Pottinger’s bid to change the way we make silage
Pottinger of Austria is the company with the target of changing silage harvesting as we know it.
Self loading silage wagons make up one quarter of Pottinger's 124m euro annual sales.
And the 131 years old family run multinational, which is Austria's No 1 farm machinery firm, is well on the road to achieving its targeted domination of European silage making.
They claim that 60% of the grass silage made in Europe goes through wagons; however, Ireland remains one of the markets where they still have huge sales potential.
The Pottinger machines are imported here by Traynors of Clonmel, who resumed wagon sales just four years ago. Two wagons were put out on test, and their success led to 15 sales the next year.
Two years ago, sales rose to 53 and more than 40 had been sold in 2002, by September.
Phil Traynor says this impressive success rate is based on quality and cost conscious farmers and contractors re-discovering the much improved modern silage wagon.
They were passed out technologically many years ago, and became unsuitable for the increasingly powerful tractors being used.
First trailed, and then self-propelled silage machines took over.
But wagon buyers are being won over again now, by design improvements which have moved wagons back up to a competitive position.
Gone is the coarse grass cut; now wagons deliver the 50 to 60 mm long fibre recommended by nutritionists.
That's one of a number of features which make them attractive to farmers seeking to maximise their silage quality. Equally important are the much lower labour requirements and running costs than the self-propelled outfits used on most farms, and high road transport speeds.
For farmers new to the concept the range of Pottinger self loading wagons pick up 6 to 16 tonne grass loads and deliver them to the pit, powered by tractors of 100 to 260 horse power.
Germany's Rheinland Chamber of Agriculture have carried out an interesting study of one of Pottinger's bigger machines, the Jumbo 6000 wagon operated by a 200 hp tractor.
It puts 6.25 acres per hour in the pit, a two man operation. It's only half the output of a 416 hp self-propelled harvester, but that harvester and its accompanying tractors and trailers and loader cost 30% more to buy, they consume 60% more fuel, and they need five operators.
Just one operator picking up silage and one filling the pit gives wagons a major cost advantage; as much as 42% cheaper to operate than self propelled outfits, according to Traynors.
And it is the only method which allows one-man silage making; the wagon driver simply switches to the pit loader in the farmyard.
Having invented the silage wagon in 1972, Pottinger continue the modifications which make it a 21st century success. This year, the pick-up, knife bank and load chamber have been improved, to consolidate the company's position as the market leader for large silage wagons.
The Austrian company looked first at the pickup, a part of the machine subjected to considerable stress when operating at high volume.
To cope with this, tine tubes have been replaced by stable tine support channels.The spring windings of the tines are seated in the channel of the tine carriers, to minimise the risk of tines breaking.
The service life of the tines has been increased by using thicker tine material.
The pickup control arm has been lengthened by 6 mm, again for longer working life.
Pottinger are particularly proud of their own patented pivoting knife bank.
From the tractor cab, or from beside the machine using two electronic buttons, the operator can swivel the knife bank outwards for effortless cleaning or sharpening.
The latest modifications to the load chamber are designed for smoother crop handling, particularly in damp conditions, and uniform filling and discharging of material.
Machine power requirement has been reduced 15% by these improvements.
Successful development of yet more improvements by Pottinger's research department would accelerate the wagon's sales success even further.
They are working on automatic sharpening of the knife bank, hoping to perfect ultrasound and diode technology for sensing knife edge, as part of a system which will sharpen the knives overnight.
Wagon users will also benefit if promising research work on floating pick-ups continues to go well.
