Silage wagons – four of the best put to the test

There is renewed interest in silage wagons as farmers want to take more control of their silage harvest. For some contractors, using the wagon is seen as an opportunity to cut operating costs. For farmers, it’s seen as a way of getting rougher chop silage for better digestion as well as cutting costs.

We decided to put four of the leading manufacturers to the test. Our choices were Pottinger, Strautmann, Lely and Krone.

The key aspects of the machines that we wanted to look at were operation and functionality, particularly important when assessing what these machines are like to work and live with on a daily basis. Performance is very important too.

With varying specification of machines and different crop conditions and fields, this is more difficult to assess, although speed of filling, crop flow and chop quality were all taken note of. Other areas we looked at were set-up and serviceability.

To try and get a good comparison of the wagons, each manufacturer was asked to provide about a 30m3 capacity (actual volume) machine. This is equivalent to about 50m3 of compressed silage, a figure which some manufacturers like to quote.

This size is popular among farmers and contractors. Due to machine availability, the four machines did vary in size and specification.

To see what these machines are made of, we worked them through 200 acres of second cut silage on a farm which threw up varying crops, field sizes and shapes and distances to travel.

Power for all four machines came courtesy of New Holland, who supplied four identical 200hp T7.200 tractors. These came fitted with New Holland’s latest IntelliView 3 touch screen terminal with task control, which came in useful for checking if these machines are IsoBus compatible.

Silage wagon test Lely report – Tigo XR 75

Aimed at contractors, the Lely Tigo XR series is a new concept, which can be used both as a silage wagon and as a silage transport wagon. The XR uses a hydraulically adjustable multi-function bulkhead to allow additional loading for increased load volume with a shorter wagon.

Our test machine was the Tigo XR 75, which sits in between the XR 65 and XR 100 and is the firm’s second largest wagon. The 75 denotes its compressed cubic capacity; its actual volume is 44m3.

Features and functions

The Lely’s party piece has to be its movable headboard. The headboard moves through an 80-degree arc via two hydraulic cylinders, almost like density cylinders on a round baler.

Other features include a stainless steel floor (the only one to have one in this test), passive rear wheel steering, hydro-pneumatic suspension, cam-less pick-up reel and a locking tailgate.

The front third of the floor is also sloping and is 250mm lower at the front than at the back. This aids filling as the crop does not have to travel upwards as far, similar to the Krone. Material also hits the headboard at an angle which keeps the load compact.

Operation and control

The filling process is automated at the push of a button. The Lely system also sets the correct drawbar height, lowers the pick-up, and controls the position of the headboard and floor.

Floor movement is triggered by the pressure build- up in the two rams which move the headboard. This can be varied depending on how dense you want the load and to adapt to varying crops.

Once a certain pressure level is reached, the floor will then automatically move and keep moving until the ram pressure drops. This means the floor only moves as much as it needs to, sometimes only a chain link at a time.

During filling, once most of the wagon is full, the headboard then starts to move forward to create more space for the crop to fill. When full, the headboard comes right to the front, which is a bit disconcerting the first time you see it happen as you think it is going to come through the back window.

Control came from the wagon’s control box, which we also tied into the tractor’s IsoBus. This meant we could also monitor what was going on with the wagon. Using ultrasonic sensors, we could ‘see’ how much is in the wagon.

The unloading procedure is just as easy as the filling. One touch of a button and the rear door opens followed by floor activation.

Its clever suspension and passive rear axle really helped to protect the land from this giant. The rear axle can also be locked up when reversing is required.

Performance

All wagons will get about 20% more in when filled manually with tactical filling. With the Lely movable headboard, the machine does the work for you. We had the headboard set to 25% of its maximum working pressure.

The laden weight of the Lely is big at nearly 40 tonnes including the tractor. The air brakes definitely helped stopping. You would want to put 250hp to 300hp up front to get the most out of this machine.

The wide pick-up reel meant we could be less accurate when following the swath, but did mean a bit of weaving is required for even load filling.

The pick-up reel’s ground following ability is impressive. It uses two adjustable jockey wheels and a wide roller behind the pick-up reel. It coped well with some tricky terrain, all the while maintaining a smooth crop flow.

