Brian Horner is passionate about his machinery, but in a very practical sort of way. He selects his machinery on the basis of performance, customer demand as well as power and reliability.
Last year, Brian, who runs a farm contracting business from Carrowdore, Co Down, made some machine selection changes that have added to the machinery conversation in his area of North Down and even further afield. With a 2014 self-propelled silage harvester in his fleet, Brian opted to change it early in the season for a more powerful machine and in the process, he changed brand too. And that’s the part that has kept the conversation going since.
Brian traded in his 2014 John Deere 7980 self-propelled silage harvester midway through the season for the top-of-the-range Krone Big X1100. The move was initially provoked because of persistent pick-up tine breakages.
The result was more than he had bargained for. The Big X harvester has delivered in every sense. There’s more power, higher in-field output, higher daily output and the most outstanding result is a 36% cut in fuel consumption.
The big harvester has covered 20 to 24 acres per hour picking up grass silage. When Brian and his team work long silage harvesting days from 4.30am to 10.30pm, they can pick up in the region of 350 acres of silage for north Down farmers – a remarkable achievement for any machine and team of drivers.
Brian has monitored the machine’s performance on the fuel gauge and from his many years of experience. “The 1078hp MAN engine is typically using between 70% and 76% of its power,” said Brian. “The engine is never running at full load, usually running at just around 1100rpm, which is when it at its most economical.”
Brian and his team only pick up the grass – another contractor mows ahead of him and that’s included in his silage harvesting charge of £62 per acre (€153/ha). All crops are cut between three and four times, as farmers in the north Down area are quality-conscious, according to Brian. “In addition, we hire in another contractor to ted and row up the grass ahead of the harvester, and that charge is separate from the silage charge as the number of tedder runs can vary from farm to farm.
Brian says that close to 90% of his customers use a silage additive which he applies on the harvester. The three most popular additives are HM inoculant, Bioferm and Ecosyl.
“Our customers are aware of the need for quality silage with cows yielding from 9,000 to 12,500 litres; quality is a priority in order to control feed costs. High-quality silage cut after no more than six weeks is the target and high-output harvesters such as the Krone Big X allows us to do it,” he says.
Brian uses a dribble bar slurry spreading system with a difference. He has three Vogelsand units that can be fitted directly to tractors as part of an umbilical or pipeline system, or alternatively, can be attached to slurry tankers.
Brian found that his customers were not too happy with the striping caused by the dribble bar method. He liked the overall concept in terms of evenness of spread and the fact that it kept the tractors cleaner.
He set about modifying the machines with a simple and successful strategy. He cut the ends of the dribble bar pipes so that the slurry leaves the pipe about 175mm (7in) off the ground. “This has the effect of spreading the slurry before it hits the ground, giving evenness of application, and my customers prefer the new result,” says Brian.
Brian Horner’s fleet summary
Krone Big X 1100John Deere 7530 x 3John Deere 6140R x 3John Deere 6170M x 2John Deere 6930 Std x 1Komatsu 320.6 wheel loaderJCB 270 telehandlerRedrock 3000 gallon tankers x 3Herron 2500 gallon tankerVogelsang dribble bar spreaders x 35000 metres of slurry pipelineDaewoo diggers x 2Herron Silage Trailers x 7NC Dump Trailers x 2Contact details:
Brian Horner, Carrowdore, Co Down, Tel: 0044-7712-867154
Brian Horner on the issue of tractor choice and fuel economy and his use of a fleet of John Deere tractors: “If you want horsepower you have to feed it.”
“Being a successful contractor is about being honest with your customers and being honest with your dealer suppliers and expecting the same in return.”
“Dealers need to be paid. I negotiate a tough deal, and when the work is done I believe in paying the supplier straight away, we all have to work together.”
Brian Horner is passionate about his machinery, but in a very practical sort of way. He selects his machinery on the basis of performance, customer demand as well as power and reliability.
Last year, Brian, who runs a farm contracting business from Carrowdore, Co Down, made some machine selection changes that have added to the machinery conversation in his area of North Down and even further afield. With a 2014 self-propelled silage harvester in his fleet, Brian opted to change it early in the season for a more powerful machine and in the process, he changed brand too. And that’s the part that has kept the conversation going since.
Brian traded in his 2014 John Deere 7980 self-propelled silage harvester midway through the season for the top-of-the-range Krone Big X1100. The move was initially provoked because of persistent pick-up tine breakages.
The result was more than he had bargained for. The Big X harvester has delivered in every sense. There’s more power, higher in-field output, higher daily output and the most outstanding result is a 36% cut in fuel consumption.
The big harvester has covered 20 to 24 acres per hour picking up grass silage. When Brian and his team work long silage harvesting days from 4.30am to 10.30pm, they can pick up in the region of 350 acres of silage for north Down farmers – a remarkable achievement for any machine and team of drivers.
Brian has monitored the machine’s performance on the fuel gauge and from his many years of experience. “The 1078hp MAN engine is typically using between 70% and 76% of its power,” said Brian. “The engine is never running at full load, usually running at just around 1100rpm, which is when it at its most economical.”
Brian and his team only pick up the grass – another contractor mows ahead of him and that’s included in his silage harvesting charge of £62 per acre (€153/ha). All crops are cut between three and four times, as farmers in the north Down area are quality-conscious, according to Brian. “In addition, we hire in another contractor to ted and row up the grass ahead of the harvester, and that charge is separate from the silage charge as the number of tedder runs can vary from farm to farm.
Brian says that close to 90% of his customers use a silage additive which he applies on the harvester. The three most popular additives are HM inoculant, Bioferm and Ecosyl.
“Our customers are aware of the need for quality silage with cows yielding from 9,000 to 12,500 litres; quality is a priority in order to control feed costs. High-quality silage cut after no more than six weeks is the target and high-output harvesters such as the Krone Big X allows us to do it,” he says.
Brian uses a dribble bar slurry spreading system with a difference. He has three Vogelsand units that can be fitted directly to tractors as part of an umbilical or pipeline system, or alternatively, can be attached to slurry tankers.
Brian found that his customers were not too happy with the striping caused by the dribble bar method. He liked the overall concept in terms of evenness of spread and the fact that it kept the tractors cleaner.
He set about modifying the machines with a simple and successful strategy. He cut the ends of the dribble bar pipes so that the slurry leaves the pipe about 175mm (7in) off the ground. “This has the effect of spreading the slurry before it hits the ground, giving evenness of application, and my customers prefer the new result,” says Brian.
Brian Horner’s fleet summary
Krone Big X 1100John Deere 7530 x 3John Deere 6140R x 3John Deere 6170M x 2John Deere 6930 Std x 1Komatsu 320.6 wheel loaderJCB 270 telehandlerRedrock 3000 gallon tankers x 3Herron 2500 gallon tankerVogelsang dribble bar spreaders x 35000 metres of slurry pipelineDaewoo diggers x 2Herron Silage Trailers x 7NC Dump Trailers x 2Contact details:
Brian Horner, Carrowdore, Co Down, Tel: 0044-7712-867154
Brian Horner on the issue of tractor choice and fuel economy and his use of a fleet of John Deere tractors: “If you want horsepower you have to feed it.”
“Being a successful contractor is about being honest with your customers and being honest with your dealer suppliers and expecting the same in return.”
“Dealers need to be paid. I negotiate a tough deal, and when the work is done I believe in paying the supplier straight away, we all have to work together.”
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