With interest in the concept of grass mergers surging amongst those in Irish machinery circles, the Irish Farmers Journal travelled to Mallow to catch up with Jim Good and find out how his Kuhn merger has performed over the course of its first season, where it gathered several thousand acres of forage. Jim was the first Irish contractor to purchase a Kuhn grass merger, namely the Merge Maxx 950.

To keep his three self-propelled foragers moving, Jim was previously rowing up silage using two four-rotor and two twin-rotor rakes. After encountering his share of stone-related damage to foragers over the years, Jim felt that the concept of merger could help to reduce downtime while offering a more professional service to his clients.

Jim looked at various different brands over the course of the autumn and into the spring of this year. He explained that his decision to go to Kuhn was based largely on two factors: price and proximity to his local dealer.

When asked for his verdict after its first season, Jim noted: “It’s still early days. The merger is not the be all and end all, but I like it and will continue to run one next year. It leaves a nicer swath than a rake, but still not as good as a swather mounted on a mower. But it’s as good as what can be expected. The merger works, but it’s very expensive for what it does.”

Jim Good was the first Irish contractor to purchase a Kuhn grass merger.

“I do like the Merge Maxx 950. However, it’s only really gathering three ledges in one pass. I think the newly introduced larger Merge Maxx could be the go-to model for contractors running foragers, but ultimately this will all depend on the price. Overall, to be fair, the merger did exactly what it was supposed to – less stones, less clay and less debris coupled with a nice even swath.”