Why so many silage block cutters used on the continent compared to here ?

[Bury the Trash]

With a bit of patience and engineering/repair interest surely they are a good tool for the job especially on smaller amounts ? Ive never used one mind, not years ago or now never ,know nothing about them.....at all..... just thinking ... could you smell something burning

 

[michael N123]

With a bit of patience and engineering/repair interest surely they are a good tool for the job especially on smaller amounts ? Ive never used one mind, not years ago or now never ,know nothing about them.....at all..... just prevaricating...

If your in about the 3pt link ones Most pits in this country are stacked to high I would think

 

[ollie989898]

There are a heck of a lot of very small farms on the continent, many with the guy running it only working there part time and going off to a normal job the bulk of his time. In some countries there is a lot of automation involved that let someone keep stock whilst being very economical with their time.

 

[Bury the Trash]

There are a heck of a lot of very small farms on the continent, many with the guy running it only working there part time and going off to a normal job the bulk of his time. In some countries there is a lot of automation involved that let someone keep stock whilst being very economical with their time.

but there's still small or relatively small stock farms here ,i suppose the majority do bales now instead of small clamps ??

 

[ollie989898]

but there's still small or relatively small stock farms here ,i suppose they all do bales now instead of small clamps ??

It is hard to explain.

On my travels in Europe I have seen farmers where a guy milks 40 cows in a robot and goes to work the bulk of his time as a tradesman or similar. You would see a shed of beef cattle with them bedded and fed automatically. All the bloke does is start a tractor and loader, put a bale in a box and then goes home, coarse blend fed to the floor by pipes etc. At finishing time contractors come in and clean the shed out and spread it next door in half a day etc.

Seen some very big farms in the East of Europe and in France and Germany. Others would fit the small profile I've described above. Italy the same.

For some reason there are farms on the continent where they make hay but store it in huge heaps loose in sheds. Handled with a crane built into the roof.

A lot of labour saving gear is invested in at great cost basically because cheap foreign labour does not exist or it is quite an expensive country to live in or because of language barriers. For example, in Italy, I'd hazard a guess that you just didn't get the influx of Polish labour as it is a very expensive country to live in and no one spoke the language. As a result farmers have real high tech gear instead. Same in Denmark and the like. Probably EU development money involved in some of it, too.

 

[Bury the Trash]

It is hard to explain.

On my travels in Europe I have seen farmers where a guy milks 40 cows in a robot and goes to work the bulk of his time as a tradesman or similar. You would see a shed of beef cattle with them bedded and fed automatically. All the bloke does is start a tractor and loader, put a bale in a box and then goes home, coarse blend fed to the floor by pipes etc. At finishing time contractors come in and clean the shed out and spread it next door in half a day etc.

Seen some very big farms in the East of Europe and in France and Germany. Others would fit the small profile I've described above. Italy the same.

For some reason there are farms on the continent where they make hay but store it in huge heaps loose in sheds. Handled with a crane built into the roof.

A lot of labour saving gear is invested in at great cost basically because cheap foreign labour does not exist or it is quite an expensive country to live in or because of language barriers. For example, in Italy, I'd hazard a guess that you just didn't get the influx of Polish labour as it is a very expensive country to live in and no one spoke the language. As a result farmers have real high tech gear instead. Same in Denmark and the like. Probably EU development money involved in some of it, too.

but everyone wants to make the most of conserved forage and the cutters look really tight and tidy. only show them in sales pics and vid on moisty tight clamps with short chop tho i expect . having said that they used to use them here years ago and through the first time forage wagons were about

 

[Yale]

If you fancy one.

BVL Megastar 170 - Emyr Evans Tractors

Year: 2016 | Location: Denbigh

emyrevans.com

 

[Tarw Coch]

In excess of 40 years since we first had a parmiter block cutter, took a while to cut a block out.
Shear grabs are quicker to use and more straight forward, I was quite young when first using the block cutter, can’t remember details but they weren’t without their problems

 

[ollie989898]

but everyone wants to make the most of conserved forage and the cutters look really tight and tidy. only show them in sales pics and vid on moisty tight clamps with short chop tho i expect . having said that they used to use them here years ago and through the first time forage wagons were about

I had a customer with a block cutter thing only it was mounted on the front of a fudge off telehandler.

 

[Yale]

Actually he has two.

Trioliet Block Cutter - Emyr Evans Tractors

Turbobuster Block Cutter; TU170; Silage Block Cutter; 2.5 cubic meter; Block Dimensions 0.8m length x 1.8m wide ** Fitted with Pin & Cone Brackets In Good Condition; Sold As Seen

emyrevans.com

 

[Bury the Trash]

well i guess

Actually he has two.

