So you think you’re an engineer…..

[Lazy Sod]

I don't know what @Boysground used but he was zero grazing for a long time. I remember harvesting grazing rye with a Kidd double chop.

 

[David1968]

Problem is leaving 3 swathes.

My ideal would be one engine only which sort of brings me back to front mower & wagon. But then that runs in to cut width & forward speed hence the interest in converting a SPFH.
Remove knives & shear bar and think of a way to send 6" plus grass up the spout without blocking

I don't think you'll get away with no knives and shear bar. Maybe take the edge off the blades and move them as far apart from the shear bar as possible.

A blockage with long grass won't be the same as a blockage with chopped grass, though. It will be monumental...

 

[Boysground]

That was more my dads time. Various kid machines were used. Mostly they needed work on them, I clearly remember a pto shaft flying off of one and going 20 yards across the field.

 

[yin ewe]

Hay elevator out back of drum onto an extendable conveyor belt out the back into trailer. Nothing half a million wouldn't sort

All this kit would pay for some cow tracks and fences

 

[Mouser]

All this kit would pay for some cow tracks and fences

Now! Behave!

 

[yin ewe]

Now! Behave!

Just providing an alternative view.

 

[deleted user 436632456]

Why does it have to be so wide when the road system is so restricted. My neighbours milk 600 ish cows and ZG. They use the front mower from their triple set and a pickup wagon on the back. They are in a field and loaded in no time and back on the road without leaving the cab. No extra cost as the mower and and wagon are used for silage.

The theory for the AD side of things was to target short leafy high sugar grass in peak conditions early afternoon but when you add in short grass, 5 acre fields and a whole lot of headland turns it soon adds on time plus sometimes you had to hook everything on/off again. And if we had have went forward with ZG there is compaction issues to think of as well with the increase in traffic per field.

If your in a 'Heavy Crop Robert' then the front mower and wagon works ok, it's just when you're at the lawn clippings it takes time.

Personally for the cattle side of things a discharge elevator on the wagon is a must have too fully utilize the whole system and make it as efficient as possible.

 

[ffarmwr]

Get a forage wagon jobs sorted

 

[mf7480]

I think a spfh would be way overkill for what you’re trying to achieve. There’s a risk you could spend an awful lot of money to find it just doesn’t work. Foragers are designed to chop and blow grass with knives in place. Also, you mention gentle handling is really important and there’s no way you could use a conditioner, but being beaten around a drum with no knives in, up to a second blower unit with 8 paddles doing 1800rpm will do a really good job of bruising your grass!

Are you looking to make it a one pass machine or will you side load?

If side loading id probably look at mounting a fairly basic conveyor from on old feed wagon or similar straight behind a front mounted mower. Or maybe even an auger out of an old Keenan?

Or, just accept the disadvantages and buy a purpose built zero grazer

 

[Bald Rick]

I think a spfh would be way overkill for what you’re trying to achieve. There’s a risk you could spend an awful lot of money to find it just doesn’t work. Foragers are designed to chop and blow grass with knives in place. Also, you mention gentle handling is really important and there’s no way you could use a conditioner, but being beaten around a drum with no knives in, up to a second blower unit with 8 paddles doing 1800rpm will do a really good job of bruising your grass!

Are you looking to make it a one pass machine or will you side load?

If side loading id probably look at mounting a fairly basic conveyor from on old feed wagon or similar straight behind a front mounted mower. Or maybe even an auger out of an old Keenan?

Or, just accept the disadvantages and buy a purpose built zero grazer

I agree with SPFH … but you need to explore any and all options

We have a purpose built ZG machine. It’s mower is only 7’ and we need to lift around 12 acres a day, sometimes from a few miles away.

Wagon and front plain disc mower is probably way to go

 

[chaffcutter]

Our local fabricators would love a job like that, no problem!

Hay elevator out back of drum onto an extendable conveyor belt out the back into trailer. Nothing half a million wouldn't sort

 

[Matthew Britton]

That‘s where I too think it falls down

Purpose built ZG are too fragile/slow/ and it looks as though front mower and forage wagon may be better option but limited by mower size whereas SPFH wholecrop disc mower can be 5m plus

There is a big dairy farmer in Kent who runs this setup quite successfully I seem to remember. If you want his number pm me it think he is milking around 1500.

 

[Exfarmer]

Our local fabricators would love a job like that, no problem!

I am afraid any specialist machine of this sort is going to have a mega price tag. I also think that trying to achieve this in a single machine to cut and transport is would result in a very low capacity of product. Any foperm of blowing passing through the fan is going to crreate huge issues with both blocking and bruising.

 

[Mouser]

Our local fabricators would love a job like that, no problem!

I'd love it too, using somebody else's money of course!

 

[Fatlamb]

Slightly off topic but Duke of Westminster estates used to have wagons with nylon brush pick-up reels instead of steel tines - would lift lawn clippings from what I saw

I’m sure theyve used it on the cricket pitch or football pitch local to them

 

[Wesley]

A local contractor made this obviously for a forager but would a tractor handle something similar on the front & wagon behind?

 

[vantage]

Diesel must have dropped substantially in price recently to even think about using a SPFH ! A large engine going full chat is not designed to sip fuel.
4m front disc mower feeding a large forage wagon will use substantially less fuel and collect grass at a decent pace.

 

[Headless chicken]

From a purely grass safe point of view

Finger bars feeding into a set of conveyers straight up and out the back of the machine into a compactor trailer meaning you only have to load the front.

 

[kiwi pom]

I think the only way you'd cut and carry a large area quickly is with a set of triples with a grouper followed by a wagon. Its two drivers one following the other but there really isn't another way if you want to do the job quickly.

Do you know anyone that's successfully Zero grazed grass to a large herd for a long time?
Everyone seems to try it and give up.

 

[Headless chicken]

Alternative, triples mounted on the front of your SPFH with grouper.

remove all blowing internals
Fit a pickup undercarge on a couple of rams feeding into a conveyor belt