The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Satellite technology reaches grasslands
It’s chilly and the grass has yet to get moving, but machinery dealers are busy stocking up with the latest forage equipment
The latest in electronics technology has reached the grassland sector with the introduction of automatic implement operation via satellite guidance on multirotor grass rakes.
GeoRake versions of the Kverneland 97150CandViconAndex1505–bothfrom the Kverneland Group owned by Kubota – use section control technology similar to that regulating the width of sprayers and fertiliser spreaders to improve efficiency and ease the workload.
These four-rotor grass rakes have a stepless hydraulic facility to set the working width from 9.8m to 15m and using a machine that wide normally needs a very competent operator to achieve maximum performance and neat swaths across the field.
But with GeoSwath, the operator is pretty much left to focus solely on steering and ground speed thanks to a control system that will automatically alter the rake to take account of irregular field shapes.
Adjustments start by angling in either of the front two rotors on the move – then for larger deviations any of the four rotors can be lifted out of work individually in order to produce straight, wellformed swaths that are easier for the baler or chopper operator to follow.
Similarly, at headlands, the rotors lift in front and rear pairs to avoid dis-lodging raked up swaths and then return to work in the same order upon leaving the headland. All these functions, which otherwise have to be handled manually, are automated using the GeoSwath software available on Kverneland’s IsoMatch Tellus Pro terminal in the tractor cab.
This touch-screen device uses the ISOBUS data communications protocol, so all functions on the implement can be set and adjusted using a display format that is common to other ISOBUS compliant equipment.
The manufacturer believes that in addition to reducing the operator’s control workload, the GeoRake machines work more efficiently and achieve higher work rates.
At the opposite end of the raking technology scale, the latest Kuhn GA grass rake is a single-rotor implement operated almost entirely by hand.
But then it is a more modest implement available in working widths of 4.4m, 4.65m and 5m and needing a tractor of only modest power and substance.
However, the new GA rake has been designed to reduce the time spent changing from road to field configuration, says Kuhn, while the higher-specification Masterdrive GIII gearbox proven on the company’s two- and four-rotor rakes is said to be more robust and reliable.
The support arm and central locking mechanism are designed to make the road-to-field switch-over easier, and while the windrow deflector and safety guards are lowered into position by hand as standard it can be done with greater ease using an optional hydraulic cylinder.
A hand-operated crank sets the working height to get a clean sweep without too much risk of raking contaminating soil into the swath, while the two-stage pto drive gearbox with bevel and spur gears is totally enclosed, lacks the crown wheel and pinion of other designs and requires minimal maintenance.
McHale Engineering continues to expand its grass equipment range with two sizes of twin-rotor rakes now complementing the wrappers, balers and mowers.
Heavy grass crops in Ireland have provided a good testing ground for the new machines but they have also been put through their paces in New Zealand, Scandinavia and the UK over the past two years to get operator feedback.
The McHale R62-72 covers working widths from 6.2m to 7.2m while, logically enough, the R68-78 spans 6.8m to 7.8m; both machines have hydraulically-adjusted telescopic rotor arms to set the best working width for the crop using a control box in the tractor cab.
Towing the implements from the lower lift arms using a U-shaped hitch connected to the wheels at the back provides a steering action that helps guide them from the road into gateways and around tight headlands in the field.
From a lowered position that minimises overall height in transit, the two rotors rise initially before lowering on both sides simultaneously, with the central swath guide then taking up its position so that spread grass or two or three swaths can be combined into one swath for more efficient chopping or baling.
The centrally suspended multi-tine rotors follow surface contours on a sixwheel undercarriage, there are pin and hole settings for the tine arm cam angle and hydraulic height adjustment so that the raking action can be fine-tuned to the conditions and working speed.
Heavy grass crops in Ireland have provided a good testing ground for the new machines