Jimmy Glennon farms in the picturesque hills on the Laois/Kilkenny border. He finishes about 150 cattle over each winter. Having always fed his livestock using wrapped bales of silage, he decided that pit silage was the way to go and he purchased a Strautmann Giga Vitesse CFS 3602 in time of silage 2018. Jimmy has used the machine for his own use for one season but plans to go out contracting with the new machine in 2019. He sees the acreage increasing to close to 1000 acres in the next few years. In the field Jimmy sees some major improvements on the previous model which he used as a demo before purchasing the new machine. The standout feature is the wider Pick-up on this machine which allows the Giga Vitesse to easily manage 30-foot ranks of grass at sensible speeds. Jimmy says that this gives massive output while still working at safe speeds that allow the operator to keep an eye on what is going into the wagon. He sees this visibility of the pickup as a major advantage over other machines on the market. The fact that Jimmy is working on hilly ground he specified the machine with over sized tires, these are 710/50 r 26.5 and give extra stability. This machine also comes with forced action steering, according to Jimmy this not only improves the manoeuvrability of the wagon but more importantly allow the wagon to follow the tractor far better across a slope. This makes working in these areas far safer and more efficient.

Jimmy drives the wagon with a John Deere 6930, which is producing 160hp at the PTO shaft and he finds that he has more than enough power to get the output he requires. Jimmy believes that the Strautmann machine is by the easiest on power on the market today. Having fed his own animals with the silage from the machines first season he couldn’t be happier with the quality of fodder that the 37-38 mm chop length gives. The knives that give this chop length are another feature that stands out to Jimmy, he found that if you turned them every 100 acres it meant that you got more than a full day without needing to get the spanners out. Loading the machine is fully automatic and Jimmy finds the User interface in the cab to be “idiot proof”. On the road the big wagon is very stable and has air over hydraulic brakes as standard. This stability and safety is greatly improved by the fact that there is a ball and spoon hitch on it, Jimmy say that the solidity that this gives in comparison to the older system gives great peace of mind  Once at the pit the Strautmann has a very simple one button unloading system and the two speed unloading means you can leave the grass in the perfect heap for the man on the pit. Jimmy is very happy after his first season with the Strautmann and doesn’t foresee any issue as the acreage increase over the next couple of seasons.

 

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