Silage season might seem a long way off but there's plenty of new kit on the horizon for this year's grass harvest.

Mengele has upgraded its range of RotoBull forage-wagons for 2008.

At the business end, there's been a swap to a simplified cam-free pick-up with seven rows of tines rather than the six used previously. This is claimed to improve crop collection, quieten operation and reduce wear-and-tear.

A spiral feed rotor draws crop over a bank of 38 knives to provide a 38mm chop-length. Half can be hydraulically withdrawn to increase this where a long-fibre diet is required.

Up in the body, hydraulically driven floor slats package material away with sensors automatically monitoring filling density and altering floor speed accordingly.

Final upgrade is a galvanized chassis with the aim of prolonging machine life.

Distributed in the UK by Reco, Mengele's range of RotoBull self-filling forage-wagons extends from 45cu m up to 68 cu m.

A 45cu m version will set you back £46,000 and although only about 50hp is required to chop the grass, a tractor of 120-150hp is needed to haul the load which can reach up to 20t.