clean face and its ability to handle all the material required for each mix are the main reason that Mark went with this monster of a block cutter.
Trioliet Solomix 2-2800ZKXT
Mixing of all the feed on this farm is done using a Trioliet Solomix 2-2800ZKXT This is a 28m³ twin tub machine.
They use it to mix dry feed, to mix silage and straw and even has been used for mixing vegetables in the past. This is the second Trioliet that they have used on the farm after years of trying other brands and have now settled on this machine.
The machine has now been on the farm for four years and it is expected that it will be replaced next year. During its third year it received a new set of blades and that is the only wearing parts that have been replaced.
The volumes that are going through this machine make for serious reading – about 25t of silage mix is produced per day and 140t of meal are mixed each month. So this machine is very busy.
Ford TW15
The tractor that this machine is attached to changes occasionally from the Ford TW15, that was used on the day I was there to a Fendt 718. Whichever tractor it is on the Trioliet can be set to work depending on the technology or power available.
The wagon is controlled by a control box in the cab of either tractor, there is also a very nifty wireless screen that can be mounted in the loader so that the weight of material gone into the machine can be monitored remotely
All that is required is a power supply for the control panel and screen.
From this control panel the weight can be monitored and using this the other neat feature on this machine can be set.
The SHIFTTRONIC gearbox allows for two-speed mixing, from the control panel.
The gearbox can be set electronically to shift speeds when a certain weight has been added. This has two uses; one that it speeds up the mixing process and a second which can set it to change gear in order to remove the pressure from the tractor driving.
In Mark’s case he had it set to 4.5t for the TW, so the feeder runs in the higher speed when the weight is less and then drops to make it easier and more mechanically sympathetic when the weight gets up.
The need for gear
If the feeder is on the Fendt, Mark sets the speed change to happen at 6 or 7t due to the extra power and the soft start PTO that is available on the newer machine.
Mark is a great believer in having the right gear for the job on farm when he needs it and this goes from having his own silage-making equipment right through to having the feeding capacity to feed his large herd in a sensible length of time.
This is in order to leave time to get on with the rest of this sizeable business and have some sort of work-life balance.
Old-school mix in the midlands.
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