‘Tis the season to harvest…and with it now in full swing it’s important that you’re maximising your harvesting efficiency, for both you and your customers. With a number of variables that need to be balanced, whether it’s the weather, your staff, machinery or health and safety considerations, it’s a smart idea to start with the things that you can control.
As you know, things like the weather are out of anyone’s control, but when it comes to increasing your harvesting efficiency, there are things you can determine and change for the better. One of these is looking at your forage harvester and its set up.
In this blog, we give you three key tips to help you get more out of your overall cost when harvesting.
Check out our range of forage trailers here.
1. USE BIGGER TRAILERS
Consider the size of your trailers. Bigger trailers can result in overall time savings, lower costs to you per hour and higher quality silage.
Three 33m3 silage trailers will move as much forage per hour as four 25m3 trailers. Using bigger trailers means less trailer changes for the harvester, less pulling over on raceways to let other trailers past, and of course, one less tractor and driver.
Another bonus when larger trailers are used is that the stack tractor spends more time on the stack rather than waiting for different trailers to unload, resulting in higher quality silage.
2. THE EXTRAS DO MATTER – USE THE RIGHT ADD-ONS
Having the right add-ons can make a world of difference when it comes to increasing harvest productivity. In the contracting business, time is money, so it’s important to minimise machinery down-time and wear and tear by using add-ons that support this:
- Use load sensing brakes to reduce transmission and brake wear and tear
- Use sprung drawbars (that ride smoother) to reduce stress on the tractor towing hitch and make it more comfortable for the driver
- Use a conical body which will unload a lot easier and quicker than a parallel body.
3. CROP PROTECTION
Consider your crop protection. Always safely, quickly and completely cover your load to ensure your customer’s valuable forage isn’t blown away and you retain the maximum volume and quality. This way you’ll also avoid insecure load fines and ensure compliance with the NZTA road code. Make sure that it is done from the tractor cab too, meaning less down time as it can be done while driving.
So, remember – trailer size makes a huge difference, add-ons do matter, and good crop protection gets results. Once you have everything running as efficiently as possible your business will reap the rewards and you can rest easy at the end of a hard day’s work knowing that every second was well worth it. Happy harvesting!
Check out our range of forage trailers here.
