Organised by the German Agricultural Society, the EuroTier Expo in Hanover is one of the largest international platforms for innovations in machinery and equipment for the livestock sector. This year, a record 300 submissions by 182 exhibitors from 23 countries were received for the EuroTier innovation awards. Strautmann won a silver medal for the Double Cut feeder on its Vertimix Fast Cut feeder mixer series, which combines the advantages of block cutting and chopping.
The silage is cut out from the silo with a cutter unit that’s ‘gentle’ to the silage structure and conveyed to the elevator belt without mechanical stress via a blunt conveyor roller fitted with auger segments. Loose bulk materials can be picked up directly with the conveyor roller by lowering the cutter unit to floor level.
Note the smooth silage face after cutting.
The self-propelled wagons in the series have capacities of 11m³ to 13m³, and various options are available to suit individual operating conditions. The wagons have a 2m-wide cutting unit and an accelerator drum. The new picking-up system is a combination cutting unit and milling cutter. When picking up loose bulk material, the cutting unit can be swivelled so that loose components such as grain can be lifted solely by means of the conveyor drum. Strautmann equipment is distributed in South Africa by Inttrac Trading in Meyerton, Gauteng.
Power requirement reduced
Combining the conveyor drum and upstream cutting unit significantly reduces the unit’s power requirement. For this reason, Strautmann uses a 105kW John Deere diesel engine for the self-propelled fodder mixing wagons in its Vertimix series. This permits filling performances which can be compared to picking-up performances by milling cutters with engine outputs of 135kW and more.
