Based on the outskirts of Midleton in Co Cork, brothers Ricky and Robin Forest run a large scale tillage operation, focusing on cereal production. In addition to handling their own straw, the brothers also buy in a large supply. The scale of their operation combined with the ever-changing Irish weather, means it’s often a huge challenge to bale straw with minimal moisture present.

In order to get the straw as dry as possible, the brothers looked for a machine that could move the swarth of straw off the damp ground it was sitting on, while turning the straw around in order to dry the bottom half.

Previous methods

Up to now, the duo were using two methods of turning this damp straw. The first was a modified trailed wuffler. Hanging from the back of the wuffler’s frame were two rotating rotors, similar to what’s used in a common tedder but without the tines. As it passed through the wuffler, these two rotors would further shake out the swarth of straw. However, the straw was still landing on the same damp ground.

The other method used was a trailed eight row tedder. Robin explained that the tedder was trying to shake out rows from a 25ft combine header. Even when travelling at a slow speed, the tedder struggled to shake out these monster rows. In addition, the double handling from the tedding and the raking afterwards was damaging the straw and leading to a loss of material, as well as pulling in unwanted stones into the swarth.

Merger

The brothers first came across the merger online. Straight away they thought that this was the machine for them. After taking delivery of the merger last week, the Forest men have been really impressed with the high working speed and output.

“Operating in heavy swarths of winter barley straw I was able to hit speeds of up to 16km/h and still leave a nice swarth,” Robin explained.

“Depending on the field, merging the 25ft rows I was able to put 20-25 acres per hour through the machine which is impressive”.

Workings

The machine is quite simple. The concept is based around the flexible pick-up and conveyor belt. Attached to the tractors front linkage, the machine comes with hydro-pneumatic suspension (Hydraulic float). Starting from underneath the machine, four freely rotating discs run on the ground, allowing the curved spring tines to run barely touching the ground.

The machine is equipped with a camless flexible pick-up reel. The spring tines are held in place with a band. Each band holds six tines. The rotor is fitted with a large amount of plastic fingers. Plastic is used as it’s lighter and easier on the forage or straw.

The pickup and the finger rotor are driven by the tractor’s hydraulics. Inside the cab, the operator has a monitor that determines the speed and direction of the belt (either to the right or left) and whether to float or lock the hydraulics.

It is rumoured that Farmec will be importing a trailed 5m merger into Ireland later this year.