John Deere the reaper, model 7380i ProDrive, is sitting quietly on top of the hill, eagerly waiting for the next job. This machine is used to pick up and chop grass clippings and -in a few weeks- it will also harvest corn silage, in which case it gets an entirely different set of teeth.
There was plenty of other modern farm equipment to see at the yearly held August event. The brands and model designations in the following photoreport are stated as completely as possible, so the agri-adepts among us can look up all the specs if they wish.
New Holland T7.230 – Veenhuis Premium Quad liquid manure tanker with an injector (for injecting the manure directly into the soil).
‘Quad’ explained: four wheels next to each other to reduce the ground pressure.
Fendt 716 Vario – McHale front and rear mower (an R3100).
Fendt Favorit 512C Turboshift – New Holland BB920 baler.
John Deere 6830 – Kverneland e-drill compact S-series power harrow mounted, pneumatic seed drill.
Deutz-Fahr Agrotron 6185 TTV ‘Warrior’ – McHale Fusion 3 Plus integrated baler wrapper. The tractor can take 12 wrapping foil rolls along.
Fendt 720 Vario – Veenhuis Premium HDG liquid manure tanker with an injector.
New Holland T6.175 – Kuhn Vari-Master 151 reversible plow/plough.
New Holland TX67 combine harvester.
This is not a boat trailer, it’s the combine header transporter.
John Deere 6195R – Krone BigPack 1290 XC baler.
New Holland T7.210 – Tebbe manure spreader.
John Deere 6210R – Krone Swadro TC1250 four-rotor rake.
Deutz-Fahr Agrotron 6185 TTV, brand new. It speaks for itself that a Deutz-Fahr is powered by a Deutz engine.
Also looking brand new, yet dating back to the late sixties, a Hanomag Perfekt 400 E.
Another classic, a 1957 Steyr Typ 185.
The tour’s final piece(s) of equipment, a 2009 Volvo FH 6×2*4 flatbed truck towing a full trailer with three axles and a truck (trailer?) mounted forklift. A dedicated hay, grass silage and straw hauler, so it blends in perfectly.
I have always been so impressed with the ingenuity of farm machinery. How the people figured out to make these machines do what they do. Probably a lot of prototypes that ended up in the recycling bin.
My experience was with the very basic farm machinery, 4 bottom plow, 2 row pulled corn picker, spring drags, manure spreader wagon, 2 cyl John Deere’s, the John Deere combine we got had a Hercules flathead six and the engine sat crossways about 15 feet up, had to put an elec fuel pump on it as the tank was well below the engine.
The lead photo of that big harvester reminds me of my brief career working the pea harvest. The harvesting smelled great, just don’t come by a few days later, the stink is terrible. I drove a Super M wide front tractor with a swatter that cut the pea plants down and left them in a windrow for the combines. The swatter used a sickle mower to cut the pea plants, it rode pretty close to the ground and if the fields had ridges in them the mower blades needed to be changed often. The swatter was on the back of the tractor so you were driving backwards when you were cutting down the crop. Also made wheelies very easy as you drove to the next field. No trailering, top the fuel tank off and off down the road you went. The harvesters were towed machines. You had to lean out the back of the cab and keep the “mouth” of the harvester centered on the windrow. The “mouth” was hydraulically steerable from the cab. I think Green Giant owned the harvesters, the harvesters were stored in afield next to the canning plant.
It was ironic that I worked the pea harvest as I hate peas, can’t stand them, makes me gag.
I only lasted about two weeks on the harvest. The hours were crazy. Harvesting starts at the crack of dawn, 5:30-6:00am and will run until midnight. Seven days a week. Sleep in your car and girlfriend brings me food and clean clothes. The well equipped folks had pickups with campers. I enjoyed the work but sleeping in a car and getting 5 hours of sleep got old fast. This may have been my last summer job. This was probably summer of ’72 or ’73. I would be out of trade school soon, start my career as a mechanic and leave the farm work behind.
Thanks for the story!
+1
I too am fascinated and interested in equipment that I would otherwise know nothing about but for what I read here on CC. Thank you Johannes for keeping me in the loop.
All of which reminds me of my drives into the more agricultural portions of the US and of Norfolk, NE in particular where today a fellow, his steer, and a panther platform LTD made news.
It’s not a bailer, reaper, or manure spreader, but I’ll bet that Howdy Doody’s owner is quite familiar with all of these implements.
That was on the news here too!
My question to you Johannes is where does all the chopped forage get stored? In the US we have greatly moved over to bunkers but still use both concrete and Harvestore silos to a lesser degree.
See below.
thanks, you folks are doing the same. I would say silos are only used for haylage these days. Historically storage in pits was what was done until the silo was invented in the 1800s, so we have almost come full circle
‘Sleufsilo’ is the Dutch word for those. When translated, that would be something like trench silo.
It’s interesting how similar some of this equipment id t what we have in the US and how different other machinery is. Most of what I see in Eastern Oregon is hay equipment so lots of specialist machines like bale wagons, swathers and bi-directional tractors. and not a manure wagon in sight.
The only new name to me was McHale, never saw their machinery before. They’re from Ireland. All others are established manufacturers.
Thanks Johannes for this tour into the dark side.
These implements are most likely tired of being the butt of many jokes and appreciate you shining a positive light on them.
‘I drive a Deutz-Fahr Agrotron 6185 TTV Warrior with a McHale Fusion 3 Plus’ must sound quite intriguing in the average coffee boutique.
😂 One can imagine the many interesting ways people would respond. 🤔😳
No doubt. And then top it off with a picture of the interior.
Love the old Steyr; they were everywhere in Austria in the ’50s. Note the IFS! It just needs swing axles in back to make it truly Austrian. 🙂
Too bad it doesn’t say ‘Österreich’ on its front. But then that plate would have become too long, I guess.
I do enjoy these posts.
When these things are all in one field, it looks like a meeting of creatures from the extreme deep.