Despite its huge size, the Lely is surprisingly agile, even in a tight yard.

Set-up and serviceability

Depending on your tractor’s capabilities, the Lely’s hydraulics can be switched between load sensing and non-load sensing via a simple valve block. We would recommend load sensing due to the sheer demand of hydraulic flow. And you will notice your fuel bills drop as the tractor does not have to constantly pump oil.

Service access is good all-round, with wide opening side panels to let you get at the rotor. The rotor can be reversed manually via a crank handle. For the most part, just hydraulically disengaging the knives from the cab does the trick.

All knives are spring loaded for protection and this system works. The knife bank also pulls out to the side for easy maintenance. For a longer chop length, half of the knives can be disengaged. Its feed rotor fingers are also individually welded in place, which makes replacement easier and cheaper.

A nice feature is having service buttons dotted around the machine that let you carry out certain functions such as lowering the knife bank and moving the floor.

Test team verdict

Even though the Lely was not much longer than the 35m3 capacity Krone, it had 9m3 more load space. But where can you put an additive tank?

Build quality is superb. It uses a substantial looking chassis, although, it is slightly let down by some scrappy interior tin work. At the rear too, its floor motor’s pipe work looks exposed and vulnerable. That said, it is a great machine to use.

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Silage wagon test Krone report – MX 350 GL

Krone has been selling wagons in Ireland since the 1970’s. Our test machine was the Krone MX 350 GL, which is aimed at large farmers and contractors, with the ability to gobble 24 to 28 hectares (60 to 70 acres) per day depending on conditions. It is a dual purpose machine and can be used as a trailer due to its open top design.

Features and functions

All drives, except one chain to the pick-up, are via gearboxes and shafts, protected by dog clutches, which gives some heavy-duty confidence. The pick-up reel is also cam-less with just two bearings and Hardox-tipped tines.

Krone claims this system is more durable and provides even tip speed for better crop flow. At the rear, it uses twin hydraulic motors, one either side of the machine, to drive the slatted floor. It has a 100mm lower sloping floor at the front to aid filling.

Because the crop has less distance to travel upwards, and because the crop is then angled towards the bulkhead, it also packs in the load tighter.

The machine comes IsoBus ready and additive ready. The latter is activated when the pick-up reel is lowered. Ours featured optional weigh cells on the drawbar and two on the chassis.

Its pair of axles features a clever stability control system which transfers weight via hydraulics and double-acting rams. This results in even pressure on all four wheels, whatever the terrain.

It also has a passive rear axle to give rear axle steering. Its axles and air brakes are rated to 65kph. Hydraulic brakes are an option, as is the choice of hitch.

Operation and controls

Like all the wagons in our test, the Krone can be loaded manually or automatically. We stuck with the latter.

The Krone is controlled by the manufacturer’s Gamma control box. It features a 250mm LCD screen surrounded by blister buttons which correlate to functions on-screen.

We found the Krone’s controller to be the best. It displayed plenty of clear, useful information, such as how much is on board, when the floor is moving, and knife status. It is also very easy to use, with clear symbols representing the various functions.

If your tractor is IsoBus ready, you can also control the wagon via the tractor’s terminal. However, we found it easier using the machine’s own controller.

Essentially, three modes are used during operation: filling, transport and emptying. When filling is selected, the machine automatically moves the bed backwards as the wagon fills up. Once full, the machine gives you an audio and visual warning.

Transport mode then locks out all hydraulic functions except the passive steering, for safety. And emptying mode automatically takes care of opening the rear door and starting the bed. Once the bed is up and running, bed speed can also be increased to discharge faster. Then it is back to transport mode, followed by filling mode once in the field.

Load density can be altered from the control box by either altering the delay, at which point the floor moves after being triggered by a sensor at the top/front of the machine, or the speed of the floor.

The delay can vary from 0 to 10 seconds – the longer the delay, the more material can be packed in. The slower the floor moves, the more material gets packed in and this setting can be conveniently altered on the move from the cab to adapt to crop conditions.

When reversing is required, its passive steering can also be locked via the control box. This is mostly necessary in the yard as you can get away reversing a few metres in the field without the need to lock it. As an option, active steering can be specified, which works travelling both forwards and backwards.

