New Holland used the Grassland and Muck 2008 event to unveil its FR9090 self-propelled forage harvester with its 824hp engine and patented design.

The forager boasts a 20.1-litre Iveco V6 engine and a patented Variflow system that enables the operator to switch between grass and maize crops in less than two minutes.

The five-model series features a cutter head claimed to be 15% bigger than competitive machines.

New Holland has also incorporated a true four-wheel-drive system with limited slip differential on the rear and full differential at the front.

Also making waves on the forager front is John Deere with the introduction of a new series of self-propelled machines and Kemper headers.

The 300 and 400 series of headers feature a small and large drum system respectively, with the larger range considered better for laid crops.

Both series feature an active auto-contour tracking system, called Advanced Header Control, employing electronic sensors at each end which ensure the header runs above the ground at a consistent level.

The larger 460 header with its six-metre, eight-row capacity is pictured above.  John Deere customers with the 510hp 7400 are managing comfortably to run the header.  The 300 series includes four options – four-row (3m), six-row (4.5m), eight-row (6m) and 10-row (7.5m).

The new foragers span three engine sizes.  The 7250 (382hp) features a 9-litre John Deere Power Tech plus unit while the 7350 (480hp), 7450 (560hp) and the 7550 and 7750, both rated at 625hp, use a 13.5ltr John Deere Power Tech Plus unit. 

The largest machine in the range, the 7850 (690hp) uses a 15ltr Cummings.