Based near the picturesque setting of Kilmore in the southeast, Pierce Cousins runs a tillage enterprise alongside an agricultural contracting business. He runs the business alongside his father, Seanie, who has acquired 50 years’ experience in the game.

Offering a pit silage service to farmers across a 20-mile radius has always been a key part of Cousins Agri and Plant hire Ltd. Up until last year, the Cousins family was solely running a John Deere 6850 self-propelled forage harvester. However, Pierce hired a forage wagon the previous year, just to test the water and see would it be a viable option to help expand his already growing business. He liked the concept so much he purchased two new Fendt Tigo 65XR machines just before the silage season kicked off last year.

On long draws, Pierce uses the wagons alongside the forage harvester.

Asked why he bought the two new wagons and keep the self-propelled, Pierce said: “In recent years we have spent in the region of €40,000 on maintenance and upkeep of our 6850 forager. It was manufactured in 1999, so if we were to sell it we would never get enough for it. I didn’t want to go away from the forager as we use it for maize. This forager is fit to put 80/90 acres through it in a good day. Being realistic, if I was to upgrade it, the yards we work in wouldn’t be able to take much more of a throughput, so we would be no better off. That’s why I looked at diversifying into wagons. I felt they could open a new page in the book – and they did. They gained us work in farms we had never been in before.

“The more we thought about running wagons alongside the forager, the more they made since. We have five tractors in the region of 300hp, which were only being used for tillage work up to then. With the wagons, we’re getting more out of these tractors. We now run the wagons in any reseeded ground and places that we know stones could be an issue. For the lighter second cuts, we found that the wagons were more fuel efficient and thus offered a lower cost per acre than the forager. Some of our customers also wanted a longer chop. When we looked into concept, it just worked for our business.”

Pierce purchased the two new Fendt forage wagons ahead of the 2019 silage season.

Why Fendt?

Pierce explained how he had initially planned to buy two fresh used forage wagons: “We looked at various brands of machines around seven to eight years of age. However, each machine we looked at had war wounds – whether it be nicks on tyres, bent slats on the floor, or damaged pickups. These machines were costing half the price of new machines and were liable to prove more expensive in the long run, factoring in downtime and the finance rate. It just made more since to go new.

“We looked at Krone, Pöttinger and Fendt. We were really impressed with the Fendt wagons. They were the most compact wagons available. We really liked the idea of the moving bulkhead and they had lots of galvanised components. To top it off, they were the most competitively priced and Keogh Brothers were also my dealer of choice.”

Pickup

The 2m pickup reel on the wagon is camless. It has seven rows of tines with 54mm spacing. It also uses plastic bands. Pierce noted that he likes the pickup and the fact the shell is galvanised. However, only one side of the reel came with kick-back tines. The side with the standard tines was constantly dragging grass in behind the tines and bands, so he had to change the originals to kick-backs. Aside from this, Pierce noted that the pickup is well able to gather all types of grass.

The Tigo is equipped with 45 knives, offering a theoretical chop length of 37mm. Fendt uses elongated knives. The knives are protected by an impact guard system. If the rotor pushes a foreign object against a knife, the supporting spring will buckle and reduce the force against the knife. The tension will then automatically return the knife to its operating position after the foreign object has passed through. Pierce is a fan of how the knife bank swings out for easy access and the fact the machine has a full spare set on board at all times.

Body

Fendt claims the addition of the bulk-head means its wagon is 1m shorter than other forage wagons in its class. The bulkhead pivots by 80°. This was one of the deciding factors when Pierce opted for a Fendt machine. However, he noted there is a knack in filling the wagon and the operator needs to be able to correctly set the bulkhead densities in varying conditions to maximise the wagon’s load-carrying capacity.

A big plus for Pierce was the galvanised steel floor rather than timber, which many other manufacturers use. He was also impressed by the short time in which the wagon can be unloaded. Fendt says its “rapid feed” unloading option can discharge 25 m/min.

The hydro-pneumatic suspension with automatic levelling box is another feature that has really stood out for Pierce. Similar to the air brakes, this runs off load-sensing. Pierce noted that it provides for a very smooth, consistent ride. The wagons are shod on 750/45 R26.5, which offer a high rolling circumference and ample flotation, according to Pierce.

Opinion

“I have been really impressed with the Fendt wagons,” said Pierce. “They are well able to gather 30ft swarths. However, we are driving them with Fendt 926s so there’s no shortage of power. One concern I have putting such power through them is the crosses on the shafts – they’re only 3200 series, I think they should be 3600. It’s something I’m going to look into. The tilting bulkhead is a great job.

“When compared to one of its competitors at the time of buying, I recall the Fendt wagon being 1.4m shorter – they are a really compact machine. We have found that you’ll get them in anywhere a 20ft silage trailer will go.

“From a maintenance point of view, 15-20 minutes in morning and it’s good to go. They are also a very user-friendly machine. The control box is straightforward and easy to follow. The wagons I bought were stock machines, so I didn’t get the chance to add forced steering to the spec list. I’m not a fan of passive steering. The Fendt wagons are also very quick to unload.

“I’ve been very impressed with them. Our running costs have been next to nothing so far. I would go for Fendt again, only next time I’d go even bigger.”

The spec

Model: Tigo 65XR

Cubic capacity: 38m3

Pickup: Camless

Knives: 45

Tyres: 750/45 R26.5

List price: €123,165 plus VAT