With the World Ploughing Championships returning to Rathineska this year, preparations are under way with the first cut of silage lifted from the site last week.
Given the size of the event, it was no surprise that some serious fire power was required to move the grass.
Local contractor Roger Perry was employed to pick up the grass for a local dairy farmer.
Roger enlisted Kilkenny-based Booth Brothers to help with the 240-odd-acre job.
Both contractors are dyed in the blue wool, with full fleets of New Holland tractors and matching brand yellow harvesters. Roger is currently running a 2021 New Holland FR650 crop cruiser, which is in its second season with him.
Booth Brothers run a 2019 New Holland FR780 crop cruiser which is new to them this year.
Booths' FR9080 and TSA135 have clocked over 34,000 hours together.
Robert Booth says that when it came to changing their previous harvester, a 2007 FR9080 to the FR780, they decided that they would hold on to the old model as a backup.
When I arrived at the field, Perry’s FR650 and Booth’s older harvester were at work; the FR9080 was moving nicely through the heavy crop of grass.
Three loaders were utilised on the pit to keep the grass away from the yellow monsters.
Robert says that the 9080 joined them as a three-year-old harvester with 2,000 odd hours on the clock. The big harvester has now clocked 7,000 hours.
While I was sitting in the cab it had 6,994 hours clocked and it ran over the next thousand later that day. This is high hours for one of these machines but it proves that if well minded they can work for many years.
Roger Perry is running a Kuhn Merger this year.
Booths use the 9080 as a backup machine when the newer machine is in the workshop for maintenance or repairs.
Robert says that a couple of times this year, the older harvester has been used on smaller jobs to bring crop from different blocks at the same time to avoid congestion at the pit.
Robert says that having two harvesters on smaller jobs doesn’t double output but certainly improves efficiency for them. Rowing up the grass on this job were a Claas twin rotor rake and a Kuhn Merger.
On the job there was a massive range of tractors in use, with up to 14 tractors and trailers involved during the two-day job.
Most of the tractors involved belonged to the two contractors so were of the blue variety but there was some help supplied by local farmers and contractors, so an odd John Deere or Massey Ferguson arrived under the spout for a load.
Roger Perry is running a Kuhn Merger this year.
Of the New Holland lineup, the standout machine was a 2006-plated New Holland TSA135. This may seem strange as there were much newer and more higher-powered New Hollands on the long draw.
The humble TSA has been in the Booth fleet since new and has done nearly every job in the operation.
It has been busy since the day it arrived. It has clocked a staggering 26,000 hours.
Booths' FR780 firing grass into a trailer.
Robert says that from the day it arrived it has been pumping out well above its rated horsepower.
It has been trouble-free since day one with the only major issue being a clutch pack that had to be replaced in the last couple of thousand hours.
A mixed fleet of tractors and trailers were involved in this mammoth silage job.
On the second day of the job, the chance to run the three harvesters together occurred. So with a little bit shuffling and a small delay to picking up, we managed to line up the three big New Holland harvesters with blue tractors and trailers under the spouts and munched three rows at the same time. This is not something you see every day.
With over 2,000 horsepower of grass chopping grunt in one field, the trailers and drivers were busy.
Busy place
With this sort of fire power in the field and on the draw, the pit was always going to be a busy place.
A sizeable area of concrete and two big pits were in use.
On the pits were two loaders belonging to Roger Perry, a Volvo L70 and JCB 419 and Booth Brothers’ L70.
Watching the three loaders at work was like watching a very large and powerful yellow ballet.
The loads of grass were disappearing up the pits and being levelled very quickly and precisely.
Over the two days, the 240 odd acre ploughing site was cleared of its crop of grass. This shows the sheer scale of the event set to take place this September.
With the World Ploughing Championships returning to Rathineska this year, preparations are under way with the first cut of silage lifted from the site last week.
Given the size of the event, it was no surprise that some serious fire power was required to move the grass.
Local contractor Roger Perry was employed to pick up the grass for a local dairy farmer.
Roger enlisted Kilkenny-based Booth Brothers to help with the 240-odd-acre job.
Both contractors are dyed in the blue wool, with full fleets of New Holland tractors and matching brand yellow harvesters. Roger is currently running a 2021 New Holland FR650 crop cruiser, which is in its second season with him.
Booth Brothers run a 2019 New Holland FR780 crop cruiser which is new to them this year.
Booths' FR9080 and TSA135 have clocked over 34,000 hours together.
Robert Booth says that when it came to changing their previous harvester, a 2007 FR9080 to the FR780, they decided that they would hold on to the old model as a backup.
When I arrived at the field, Perry’s FR650 and Booth’s older harvester were at work; the FR9080 was moving nicely through the heavy crop of grass.
Three loaders were utilised on the pit to keep the grass away from the yellow monsters.
Robert says that the 9080 joined them as a three-year-old harvester with 2,000 odd hours on the clock. The big harvester has now clocked 7,000 hours.
While I was sitting in the cab it had 6,994 hours clocked and it ran over the next thousand later that day. This is high hours for one of these machines but it proves that if well minded they can work for many years.
Roger Perry is running a Kuhn Merger this year.
Booths use the 9080 as a backup machine when the newer machine is in the workshop for maintenance or repairs.
Robert says that a couple of times this year, the older harvester has been used on smaller jobs to bring crop from different blocks at the same time to avoid congestion at the pit.
Robert says that having two harvesters on smaller jobs doesn’t double output but certainly improves efficiency for them. Rowing up the grass on this job were a Claas twin rotor rake and a Kuhn Merger.
On the job there was a massive range of tractors in use, with up to 14 tractors and trailers involved during the two-day job.
Most of the tractors involved belonged to the two contractors so were of the blue variety but there was some help supplied by local farmers and contractors, so an odd John Deere or Massey Ferguson arrived under the spout for a load.
Roger Perry is running a Kuhn Merger this year.
Of the New Holland lineup, the standout machine was a 2006-plated New Holland TSA135. This may seem strange as there were much newer and more higher-powered New Hollands on the long draw.
The humble TSA has been in the Booth fleet since new and has done nearly every job in the operation.
It has been busy since the day it arrived. It has clocked a staggering 26,000 hours.
Booths' FR780 firing grass into a trailer.
Robert says that from the day it arrived it has been pumping out well above its rated horsepower.
It has been trouble-free since day one with the only major issue being a clutch pack that had to be replaced in the last couple of thousand hours.
A mixed fleet of tractors and trailers were involved in this mammoth silage job.
On the second day of the job, the chance to run the three harvesters together occurred. So with a little bit shuffling and a small delay to picking up, we managed to line up the three big New Holland harvesters with blue tractors and trailers under the spouts and munched three rows at the same time. This is not something you see every day.
With over 2,000 horsepower of grass chopping grunt in one field, the trailers and drivers were busy.
Busy place
With this sort of fire power in the field and on the draw, the pit was always going to be a busy place.
A sizeable area of concrete and two big pits were in use.
On the pits were two loaders belonging to Roger Perry, a Volvo L70 and JCB 419 and Booth Brothers’ L70.
Watching the three loaders at work was like watching a very large and powerful yellow ballet.
The loads of grass were disappearing up the pits and being levelled very quickly and precisely.
Over the two days, the 240 odd acre ploughing site was cleared of its crop of grass. This shows the sheer scale of the event set to take place this September.
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