Steve Radford
Stephen Radford farms 330 acres of mainly grassland and 40 acres of corn with his father Colin at Buttermore Farm in North Devon. They milk 160 cows and rear 65 followers plus 80 head of beef cattle. The stock are fed a mixed ration under cover from a TMR wagon loading into a central feed manger. 225 acres of silage are made on the farm - taken mainly in three cuts from a mixture of short and long term leys and some permanent pasture. The Radford's control their own silage making to ensure that their fields are cut at the right time for producing optimum quality silage.
"We depend on making high quality silage. If there's a rainy period in first cut, everyone wants their crop ensiled as soon as it dries up. Contractors get behind and cannot get to all their customers at the right time - most have to wait, and that's when you lose silage quality" says Stephen Radford "take first cut in 2003 for example. We lost a week due to the rain coming when the grass was just at the correct stage for cutting. The silage quality suffered as a result but it would have been far worse if we couldn't get on harvesting on the first good day after it stopped raining."
" We used a trailed precision chop up to the end of the 2002 season, but found getting-in the extra man with tractor and trailer to be increasingly difficult. We saw the Pottinger Europrofi at the South West Grassland Demonstration and thought we would go over and have a bit of a laugh at the people working old fashioned foragers. But we were surprised how fast it travelled down the swath on a 135 hp tractor and even more surprised how short it chopped the grass. We expected it to just about half the length of the grass, but it cuts a lot of it down to 2 inches - just the right length for the cows and short enough to consolidate well. Too short and the grass goes straight through the cows - that is no good for producing maximum yield from grass. So we ordered a Europrofi 1L shortly afterwards. It has proved to be a good decision; in fact the best decision we've ever made - everything went like a dream - its the most stress free silage I've ever done."
We asked Stephen Radford how the field harvesting and ensiling operation went in his first season; "We used our 120 hp JD 6610 tractor and managed 7 mph down the swath - which we rowed-up with a wide single rotor rake. We could have done with another 10-15 hp as the speed dropped off a little when we were around 90% full. It was taking 4-5 minutes to get a load. The pick-up on the wagon is good - six rows of close spaced tines - they left very little leaf on the field.
We cleared 30 acres per 10 hour day in first cut; 40 acres in second cut. On the road, you can go as fast as you like - 40 kmh; the wagon runs very smooth and brakes well. We have only one field well away from the clamp. About 1.5 miles is as much as you would want to travel between clamp and field to keep the job going. At the clamp, we use a 100hp tractor with buckrake. The longer material definitely needs more rolling; the floor chains on the Europrofi unload quick and evenly enabling the driver to drop the load in an even swath to make buckraking easier - not in one big lump like you get on a tipping trailer."
" We used a trailed precision chop up to the end of the 2002 season, but found getting-in the extra man with tractor and trailer to be increasingly difficult. We saw the Pottinger Europrofi at the South West Grassland Demonstration and thought we would go over and have a bit of a laugh at the people working old fashioned foragers. But we were surprised how fast it travelled down the swath on a 135 hp tractor and even more surprised how short it chopped the grass. We expected it to just about half the length of the grass, but it cuts a lot of it down to 2 inches - just the right length for the cows and short enough to consolidate well. Too short and the grass goes straight through the cows - that is no good for producing maximum yield from grass. So we ordered a Europrofi 1L shortly afterwards. It has proved to be a good decision; in fact the best decision we've ever made - everything went like a dream - its the most stress free silage I've ever done."
We asked Stephen Radford how the field harvesting and ensiling operation went in his first season; "We used our 120 hp JD 6610 tractor and managed 7 mph down the swath - which we rowed-up with a wide single rotor rake. We could have done with another 10-15 hp as the speed dropped off a little when we were around 90% full. It was taking 4-5 minutes to get a load. The pick-up on the wagon is good - six rows of close spaced tines - they left very little leaf on the field. We cleared 30 acres per 10 hour day in first cut; 40 acres in second cut. On the road, you can go as fast as you like - 40 kmh; the wagon runs very smooth and brakes well. We have only one field well away from the clamp. About 1.5 miles is as much as you would want to travel between clamp and field to keep the job going. At the clamp, we use a 100hp tractor with buckrake. The longer material definitely needs more rolling; the floor chains on the Europrofi unload quick and evenly enabling the driver to drop the load in an even swath to make buckraking easier - not in one big lump like you get on a tipping trailer."
"The cows like the silage, are contented, fit and holding their services well"
Asked to sum-up his first season experience with his Europrofi, Mr Radford says "There is very little to criticise really - just the longer time taken to consolidate the grass in the clamp - particularly if the grass gets very dry. But the proof is in the analysis and how the cows take to the silage. The protein in the second cut clamp was 17.1% with a good, stable fermentation of the 31.7% dry matter crop at 4.3 pH and 2.9% N. The cows really like the silage; they are very contented, in good condition and are holding their services well. The actual harvest went like a dream; everything was under control - stress free. I had the odd blockage which was soon freed from the cab seat. Maintenance was quick and straight forward. It is so much easier than the old trailed precision chop system - I wouldn't go back to it. Buying the Pottinger was the best decision we've ever made."
TESTIMONIALS
March 2010
finds favour with Cheshire Contractor
... click to read more
2010
exceeded expections in Norfolk ... click to read more
2010
has made life more simple says Devon Contractor ... click to read more
2010
has proved the best decision we ever made
says Devon farmer ... click to read more
