Customer Testimonials

Cornish contractor Kevin Heywood switched to using John Deere forage harvesters this season mainly because his two previous machines were not providing the reliable performance he needs for his 2800ha of grass and maize silage work. But he soon discovered the new John Deere 7450i forager’s on-board electronics also provided useful, unique benefits.

“I felt let down by my previous make and dealer,” says Mr Heywood, who is based at Springfield Meadows, Marhamchurch, near Bude. “We run John Deere tractors so I talked about the forager replacements with Bert Stephens, from Robert Cole Agricultural Engineers, who suggested the 7450i and explained all about the HarvestLab dry matter sensor and HarvestDoc yield monitor.

“We actually bought a virtually new, ex-demo model without the ‘i’ specification. But after talking to customers in the winter, I decided to have the electronics retro-fitted because I thought it would give me an edge – particularly as we are the first in the area to be able to offer this information to customers as an extra service.

“When we started using it we thought it might interfere with the work, because there is enough to do while foraging already. But the touch screen is easy to use and it’s actually become second nature now. Although the customers were a bit sceptical about the benefits in the winter, the first thing they asked in the field was ‘what’s the dry matter?’ They now know the exact dry matter tonnage in their clamps to help them plan, and I also know the precise acreage we have done for invoicing.

“It’s about improving precision across the whole job. While this technology may now be quite common in the arable areas up country, it’s new to dairy farmers down here. But customers can now immediately have yield maps to target fertiliser for second cut and know the dry matter of the material so we can precisely match the additive dose required. For maize, which is often part of an arable rotation, growers have continuity of yield maps.

“This season we are trying the system and still learning, but next year I feel I could charge an extra £1 to £2 per acre. This doesn’t cover the full capital cost, but the system also puts us in the lead among our competitors – we are the first to offer this unique service.

“There are other benefits for me as a contractor – we can now easily monitor fuel per acre and have already discovered that the new John Deere has cut consumption to 0.7 gallons per acre compared with 1.5 gallons per acre with the previous machine. That’s a significant saving, and it’s also for a higher throughput, which has risen to an average of 15 acres an hour compared with 8 to 10 acres an hour before. That’s more acres per hour for less fuel.”

Kevin Heywood feels that now he has started on the precision farming route, the StarFire GPS receiver and GreenStar 2600 display will bring further benefits. “We can move the equipment between vehicles, but in the future I think we won’t buy a new tractor without it. Simply steering in straight lines brings big benefits to the whole silaging operation.

“We run a 30 foot (9m) triple mower, and even if this overlaps by just 5 per cent, that’s actually 1.5 feet. The following rakes are 30 feet and 50 feet wide, so again if they don’t take a full bite, they are not working efficiently. It is also important to feed the foragers with the maximum swath widths, which must also be even. Reducing overlaps, taking full cuts and making even swaths for the foragers add up to significant savings in fuel, time and wearing parts.

“Making yield maps means we can also provide a full service to customers. We can determine which areas require more or less fertiliser, muck or slurry and then offer a variable rate spreading service to match. The maps will also provide good records for customers who need them to meet environmental regulations.”

September 2009