Trioliet Block Cutter - Emyr Evans Tractors

Turbobuster Block Cutter; TU170; Silage Block Cutter; 2.5 cubic meter; Block Dimensions 0.8m length x 1.8m wide ** Fitted with Pin & Cone Brackets In Good Condition; Sold As Seen

emyrevans.com

lot of money tho, plenty of low money older ones on Agriffares type sites ...might need a fettle or 2 of course.

both of them got loader brackets on as well looks like it.

3pl one would be suitable for the smaller ...

Just need a sword type knife unit really like the old tasker ones ,not quite so tight cutting but dont need the (auto down pressure caper ) just some sort of chain or ratchet to push it around a frame work loop

 

[feilding]

The Parmiter prototype block cutter was about in 1975, dad had one fitted to a new Ford 4000 and Mil power loader. It was the dogs !!!!!! after using a hay knife to cut blocks of silage by hand.
The following winter a bus load of farmers came from south Wales to see cutter. every one on bus bought a block cutter that day.
Years later we had a prototype shear grab to try from Parmiter.

 

[Khan]

We had a Strautmann one maybe 16 years ago. At the time we only had one forklift that was doing big hours between yards so bought one to go on back of tractor to feed milkers. We normally fed up twice a week with it into 8ft wide passage and it meant no pushing up to the cows until last day. When we upped numbers we put in a new feeding passage and went back to a backhoe loader and now telehandler with conventional sheargrab, put silage out more often now though. I think the style of small frequent cuts in Holland with clamps only 5-6ft high made them popular there, farmers didn't need a telehandler or big loader.

 

[JockCroft]

In excess of 40 years since we first had a parmiter block cutter, took a while to cut a block out.
Shear grabs are quicker to use and more straight forward, I was quite young when first using the block cutter, can’t remember details but they weren’t without their problems

Parmiter was a blo--y awful thing, took about 5 minutes to cut a block, slow sideways shake. Had to be sharpend every 10 or 15 blocks so every couple of days. Tines would break for no reason.

Worst waste of money we ever had.

 

[Kevtherev]

Always a very neat face off a block cutter don’t see many now in the Uk since shear grabs and stronger bigger loaders came about.
I remember both the strautmaam and parmiter ones being used both on masts and on front loaders.
Knife ran on a track on the strautmaan from memory.

 

[Netherfield]

Dad bought a silage knife in a farm sale, what a load of rubbish it was.

 

[David1968]

Just need a sword type knife unit really like the old tasker ones ,not quite so tight cutting but dont need the (auto down pressure caper ) just some sort of chain or ratchet to push it around a frame work loop

Block cutters are slow and complicated. Shear grabs are quick and simple.

I worked on a farm during my college years that had a tasker block cutter on a masted manitou forklift. It was an awful thing. Your arm was aching from holding the spool while the cutterhead slowly sawed it's way round the track.
Then it would get stuck and you had to tie the spool lever, get out, climb up, and give the cutterhead a shove till the pawl started gripping again. I'm guessing the pawl was worn, or something, but still...

 

[vantage]

In excess of 40 years since we first had a parmiter block cutter, took a while to cut a block out.
Shear grabs are quicker to use and more straight forward, I was quite young when first using the block cutter, can’t remember details but they weren’t without their problems

Parmiter was a blo--y awful thing, took about 5 minutes to cut a block, slow sideways shake. Had to be sharpend every 10 or 15 blocks so every couple of days. Tines would break for no reason.

Worst waste of money we ever had.

Dad had a Parmiter cutter on the front and a fork cutter on the back, used a large reciprocating knife that turned in a semi circle. Used to cut out of a clamp in the field, reverse up to the clamp quite easily as the rear cutter was so heavy. Cut a block, turn around then use the Parmiter cutter. Had to do that as the DB had no power steering! Then drive a mile home to feed it to the cows!

 

[davidroberts30]

No one had the tractor rocking side to side when the knife went blunt or caught on the face?
Shear grab all the way

 

[Bury the Trash]

Dad had a Parmiter cutter on the front and a fork cutter on the back, used a large reciprocating knife that turned in a semi circle. Used to cut out of a clamp in the field, reverse up to the clamp quite easily as the rear cutter was so heavy. Cut a block, turn around then use the Parmiter cutter. Had to do that as the DB had no power steering! Then drive a mile home to feed it to the cows!

was it single /double chopped ?

also bit of a coincidence that as chop got shorter shear grabs got more popular maybe...