Forage wagon data, such as number and weight of loads, can be stored on the controller and transferred for billing purposes.

Considering the Krone was slightly larger than the 31m3 capacity Pottinger and Strautmann machines, the effect on the tractor was hardly noticeable. We found 200hp up-front a good match for the tractor.

Performance

Krone claims that this machine is capable of managing 24 to 28 hectares (60 to 70 acres) per day. We found in our situation with half the fields next to the clamp and the other half requiring a three-mile round trip, the firm was really underselling it as we felt 40.5 hectares (100 acres) plus per day in these conditions was easily achievable.

As with all the wagons, chop quality was good, better than the theoretical chop length of 37mm. We found this is more due to the way the crop is presented perpendicular to the knife bank, rather than the machine’s chopping system.

Crop flow was good too. The cam-less pick-up provided smooth and quiet operation, the loudest component was the chain on the pto guard. We found when picking up grass first thing in the morning, the tines tended to miss a little of the crop as the cam-less system lacks that scooping effect.

Set-up and serviceability

The Krone’s knife bank has the ability to disengage half the knives. With two knife banks, you can select no knives, 20 knives, 21 knives, or all of them. You could run one bank of knives until dull and then engage the other bank.

For knife service they are hydraulically lowered and then swung out to one side for knife inspection. The manufacturer claims that it takes about half an hour to an hour to sharpen all the blades. Depending on crop, these only need sharpening about every 121 hectares (300 acres).

The Krone uses four floor chains to drive the slatted floor, with their tension simply screw adjusted from underneath.

Test team verdict

The Krone certainly delivered in terms of performance, build quality and definitely on ease of use. Its control box was impressive with a good level of information displayed. Despite its 35m3 capacity build, it was agile both in-field and the in yard.

It seems a robust machine too. It is not too power-hungry as we discovered when we tried it behind a smaller tractor. So, if you are in the market, the Krone is seriously worth considering.

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Silage wagon test Pöttinger report – Torro 5100 Powermatic

For Austrian manufacturer Pöttinger, its Torro 5100 Powermatic slots into the more popular farmer and mid-contractor category machine, with a capacity of 31 cubic metres.

On initial walk-round, it does not have some of the bells and whistles of the competition but this should not be overemphasised. Pöttinger is the only manufacturer so far to offer an on-board knife sharpening system. In these fuel sensitive times, that is a big plus.

Features and functions

Pöttinger’s Torro 5100 is rated for tractors of 130 horsepower and upwards. It incorporates hydraulic and electronic systems such as ISObus and load sensing hydraulic systems.

The PTO is driven at 1,000rpm with an overload cam-clutch at the wagon end. The shaft drive feeds into a gearbox with oil immersed gears transferring the drive to the feed rotor. Use of chain drive is limited to just the pickup and the wagon floor.

Pöttinger has retained cam-type pick-ups across its entire range with claims of more even crop flow, as the tines are closer to the rotor for better and gentler lifting of the crop with less potential for soil contamination.

The Powermatic loading rotor has a diameter of 800mm and has an eight-point star feeding the crop through a bank of 39 knives, providing a theoretical chop length of 35mm. Pöttinger claims that the discharge end of the chopping rotor is 90mm below the scraper floor. This, it claims, protects the forage and enables trouble-free loading of the loading chamber, and a 15% lower energy requirement.

At the front is a swivelling towing eye. The test wagon was equipped with hydraulic brakes, but airbrakes can be specified. Parabolic springs and a drawbar damper provide road-going suspension, while a passively steered rear axle aids manoeuvrability.

Operation and controls

With the PTO engaged and hydraulics doing their thing, control and operation of the Pottinger Torro 5100 is handled through the firm’s Power Control handset. Again, we set the wagon filling function to operate in automatic.

We found the Lely and Krone wagons handsets were in certain respects smaller and maybe simpler than those of the Pöttinger and Strautmann. The work screen on the Pöttinger Power Control displayed all that was needed for the operator to pick up silage. It was simple and intuitive to use, displaying AUTO in the top left corner of the screen to indicate auto-fill mode was selected.

