Cutting a swathe at Grass & Muck

POTTINGER 125 FC PRO COMBI

SUNNY weather arrived just in time for the machinery highlight of the year last Thursday, with around 11,000 farmers and contractors flocking to Gurteen Ag College in Birr for the 2018 FTMTA Grass & Muck show.

New kit worth millions of euro was put through the paces in the silage plots.

This year over 100 acres were used in the demonstration and exhibition areas, and punters cited the fact that they can see new machines working “in the flesh” as being a key attraction of the Grass & Muck show format.

There were ongoing working demonstrations throughout the day including grass harvesting, reseeding, silage pit construction and slurry spreading areas.

A large trade village area for non-demonstrating exhibitors also proved popular.

Dealers reported very strong sales of grass machinery this spring.

Against that backdrop there were five brands of self-propelled forage harvesters (SFPH) in action as well as comprehensive displays from the main grass machinery manufacturers.

There was also a notable Irish flavour to the event with the likes of McHale, Malone and Tanco all having impressive demonstrations.

TEXT: DEREK CASEY PHOTOS: ALF HARVEY GRASS specialist Pottinger always draws a crowd and the star of its demonstration was the new Impress 125 FC Pro Combi round baler-wrapper combination. Key features of the new machine include a 650mm intake rotor coupled to a pendulum pick-up with cam track. Another feature contractors will like is the sliding knife bank which gives good access to the 32 double-sided knives.