Gearys Introduces New HarvestLab 3000 which measures forage nutrient values while harvesting and at feeding
TO help beef and dairy producers more accurately and quickly measure certain nutrient values of the forages they’re harvesting and feeding their livestock, John Deere has introduced the new HarvestLab™ 3000.
When mounted to John Deere self-propelled forage harvesters, HarvestLab 3000 can monitor forage constituents at harvest, or it can be removed and used in stationary mode to evaluate forage nutrient quality at feeding.
Using Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS) to evaluate characteristics such as moisture, dry matter, protein, starch, neutral detergent fiber (NDF) or acid detergent fiber (ADF). Results are immediate and allow owners to take more frequent and representative samples rather than relying on periodic, non-representative samples measured via wet-chemistry analysis.
The HarvestLab helps ensure optimum bunker density and high-quality silage.
In addition, inoculants can be more precisely applied during harvest based on sugar and dry-matter readings. The end result is high-quality silage with greater feed value and reduced spoilage.
“This is a huge benefit for beef and dairy producers, custom harvesters, and livestock nutritionists wanting to optimize the nutritional value of the feed,” said Johnny Corkery of Geary’s Garage, Kilmeedy “These nutrient values can be wirelessly transmitted to the John Deere Operations Center for analysis, future crop and nutrient application planning and for archiving field and crop history.”
Compared to its predecessor, HarvestLab 3000 offers many improvements. “The unit’s memory has been expanded from 32 MB to 2GB; saving history data is now possible, and advanced diagnostics make it easier for users” said Johnny Corkery of Gearys Garage, Kilmeedy.
For more information call Johnny Corkery on 087 2357262