Various other buttons on the handset raise/lower the pick-up, put knives in/out of work, raise/lower the drawbar or lock up the rear steered axle if you have to reverse. All were pretty straightforward and easy to use.

The screen indicated what was going on, wagon floor moving to fill or full, knives in or out, rear axle locked and so on. Unloading at the silage pit was straightforward and automatic. The auto unloading feature selects low floor speed and once partially unloaded the operator can then select fast floor speed on the handset.

As a safety feature, the rear tailgate drops/closes the first part of the way under gravity so it was a bit slow in that department until it is pressurised shut. You can also alter settings for the auto filling function.

Performance

The field performance of the Pöttinger wagon was good. Speeds in excess 12kph were easily achievable. The cam-type pick-up performed well leaving nothing behind, even in light conditions.

One field with both tight bends and serious humps/hollows required continuous adjustment of the hydraulic drawbar to cater for the extreme terrain. Only one blockage occurred (driver error) and it was cleared simply by powering out the knives and re-starting the PTO.

Manoeuvrability or lack of it would be a perceived limiting factor for big machines like these, but the positioning of the axles roughly mid-way plus a rear steered axle facilitates some pretty extreme manoeuvres.

The big surprise was just how much grass can be squashed into a wagon. With around eight tonnes of grass per load, it would not take long to clear reasonably close fields.

Set-up and serviceability

Pöttinger’s hydraulic system can simply be set up for load sensing if your tractor is suitably equipped. Load sensing saves the tractor’s hydraulic system and also saves fuel as the hydraulic system only operates when it is needed.

Daily maintenance is straightforward with the wide angle PTO shaft being the only awkward component to grease. A grease bank on the left facilitates greasing of the slatted floor’s front shaft bearings. There are lots of grease points on the axles. The cam track needs to be lubricated once a year and the main bearing on the cam arm after every 80 loads.

Pöttinger’s trump card is its knife sharpening system which sharpens the knives in situ without having to remove them. The Pöttinger Autocut, automatic knife sharpening system sharpens the entire bank of knives in around four minutes.

Test team verdict

Having operated the Pöttinger Torro 5100 over a couple of days, it was becoming easier to understand why Pottinger wagons do so well in the marketplace despite lacking some of the bells and whistles of the competition. Build quality is excellent and operation is simple. Our Torro 5100 with Power Control handset was easy to use and understand. Without a split knife bank in sight or cam-less pick-up, Pottinger has still managed to produce a good wagon.

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Silage wagon test Strautmann report – Mega-Vitesse CFS 3401

Strautmann silage wagons compete strongly with Pottinger for the lion’s share of the Irish silage wagon market. The new Strautmann Mega-Vitesse CFS 3401 fills a gap in the market between the Super-Vitesse and Giga-Vitesse.

At 32 cubic metres in capacity, featuring 40 knives and a similar control box, it is a close competitor to our Pöttinger test machine. It is an ideally-sized wagon for large farmers or small to medium sized contractors.

Features and functions

Drawbar design, PTO and drive to the rotor is standard enough stuff on the Mega-Vitesse CFS 3401 including a wide angle PTO with overload cam-clutch and full gearbox drive for the rotor.

In front of and behind the rotor, things are a little different. Strautmann uses a cam-less pick-up incorporating six rows of tines arranged in a spiral configuration.

Next is the CFS drum or roller between the pick-up and rotor. The shallow spiral CFS drum spreads out the incoming crop across the full width of the rotor. This claims to even the load across the rotor and also across the knife bank. Both the CFS roller and pick-up are protected from overload with cam-clutches.

Strautmann knives are double-edged and reversible. When one side gets blunt they can be removed and turned around to expose a new, sharp edge. In effect, you have a second set of knives without having to carry a second set.

Strautmann’s knife protection system is unique. Using a cam system, once triggered the knife remains out until re-set by the operator. This is done by powering out the knives and back in again. To indicate that a knife is out, a light beam travelling across the knives is interrupted, which triggers a sensor and this is displayed on the control box/handset.

