The times when determining silage quality meant seeing how full the clamp was and testing it afterwards are long gone, with modern foragers able to analyse yield, dry matter and constituents in real-time. CPM explores the capability of different machines and what value this can add.
“It’s a universal sensor across machines providing customers with extra value and useability.” – TOM MEAD
By Melanie Jenkins
Having real-time harvest data allows forager operators to make decisions on the spot and can provide farmers with the knowledge to produce the best feed possible for their livestock. Advances in technology from a number of manufacturers are making this increasingly accessible and intelligent.
CLAAS
Claas has a number of different harvest monitoring options available to its forager customers. Its Quantimeter is a yield monitoring system which is the base of the firm’s data capturing system on its Jaguar foragers, explains Claas’ Conor Trimble.
“The system looks at the volume and speed of the material that’s entering the machine and calculates the crop yield which can be used to create maps. It’s also possible for the machine to determine accurate additive applications depending on yield.”
Additionally, the optional dry matter sensor allows data capture to progress a step further, he notes. “In conjunction with the Quantimeter, this sensor can calculate the dry matter of grass, wholecrop and maize.”
It monitors the conductivity, temperature and volume of the crop to calculate and record the dry matter, explains Conor. “The data can then be augmented onto a dry matter map. Having this sensor will also allow the machine to apply additives depending on the crop itself. This permits the operator to vary the rate of additive application to make sure the recommended amount is applied for the correct conditions.”
An optional NIR sensor can also be included to provide the same functionality as the dry matter sensor with the additional benefit of analysing the content of the crop. “Using Near Infrared Spectroscopy the system can give readings for dry matter, starch, fibre, protein, ash, fat and sugar.”
“The information collected by the Quantimeter, dry matter sensor and the NIR sensor is all transferred via telematics to the Claas Connect system,” he concludes.
FENDT
Partnering with Polispec, Fendt has worked to provide its latest Katana with an onboard analysis solution, says the firm’s Ed Dennett. “This third party optional NIR sensor has calibrations for silage, forage, wholecrop and grains. The mobile unit can be used as part of the Katana and can be removed for portable use on farm, enabling operators to manually analyse forage from a clamp or bales, while also analysing freshly cut material as it’s fed into the Katana.”
Data from the NIR sensor, along with operational information such as fuel and time, can be fed back to the farm office and interpreted using management software such as Next Farming. “Reports and yield maps can be generated with such software, but more basic data can be processed and reported in Fendt’s own portal shared with other Fendt machines.
“Using FendtONE offboard online portal, Fendt users can store, input and send jobs to machines in Fendt’s range using this data to improve fleet efficiency,” explains Ed.
Using the NIR sensor to ascertain the quality of the crop, and an optional silage additive system, this provides operators with the potential to improve silage quality in the clamp. The silage additive dosing technology is fully integrated into the vehicle and has a tank capacity of 215 litres.
Chop quality and length are handled by six pre-compression rollers on the feed intake, which ensure optimum forage pre-compression. Metal and stone detectors on the first pre-compression rollers prevent damage to the chopping cylinder, these sensors are placed 970mm away from the drum. The crop volume/throughput can be recorded through the feed rollers with simple calibration once a trailer mass is known. This data is then available for documentation of each job the machine carries out.
NEW HOLLAND
Most common in terms of harvest monitoring on New Holland FR forager cruisers is a conductivity sensor within the machines which provides wet and dry matter readings, while GPS determines distribution across a field, explains the firm’s Tom Mead.
“The limitation with this is the accuracy provided when compared with using an NIR sensor,” he notes. “However, New Holland’s NutriSense NIR sensor can be factory ordered or retrofitted across our range of foragers and is capable of providing additional constituent analysis in real-time as the crop flows through the machine. This includes starches, ADF, NDF ash, protein and fat.”
As standard, the sensor is capable of reading values across 10 different crops but individual customers can request to add speciality crops too, says Tom. “Dinamica Generale, who manufactures the NIR sensors, is able to work with customers to adjust the sensor’s calibration so it can be used on additional crops.”
Operators can access data from the sensor as a live read out on the forager’s screen, or a report can be generated at the end of operations which will be sent to New Holland’s FieldOps management system. “FieldOps receives this data in the same way it would for machinery data and it can break down the information into individual fields, analyse the constituents in a crop, or generate more in-depth reports,” explains Tom.
The NutriSense NIR sensor isn’t limited to being fitted to New Holland foragers, it can be switched between manufacturers’ combines and can be used to measure slurry applications as well, he says. “This means it’s a universal sensor across machines, providing customers with extra value and useability.”
It’s also possible to automatically adjust the chop length depending on the moisture, says New Holland’s Cian O’Leary. “Active Length of Chop, or ActiveLOC, can be set up in the toolbox menu so the forager will change the chop length dependent on the configuration set by the operator.”
Additionally, customers can select to include an on-board additive tank and the flow rate can be adjusted from the cab’s display screen, he adds.
New for 2025 is a CropSpeed sensor located on the underside of the spout which measures the ejection of material, explains Cian. “The operator can adjust the sensitivity of this and if it falls below the CropSpeed ejection, the feedrolls automatically stop to reduce the chance of a blockage.”
This article was taken from the latest issue of CPM. Read the article in full here.
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