With the culling of the Taarup 10X from Kverneland’s production schedule, farmers and contractors keen to operate their own trailed forage harvester now have a choice of just three makes.

Scroll to the foot of the page for a full listing of trailed and self-propelled foragers on the market

While Pöttinger and Mengele continue to batch-build a single model each of their flywheel type harvesters, Denmark’s JF-Stoll continues to offer a range of four precision-chop machines with their characteristic upward cutting multi-knife cylinders.

Good power efficiency is claimed for the former two machines thanks to the heavy, large diameter disc on which the chopping blades and grass discharge paddles are mounted acting as a flywheel to keep the flow moving when a heavy section of grass swath is encountered.

Powerful discharge rates to fill trailers running alongside – or towed by the forager itself if preferred – are also claimed for much the same reason.

Pöttinger Mex VI has power band drive to eliminate a gearbox from the drive train; it will take up to 200hp.

Pöttinger

On the Pöttinger Mex VI, the flywheel is driven by a power band, so there is no gearbox to sap power or cause costly repair bills, points out agent LandMec. Three disc speeds are achieved by using the power band on one of three different sizes of drive pulley – that way, the harvester can be set-up to operate for different tractors of between 100hp and 200hp.

Mengele

Mengele and its UK agent Ruston’s Engineering make similar claims for the SH40 harvester, of course, arguing that it needs about 20% less power to achieve the same output as a cylinder machine thanks to the kinetic energy stored in the big metal disc that carries the blades.

It is also reckoned to be less prone to damage should a foreign object be taken in thanks the clearances within the chopping disc housing.

There are two speeds for the chopping disc on this machine and an on-board hydraulics system provides the necessary power to swivel the discharge chute, angle its tip and lift/lower the 1.85m wide grass pick-up.

JF-Stoll

Not only does JF-Stoll continue to produce a range of trailed forage harvesters, it continues to develop them, too.

Last year saw the introduction of the FCT955 ProTec to replace the 900 it has the same chopping cylinder and other essentials as the FCT1050 ProTec but is equipped with a lower-spec driveline, non-hydraulic drawbar and other differences that make it more affordable for a producer wanting a forager for a tractor up to 140hp.

The FC1355 that heads the range needs a diligent operator because of the current lack of a metal detector but such a device is under development, along with a stone detector. And it is not beyond the bounds of possibility that future developments will take the machine’s input ceiling well beyond the current 225hp.

This machine clearly caters for large grass farming operations or contractors who either lack maize work to justify the cost of a self-propelled machine or have customers whose farm layout does not suit the huge influx of grass coming from such a machine.

Power is channelled inside a drawbar that allows the machine to be operated conventionally in a fully-offset position to gather double swaths with its 3.1m wide pick-up in a semi-offset position with tractor straddling a swath for easier steering or directly in-line behind the tractor.

At the opposite end of the scale, the FC855 is a close-coupled offset harvester that caters for smaller operators and those who like the stability of this configuration on banky ground.

All four machines remain unique in having a chopping cylinder with an upward cutting action, which sends grass straight up the discharge chute rather than half way around the cylinder housing first.

JF-Stoll FCT955 was introduced last year to replace the FCT900 with a machine that is similar to the higher-performance “1050” but is for tractors up to 140hp.

They started out as nothing more than a chopper and engine on wheels but the self-propelled forage harvester has turned into one of the most powerful and sophisticated machines in the farming.

With electronics monitoring most functions, fingertip adjustment of infinitely variable chop length, knife sharpening performed without leaving the cab, auto-steering and even yield mapping and crop nutrition analysis, the technology deployed is mind-boggling.

At present, four manufacturers cater for this market but that will increase to five when Agco’s self-propelled forager, which is being developed by a engineering team based at the Fendt tractor factory, sees the light of day.

Claas

Claas has established a strong position in the worldwide as well as UK market with, currently, two distinct Jaguar ranges. This consists of the 492 family, which encompasses the ‘old’ 800 Series with five power outputs from 345hp to 623hp and the newer and recently-expanded 494 family of six models from 415hp to 830hp.

The Jaguar 930 and 940 newcomers, along with the 950 to 980, feature the upmarket Vista cab and a 28% larger intake area to feed bigger quantities of forage to the V-Max chopping cylinder.

This open centre drum has been designed for reduced maintenance downtime: As the curved, chevron formation blades wear, the bevel angle and the angle relative to the shearbar is maintained.

Deere

Extra power from new engines driving through the optional ProDrive hydrostatic transmission with anti-slip control, automatic diff-lock and park brake were introduced for last year’s silage season with John Deere’s 7050 Series forage harvesters.

AutoTrac assisted steering and an automatic spout positioning system with nine settings also added to the technology available on these machines, along with a package of “intelligent” precision farming features that include a dry-matter sensor, colour terminal, job recording software and a system that automatically alters the length of cut depending on the dry matter content of the crop.

New Holland

The New Holland FR9000 Series forage harvester range represents an all-new challenge in the self-propelled market with a wider and bigger diameter vee-configuration cutterhead than on competitor machines and a streamlined crop fan to get chopped grass or maize into a trailer as efficiently as possible that moves close to the cylinder when the corn cracker is raised out of work.

Other features include Power Cruise, which automatically regulates ground speed according to load, independent hydraulic feed roller drive to allow in-cab chop-length adjustment, and a new ‘bubble’ cab with almost 360deg visibility thanks to its single main support pillar situated directly behind the operator.

Krone

Krone is building its position in the self-propelled forage harvester market with the four-model BiG X range that features two models with twin engines – just one is used for travel between jobs to conserve fuel, both are brought into play for big power outputs in work.

Electronic control of the power source and hydrostatic drive – the BiG X has hydraulic wheel motors rather than conventional axles driven by hydraulic motors – brings the revs down for transport as a further means of cutting fuel consumption.

In similar vein, engine speed is kept constant in work by varying ground speed according to load – a new feature introduced last year along with yield recording, stone detection and automatic adjustment of the chop-length control when the pick-up is raised for a headland turn to ensure the last of the forage is chopped as closely as the rest of the crop.