The control box incorporates manual and auto-fill modes. Unloading uses twin motors and drive gearboxes, one either side of the floor chain’s rear drive shaft. For two-speed unloading of the grass, the hydraulic motors are driven firstly in parallel then in series through a changeover hydraulic valve controlled from the handset.

For manoeuvrability, a passively-steered back axle is used. To reverse, the rear axle is locked in-line by two hydraulic locking rams activated from the in-cab controller/handset. Parabolic sprung axles were standard on our test machine as were 700/40-22.5 tyres.

The Strautmann was equipped to be operated by either open centre hydraulic system or a tractor equipped with (and plumbed for) load sensing hydraulics. The wagon is also ISObus compatible.

Operation and controls

Operation of the Strautmann Mega-Vitesse CFS 3401 was straightforward. It was a case of setting up the control box to auto-fill the wagon, setting the drawbar height and lowering the pick-up from simple buttons on the control box/handset.

Both the Pöttinger and the Strautmann use similar units. Both are ISObus compatible, so can be controlled through a suitably equipped tractor console. Both handsets are well laid out.

In the field, operation was straightforward, especially in auto-fill mode (too chicken to go to manual in case we broke anything and had to dig out a wagon full of grass!) The handset would indicate when the wagon was filling and a solid beep and stop on the screen lets you know it is full. Getting braver later, you could always squeeze a little more in to finish a row.

At the silage clamp, the Strautmann auto-unloading facility started the discharge floor slowly and required the operator to press the ‘go faster’ button. The tailgate is mechanically locked in the closed position (as it was the Lely and Krone but not the Pöttinger).

Performance

In the field, you could drive as fast as you felt comfortable with. Field conditions and grass conditions varied throughout the testing and none of it seemed to be any great problem for the wagon.

We noticed that where the rows were very light and/or very dry, the camless pick-up struggled to pick the crop up cleanly because it was spinning at such a pace. In heavier, normal crops, there was no problem. In terms of daily capacity, the Strautmann would be much the same as the Krone or Pöttinger.

The CFS roller seemed to do its thing, working its socks off in a chaotic fashion. Loading on the tractor was very even. While we didn’t measure fuel consumption, in theory there has got to be fuel savings with the CFS system. And in theory, knives should stay sharper longer.

The Strautmann control box functions are not as clear as those on the Pöttinger unit. More than once the machine was operated with a knife knocked out and this remained unnoticed because the graphics were very small.

Set-up and serviceability

Setting up the Strautmann Mega-Vitesse CFS 3401 was straightforward. The only thing to add is perhaps to set the wheel height for the pick-up wheels. Once you get used to the wagon you would operate it in manual filling mode to squeeze an extra bit of grass in.

If a tractor is equipped with load-sensing hydraulics, then it should be plumbed to save fuel.

From a service perspective, the estimate is that it should take 15 to 30 minutes to remove all of the knives, turn them and clean the bank. Sharpening has got to take 30 minutes plus. All grease points are easily accessible; gearboxes are maintenance-free and the wagon is equipped with auto-tensioners on the floor.

Test team verdict

The Strautmann performed well. It has the potential to save fuel if the CFS roller is as effective as claimed. The cam-less pick-up will attract those looking at the service side of things. The double-edged knives are a simple way of extending the knife and wagon operation time without having to re-sharpen them. It does compensate for not being able to split the knife bank.

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Forage wagon test summary - what we learned

After spending a few days with these machines, we found all four were very smooth to work. Leaf loss and crop left in the field was also kept to a minimum. Chop quality was similar between the machines; the way the crop is presented to the feed rotor is the biggest determining factor.

We recommend plenty of power and tractors with load-sensing hydraulic capabilities to get the most out of these machines.

While the transport side of the work may slow down the work to a certain extent, speed of filling in the field makes up for it.

All of the machines loaded in heavy swaths at about 14kph. With a wide mouth to the feed rotor, you can almost push the machine as hard as you dare.

It has been an exceptionally good summer, so field surfaces were undented. Operating wagons up wet hills can throw soil into the pick-up reel, contaminating the crop, so you have to plan your route in such conditions.

While this was not a true comparison test, it was interesting to see how the different features and designs compared. We had the tried and tested machines from Krone, Pottinger and Strautmann and the design innovator from Lely.