N.B. forage equipment demo was a cut above
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by George Fullerton
The Kings County Soil and Crop Improvement Association in southern New Brunswick chose their Aug. 31 rain date to host their forage demo day in Knightville.
“Typically, we see around 80 people attending our equipment field days,” said association coordinator Joe Graham. “I was surprised and happy to have around 100 people for this event. I think having the demonstration site in close proximity to the forage field trials worked in our favour, making it convenient for farmers to attend both and experience innovations that can make their operation more productive.”
Jason Wells, a forage specialist with New Brunswick’s agriculture department, was on hand at the forage field trial plots on the Jopp family’s Auenland Farm. Wells provided an animated tour of forage test plots. The plots demonstrated a wide range of forage varieties, fertility rates, and harvest dates, all of which held the attention of the farmers in attendance.
As the field trial tour wrapped up, the action switched a couple kilometres up the Knightville Road to the Giermindl Farm and Gasthof Old Bavarian Restaurant for a forage equipment demo.
The Giermindl Farm was established by Adolf and Olga Giermindl and their family in the 1970s after they emigrated from Germany’s Bavaria region. The family began farming and built an on-farm butcher shop. In an effort to share some of the traditions of their culture, the family went on to construct the Gasthof Old Bavarian Restaurant. Currently, Adolf and Olga’s daughters Claudia and Inga manage the restaurant and butcher shop respectively, and Claudia’s son Lukas manages the farm and works at the restaurant and butcher shop when needed.
The farm has around 50 brood cows. The calves are raised to finish on the farm and processed through the butcher shop, with some ending up on plates in the restaurant. Additionally, there are sows, with hogs raised for slaughter. The farm also raises hens, meat chickens, turkeys, and goats for the Ontario market.
Joe Graham welcomed visitors with coffee and doughnuts. Equipment on site was courtesy of Green Diamond Equipment (John Deere), Hall Brothers Enterprises (Kubota), and Millstream Ag Sales and Repairs (McHale equipment).
Green Diamond brought along tractor power for an S250 mower-conditioner, a SaMASZ Z2-780 (24-foot centre delivery) rake, and a 450M John Deere baler.
Green Diamond sales rep John Schmidt explained that because the request for equipment for the demo was on such short notice, they had to scramble to organize equipment. As a result, the demo mower-conditioner had actually been sold to Ian and Stephen Sharp of Midland. Similarly, the 450M baler had been sold to Cecil Folkins of Mount Middleton.
“We really appreciate these farmers for allowing us to use their new equipment,” said Schmidt. “We would like to see more lead time for future demo events so that we have more time to arrange for equipment from our dealerships.”
The 14-foot mower-conditioner has seven disks with quick-change knives. It made quick work of Giermindls’ field of second-cut alfalfa. The 450M baler has a high-capacity feeding system and 14 knives, and makes silage bales as large as four by five feet.
Hall Brothers sales rep John Stockdale said that they were pretty well sold out of forage equipment and on short notice came to the demo with their demonstration BV5160 baler with 14 knives and Kubota power.
“We have had an amazing sales season over the past summer,” said Stockdale. “I attribute some of those sales to the incredible forage crops farmers had. A lot of the harvest equipment we took on trade for new was broken. A lot of old pieces simply failed pushing through the heavy crop, so a lot of people went with new equipment to make sure they got forage harvested at the right time.”
The Kubota BV5160 includes three models: 14 knives, 25 knives, and no knives. “Operators have the option to remove knives and replace them with blanks where less cutting is preferred for certain crops,” explained Stockdale.
The 14-knife model provides a 2.75-inch cut that ensures a tight 48-by-64-inch bale. The power requirement is 75 to 100 horsepower.
Millstream Ag manager Ben Friesen represented the McHale equipment line. Millstream Ag was established at Berwick, N.B., only a few years ago and Friesen handles the McHale lines of balers and bale wrappers, and soon mowers.
Ireland-based McHale equipment is a relatively new line for New Brunswick. The V6750 (variable chamber) baler has options of 15 to 25 cutting knives and a 2.1-metre pickup. The McHale 991 high-speed bale wrapper is a trailing model, which picks up, wraps, and drops bales on the go. It provides two film applications simultaneously, speeding up the wrapping process. The McHale equipment attracted a lot of attention at the demo, with impressive performance. Millstream Ag is also a dealer for Pottinger equipment.
Lunch was sponsored by the Sussex Co-op Country Farm Store. Claudia Giermindl and her staff offered a choice of soups, as well as a choice of sausage on a bun or schnitzel in a sandwich. The lunch reviews were all positive.
The table talk centred around the 2021 forage harvest, with the first cut coming off early and a very good second cut, which for a lot of farmers more than satisfied their supply. Wet weather meant that most of the forage crop went into silage and very little was put up as dry hay.
Discussion came around to the potential for New Brunswick forage to go to western farmers who’ve experienced severe drought conditions this year. While several farmers agreed that there was excess supply available, it was generally put up as round-bale silage, whereas western farmers require high-density dry hay bales. An added challenge is that high-density square balers are not very common in this region.
There was also discussion around the practicality of shipping round-bale silage with such bales being difficult to pack in trailers and shipping containers.
