Based in Lobinstown, Co Meath, Kevin Meade started off his contracting business back in 2000. In 2006, Kevin branched out into silage cutting. That year, he cut around 400-450ac of silage using a trailed JF 1050 Protec harvester. He has successfully built up his contracting business and now runs two self-propelled forage harvesters.

Kevin Meade.

Silage

Initially starting off cutting silage with a JF trailed harvester in 2006, Kevin soon branched out into operating wagons also.

He started off with a PÖttinger Europrofi 4500 in 2008 before changing to two Strautmann 3601 machines in 2011. During this time, Kevin also upgraded his existing JF harvester to a larger 1350 model.

By 2015, the business had expanded exponentially. Kevin needed to increase throughput and decided to upgrade his trailed harvester to a new self-propelled Claas Jaguar 860.

By 2018, the expansion of the dairy herd in Kevin’s local area meant that his workload had further increased. He needed to once again increase his throughput.

Kevin runs four Massey Fergusons and seven Case IH tractors.

However, at the time he was also running a monster Krone ZX 470 wagon for farmers who wanted a slightly longer chop length in their silage that a precision chop harvester might have historically offered. He traded in his big wagon to buy a second self-propelled silage harvester, this time with hydraulic feed rollers to allow him to easily adjust the chop length from the cab. After considering his options, Kevin opted to buy a new Krone Big X 580.

He explained: “As every contractor is aware, it’s not that many self-propelled forage harvesters that you will buy or get the chance to operate. I liked the Krone. The machine seemed to be good value. I was curious to see how the Krone would perform so I decided to buy one.”

Kevin Meade's Krone Big X 580 and Big M 450.

Big X 580

After one season completed with the Big X, Kevin is delighted with the machine. Starting at the front of the forager, he explained that he has been very impressed with capability of the header and feed rollers to take in lumpy swaths of grass that would have been tedded and raked. The forager is equipped with a 28-knife drum, with Kevin running it on a half set of knives to increase the chop length. The half set of knives in combination with the hydraulic feed rollers means that Kevin can chop the grass from 20mm to 40mm.

The policy in the business is to sharpen the knives little and often, usually once per day to help fuel efficiency. Kevin noted that throughout last season, the forager averaged about 6l of diesel an acre. The blow from the drum was one point he was very impressed with. He also added that the cab is very driver-friendly, with loads of visibility, and that it’s very comfortable.

Mowing

Kevin carries out a lot of the mowing for the business himself. He first started off using trailed mowers, moving to front-mounted and trailed before changing to triple mowers in 2009. Up until last year, Kevin was using a Deutz Warrior 7250 and Kverneland 5090 butterlfy mowers. However, he noted that the tractor and mowers had a lot of work done and the outfit needed to be replaced for the upcoming season. After pricing both new butterfly triple mowers and a Krone Big M self-propelled mower, Kevin opted to purchase a new Big M 450.

After trying the Big M 450 last year, Kevin was really impressed.

“The Big M is specifically designed for mowing. From the time I spent operating the demo machine last year, I found it more nimble than a tractor and triple mowers.

“The visibility from the cab is very good in comparison to a tractor. You’re looking down on your work. The cab in the Big M is the same cab that Krone used in the Big X. The rear steer means the machine is very manoeuvrable. We would be intending to use the Big M for the majority of the pit silage work. The Big M is no wider than the harvesters or the previous tractor with the triple mowers, meaning it will easily gain access to the fields.”

We asked Kevin how the Big M fared out price-wise in comparison to the previous mowing setup he was running.

Kevin recently purchased a new Big M 450 for the upcoming silage season.

“Before I decided to buy the Big M, I was pricing a new 400hp Massey Ferguson and triple Krone mowers with groupers. This combination unit was going to cost me almost as much as the new Big M 450. Realistically, the 400hp tractor would be too large for any other work I would be carrying out aside from running the triple mowers.”

He has spoken to a number of contractors running Big M machines and they were very happy with them.

Future

Kevin is really hoping there’s a good future for everyone in the agricultural industry. He said that obviously Brexit could play a big role in this but there isn’t much that farmers can do about that.

He added that there are always challenges in the contracting game such as availability of labour, especially seasonal workers and the weather, for example. However, he noted that the most worrying aspects of contracting that he can see is the fact that the price of machinery is constantly rising, while the rates for work aren’t. He also explained that the uncertainty around fuel prices can affect contracting businesses.

Overall, Kevin noted that he hadn’t foreseen himself getting this big into the contracting when he originally started, however, he’d love to see things continuing as they are.

Foragers: 2018 Krone Big X 580, 2015 Claas Jaguar 860.

Tractors: Case: CS 130, CVX 160, CVX 170, CVX 185, CXV 1190, 2x CVX 195.

Massey Ferguson: 2x 7726, 7722, 7720.

Loaders: 2015 Volvo L60H, 2005 Volvo L70E.

Slurry: Two SlurryKat umbilical systems with dribble bars (7.5m & 9m), HiSpec 2500 gallon tanker and a Redrock 3,000gal tanker.

Balers: Krone 1290 Big Pack with pre chop, Krone 1290 Big Pack with pre-chop, Massey Ferguson 190, McHale Fusion 3+.

Tillage equipment: Kuhn five-furrow reversible plough, Agrolux five-furrow reversible plough, Overum six-furrow semi-mounted plough, Amazone 4m folding one-pass, Mashio 3m one-pass.

Trailers: 2x Broughan tri-axle 24ft silage trailers, Broughan 20ft silage trailer, 2x Smyth Supercube 20.6ft silage trailers, 2x Broughan 36ft tri-axle bale trailers.

Mowers: Krone Big M 450, Krone front- and rear-mounted, Krone front-mounted and Kverneland rear-trailed.

Tedders/rakes: Krone eight-rotor tedder, Krone Swadro 1400 four-rotor rake, Krone 880 two-rotor rake, Fella two-rotor rake.