farmmay04

by Jason Hasert

Dairy farms use a variety of interesting equipment. TTT brings you some up close action pictures of large modern dairy equipment. These pictures will show of the biggest modern dairy equipment up close and action. They will also help answer some common questions asked by farm toy collectors about dairy farm equipment.

Mowing: Disc mowers are the most popular option in hay mowing today. It is hard to slow down a disc mower. Whether pull type or self propelled a disc mower can run over rough terrain and through tangled hay with no problem. The added speed of a disc mower over a mower conditioner is a big plus.

During the filming of Big Iron IV, I had a chance to visit two large dairy farms. The farms were both located in Western, New York. They both milked 1,800 cows and had over 4,000 cows on the farm. That many cows requires allot of feed.

First we will look at Boxler Farms in Verrysburg, NY. They have 5,000 acres of which 2,500 acres are in hay. With that much hay, they need to mow it fast. The Boxler's use a Claas 860 self-propelled forage harvester with a 30ft 3 section Claas disc mower mounted on the front. This is the third Claas mower sold in the U.S. The Boxler's have been impressed with the Claas. It can mow over 200 acres a day. They also use a CaseIH 8880 self-propelled disc mower. The Claas and CaseIH run sude by side in the field. The Claas's advantage is that it covers two passes to the CaseIH's one. The CaseIH's advantage is that it moves across the field much faster than the Claas. Teamed together the Claas and CaseIH make a strong mowing crew.

The Boxler's use an OXBO three in one merger to put seven rows into one. A Claas 880 is used to chop the hay. In the fall the Boxler's use both the Claas 860 and 880 spfh's with kemper heads to cut corn.

Photo by Jason Hasert

Another big mowing option is using a 4wd tractor. Swyer Farms of Perry, NY uses a John Deere 9520 to mow hay. During our filming do to rain I was not able to photograph the tractor in action. The Swyer's have several Steiger 4wds and a Ford-Versatile. A few years ago they added a John Deere 9520. In the spring the 9520 is used like any big 4wd to pull a field cultivator. When hay mowing starts the duals are removed from the 9520 and it is equipped with two 16ft 1360 Hesston Disc-Mowers. A 1360 mower is mounted on the front of the 9520 and hooked onto a hydraulic pump motor. A second pull type 1360 is pulled behind the 9520. When the 9520 is mowing it covers 32ft per pass. The Swyer's also mow hay with a Hesston 9260 self-propelled disc-mower.

Photo by Jason Hasert

Forage Harvester: Forage Harvesters chop up hay and corn into silage. Pull-type and self propelled models are both available. One question that is asked on Toy Talk from time to time about pull types is, can they be used with a track tractor? The picture by Jeff Cieslak answers the question. Yes a Challenger or John Deere 8000T can be used on a pull-type chopper. The only draw back is that the tracks are extremely harsh on hay when the tractor turns.

Photo by Jeff Cieslak

Self Propelled Forage Harvesters are the main choice of many large dairies. Some farms own their own choppers and others hire custom contractors to chop for them. SP Choppers harvest tons of silage per hour. Trucks have replaced forage wagons to haul silage away from the chopper. Choppers can fill a truck in minutes. Having the size of a truck and its road speed helps keep the chopper moving nonstop.

Photo by Jeff Cieslak

Photo by Jason Faulkner

Bunk Silo: Silage on large dairies is stored in bunk silos. This storage method allows for quick storage and feeding. Trucks are filled in the field and then haul the crop back to the farm. Before the truck dumps the silage it is weighed to check the crops yield. The truck dumps at the base of the silage pile. Tractors with front mounted blades are used to pack the silage pile. Farms use fwa and 4wd tractors. Tractors with fwa are a little more nimble in the pile than a 4wd. The advantage of a 4wd in packing is the shear power. Large 4wds have no problem pushing tons of silage.

Photo by Jeff Cieslak

Photo by Jason Faulkner

Feeding: Wheel Loaders, Total Mix Ration (TMR) mixers and Tub Grinders are used for feeding on large dairies. Tub Grinders are used to chop up large round and big bales. The chopped hay is easier to use in feed. Often the bales are chopped into a bunk silo or feed shed. A wheel loader is used to scoop up the hay along with feed, minerals and silage. A TMR mixes the feed together.

Photo by Jeff Cieslak

Photo by Jason Hasert

Liquid Manure Spreading: Back to Boxler Farms. The Boxler's have 4,000 Holstein cows. The farm spreads liquid manure three a week to keep up with all of the cows. In order to spread all manure over the farms 5,000 acres the manure is trucked from the farm out to the fields. The trucks carry 9,500 gallons of liquid manure per trip. A pump transfers the manure from the truck into the spreader. The Boxler's have several trucks hauling at a time, so that as the spreader empties the next load is arriving.

Photo by Jason Hasert

TTT May 2004 Page 11

Back to the index

Hit Counter