Cumbrian Silage 2023. Lifting first cut with New Hollands and the ‘Big’ drag chopper.
My first outing of the 2023 silage season and a return to familiar ground to see this family operated outfit lifting their 200-acre first cut silage to feed their dairy herd. Driving the Kongskilde FCT 1260 trailed forager is the farms New Holland T7.210 while hauling the Richard Western 12-ton trailers is managed by a NH T6.180. Back at the farm clamping is carried out by a compact but very capable Merlo Turbo Farmer 33.7. Filmed in Cumbria May 2023.
If you enjoy my videos of farm machinery at work in Cumbria (and Southern Scotland), please consider subscribing. Likes and taking the time to comment (preferably positive ones) are always welcomed and I will try to reply as soon as possible although if I’m at work or out filming there might be a delay. Cheers, David.
Absolutely beautiful outfit it is funny I am retired from farming due to ill health I suffer from epilepsy but when I was young I did a good few years drawing silage for a local contractor this was the late 1980"s and 1990"s which seems like years ago when my health allowed me to drive before I was diagnosed with epilepsy but the one thing is machinery has come on with different ways the trailers are high speed heavier axle low profile tyres better spec all around with all machines and tractors in contracting best wishes from Galway Ireland 👍👍❤️❤️
Hi Declan. I completely agree with you, over the last few decades machinery has changed almost beyond recognition not only in the points you’ve raised but also in size. I remember back in my late teens/ early twenties leading 4-tonne , corrugated iron sided silage trailers with a Massey 135 with no brakes to speak of from what then was the big tractor, usually a 75hp MF 590/690/290 that drove the forage harvester. At best you were lifting 15-acres a day that was good going back then, now an outfit like this would clear that in a couple of hours. Happy days though that I’ll never forget. Thanks for your great comment Declan, best wishes from North Cumbria too. Cheers, David
@@davidwinthrop7077 You are so true when my dear father and mother god bless them were alive a few of us would join up a few times in the year cutting with which ever version of single, double or precision chop harvester we had a ug,more had tarrup,gyro or jf depends on farmers yes we had a ford 5000 great tractor,even in the early days had a ford 6610 with X block engine with 10 ton or 14 ton tandem trailers connected straight to hydraulic brakes off foot pedal definitely no air brakes on a 30km tractor 😭😭 but a great tractor with one flaw too highly geared would get stuck on soft ground it was only 2wd best wishes to all in Cumbria enjoy the beautiful weather from Declan O Shaughnessy in Galway Ireland living in Tubber right beside Conor Engineering ltd.
@@declanoshaughnessy7733 Great reply Declan. I’ve just goggle earthed Tubber, it looks a beautiful place to live. All the best to you too my friend from David just North of Carlisle.
Great video. Very well maintained looking machinery, nice looking trailer's.
Hi Mick. Yes very well maintained machinery and those dark grey trailers do looks the part. Many thanks again, Cheers David
Class video love the merlo on the pit 😎
Ah, yes it’s a great little machine. Pleased you enjoyed it, cheers, David
Lovely looking outfit. I like how he can connect the pipes etc without getting off the tractor
Yes that’s a bit nifty isn’t it! Thanks for watching and your comment. Much appreciated, Dave
Yes, thought that was a great idea too
How many acres a day can u lift ?
@@patrickmurphy7931 Hi Patrick. It took three days of chopping to lift the 200-acre crop so about 70-acres a day. Pretty good for a 3-man team.
That's a really good return when u have to drop and hook up trailers very impressive I suppose the big fields help aswell great video
It’s an absolute pleasure to watch
Many thanks once again Rick. Hopefully I can keep posting more videos for you to enjoy. Cheers David
Great video brings back good memories
Thanks H. Really pleased you enjoyed the video and it’s evoked those memories for you. Cheers, David
Looked some tidy silage! Neat outfit. Brilliant video 💪🏻 🏴
Yes it was a great crop (shed now full) and well looked after machinery. Thanks once again, cheers David
Perfektní! 😆
Thank you Frantise
Another great one Dave. Like the merlo on the pit.
Thanks Kieran. Yes that little Merlo can punch well above its weight, great little machine! Cheers, David.
Great video David
Many thanks Michael, pleased you enjoyed watching it. Cheers, David.
Lovely outfit
It certainly is. Cheers, David.
Great vid as always
Many thanks John, pleased you enjoyed it. Cheers, David.
great video - that is really nice kit
Thanks Jack. A bit of pride in maintaining equipment never does any harm! Cheers, David.
Very nice and unusual. Coupling up is tricky work!
Your correct Alan. Definitely not the easiest of manoeuvres but the driver got plenty of practice through the day. Cheers, David.
Cracking video David, nice to see a big drag chopper in action, looks like one i filmed last year but wasn't sure of the model, great weather at the moment, cheers Stephen . 🚜🎥
Isn’t it just. Been here, there and everywhere these past few days and got some good filming done. Just lots of editing to sort out now! Thanks Steve, cheers Dave.
Great video miss this job but don't miss the long hours lol
I agree with you there! Thanks for watching David and pleased you enjoyed the video. Cheers, David!
@@davidwinthrop7077 You're welcome miss farming life
Nice set up , silage should be going into a pit at that speed to let it compact 👍
Thanks for watching and your valid comments on the setup. Not that long after I left there was another tractor joined the Merlo on rolling duties which as you quite rightly point out the compaction is the key to good silage. Lots of farms round my area make use of indoor clamps but an equal amount use an outdoor pit too, just depends on the farm. Many thanks for watching and taking the time to comment. Much appreciated! Cheers, David
Why do you take the silage in a hall and not outside in a pitt?
Hi Lorenz. There’s a lot of farms in Cumbria that have covered clamps but equally there’s many farms that use an open pit. I would think there’s no difference in quality with either but an undercover clamp could be used as a machinery shed when empty. Good question though, hopefully I’ve explained why. Cheers, David.
@@davidwinthrop7077 Most of the silage-haylage clamps in northern norway have a roof over them. I guess the most important reason for the roofs there is so that they dont have to remove 2-4 meter snow every time they need to get silage out, and at least in the goat farm i worked on in 1980s we had a winsj in the roof that was mounted on a rail to lift silage and transport it to the door where we used wheelbarrows to transport the last bit. 🙂 No need for a mixing vagon since the 80-100 goats only got a few cups of grain-mineral mix + as much gras silage they wanted in the winter. And in the spring-summer-autum they was out all day in the forest, and just got same mineral-grain mix and a little bit of silage IF they wanted when they came in to be milked. The farmer i worked for had a desent tractor with a good snow blower but it often was more than enough work to keep the drivways free for snow in winter, becouse even if it didnt always came down NEW SNOW,, the wind-storms often MOVED whats was already there. hehe
@@samkom33 That’s a great explanation, thanks for taking the time to post it. Cheers, David
Why Dont you row the swarths up?
It had been rowed up two rows into one with a Krone twin-rotor rake that morning. It’s possible that my camera angles didn’t show that but the 12t trailers were being filled in 5-6 minutes so plenty of grass in the rows.
@@davidwinthrop7077 that chopper made it look easy!! Great video
@@amps8lfc It certainly did. Thanks Tim, cheers Dave