Here come the wagons

Mark Stokes has been running silage wagons for over a decade from his base in Mallow, Co Cork. Local farmer customers have bought into his use of wagons and have been supporting him with plenty of business.

Before he changed over to wagons, Mark used to run a trailed harvester, so he is well placed to offer an opinion on both systems. He is part of the wellknown Stokes Brothers contracting outfit, a family-run operation now in its third generation.

Stokes Brothers are about a week into harvesting silage with their Pottinger wagons and a fortnight into making baled silage.

The bales kicked off in the first week of May with plenty of job requests coming in around north Cork. Pit silage kicked off properly last week.

Labour has not been an issue for agri contractors in 2020 in fact, there are reports of would-be tractor drivers queuing up for work in the midst of record unemployment figures resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic.

The services of these extra operatives were not required by the Stokes outfit, however, as they pretty much use the same staff year in, year out.

“This is something we are proud of and it helps to have a reliable crew who know and respect the machinery,” says Mark (inset).

The team use four Pottinger wagons. They have been using wagons for 14 years, but prior to that it was a trailed harvester system that did the pit silage for them.

The decision to change tack came about after considering factors such as the reduced labour requirements needed for a wagon-based silage system.

After doing some research into wagons and the apparent advantages they offer, Mark and the team decided to bite the bullet. He has no regrets, he says.

Work rates are good at 40 acres per day per wagon once draw length is short.

A typical Pottinger Torro wagon can pick up over an acre of grass per load if not in too heavy a crop of grass. Each load holds over 10 tonnes of grass and can empty out at the pit in 60-80 seconds.

The Stokes Brothers have around 30 customers conserving silage using the forage wagon system. Mark feels overall it is an easier system to operate

Cork contractor Mark Stokes switched to a wagon-based silage system 14 years ago and says he has no regrets

and he says farmers prefer the slightly longer chop length that gives better rumen health and higher dry matter digestibility for feeding cows.

Fleet profile

In terms of tractors and other fleet contents the Stokes Brothers’ line-up is impressive. It includes three John Deere, three Massey Fergusons and two mower conditioners (a John Deere and a Pottinger) to cut the grass as well as the four Pottinger forage wagons to pick up silage.

Pottinger’s Torro wagon has an option of a weighing display system which shows the net weight of the load while driving. With this system the maximum load of the wagon can be preset and displayed, so the display turns red and a warning signal sounds if this weight is exceeded.

Probably the hardest working and most susceptible to wear and tear part of any wagon are the cutting knives at the pick-up.

The Austrian firm uses special knives which have a wear-resistant cutting edge to extend service life.

One of the key features that contractors and farmers like about the Torro is its swing-out knife bank which gives ease of access for maintenance.