The Grassland UK event was held last week at the Royal Bath and West Society Showgrounds in Somerset. Like here, the weather has been anything but good, and a dry day allowed all of the demonstrations to take place. The grass was wet but manageable.

The show featured an impressive lineup of new machines from the big manufacturers.

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With the sales of self-propelled forage harvesters up 40% this year in Ireland, John Deere had a top-of-the-range 8600i wide body self-propelled forage harvester on show for the first time. This new harvester features a 625hp 13.5-litre John Deere engine, changed from the Cummins engine in the previous model. From an Irish point of view, the most popular model with contractors is the John Deere 8600.

The machine specified has prodrive transmission, duraline hardox wear liners throughout, a 40-knife bracket cutter-head, 710/70 R42 front tyres, auto lube, air compressor package and automatic spout positioning, coming with a 639 grass pick-up, hydraulic gauge wheels, roller compressor unit with rake, centregauge wheel and lubrication system. This machine, including pickup, has a list price of €447,000, plus VAT.

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Grassland UK provided a working debut for Lely’s Splendimo PC 280 trailed mower conditioner, which is pictured here in combination with a 280 FC front mower and Case IH Puma 160. The Splendimo 280 PC is compact and has a transport width of 2.60m. In designing the Splendimo 280 PC, Lely made the supporting frame as large as possible with the wheels placed internally.

Lely says that this has allowed for the use of an exceptionally wide conditioning rotor to optimise crop throughput from the cutter bar. This conditioner design, with steel flails and extendable swath boards, enables narrow swath widths. An easily adjustable wide spreading device is also available. Prices start from £16,650 (€23,200) in the UK.

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Future Grass Technology in Carlow displayed its zero grazer. The machine uses an Italian-built 2.1m Galfrey twin-drum mower to cut grass and feed it into a transport elevator, which pushes the crop upwards into the body of the machine.

When full, the load is ejected using the zero grazer’s moving floor conveyor. Capable of carrying around 6.5t of grass, the GT120 requires a tractor of 105hp and costs from €33,000, plus VAT. A competitive finance package is available over seven years requiring an initial upfront payment of around €2,100.

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Hi-Spec Engineering launched the Kompactor dual-purpose push-off and compacting trailer. Central to the design is a three-stage hydraulic ram. It features a moving headboard which can be used to compact material, such as grass or maize silage by up to 80%, says the manufacturer. It can also empty the trailer in as little as 30 seconds. The Kompactor avoids the inherent risks associated with tipping trailers, such as striking power lines or instability on soft or uneven ground. The Kompactor is available in four sizes and there is a demount version, allowing the trailer body to be changed for a vacuum tanker body. Retail prices start from €40,000.

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The new range of Claas Cargos 8000 Series forage wagons feature a pick-up and chopping unit which can be removed, turning the forage wagon into a trailer. To turn into a trailer, pickup and chopping unit can be removed in about 15 minutes and a blanking plate fitted.

The new, three-model series comprises the 8300, 8400 and 8500, which have capacities of 30, 35.5 and 41 cubic metres, respectively. From the pickup, the crop is fed through an 860mm diameter rotor fitted with nine rows of tines in a helical pattern, which are bolted on for ease of maintenance and replacement, if necessary.

Also, the front portion of the floor lowers, so that a user can stand up underneath the wagon to carry out maintenance on the knife bank.

The list price for this machine is expected to be in the region of €80,000, plus VAT. The Cargos 8400 machine will be on test with the Irish Farmers Journal later this month.

The Fendt Katana 85 made its debut in the UK. The Katana features a 21-litre, V12, MTU engine developing 850hp. The higher horsepower machines are developed for the growing amount of maize harvested for biomass.

The bigger engine is catered for by increasing the rear chassis in size.

To the best of our knowledge at the Irish Farmers Journal, none of these machines are working in Ireland at the moment.

Prices are reported to be in the region of £385,000 in the UK.