ONION HARVESTER

Finding quality used Onion harvesters and planters is not difficult if you know where to look and are prepared to put in the time necessary to research these machines. Large, complex and highly specialised, a onion harvester is typically a trailed affair that must be hitched to a tractor, although there are self-powered models with integrated cabs which can operate independent of other equipment.

Smaller machines can tackle a single row of onion at a time, making them ideal for covering compact sites, while larger models will have greater working widths to improve productivity on big farms. Used Onion harvesters from manufacturers such as Grimme and Asa Lift are available in good working order.

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STRAW CHOPPER/BEDDER

A straw bedder, often called a straw chopper, is a specialised piece of machinery designed to take straw bales, chop them and spread the straw across an area as bedding. They come in a vast variety of sizes and configurations and vary in price from a few hundred to several thousand pounds.

The basic configuration of a straw bedder is to have a large drum into which bales are fed. At the base of this drum is a chopping mechanism, and typically the drum will spin to feed a continuous supply of straw into the chopping mechanism. This is then blown via a hose or other outlet on to the desired bedding area. Where a hose is used, an operator simply directs the bedding on to the appropriate area. For machines with nozzle outlets, this can be changed in orientation to allow the straw to be blown in the direction and to the distance required.

The feeding of the bale into the straw bedder is a job for the telehandler or tractor. This can be a fairly intricate manoeuvre that requires an experienced operator on the loading machine. It should be emphasised that at no point should an operator put any part of his body or any implement, such as a rake, inside the drum. Instead, the bale should be dropped in cleanly. Clearly, this can be an awkward manoeuvre where the drum or hopper is relatively small in relation to the bale being inserted, so due consideration should be given to the size of the bales that are produced on the farm when sizing the appropriate hopper. Inserting a large square bale into a relatively small drum can also greatly increase the combined height of load and bale, so this is best taken into account before attempting to drive a loaded straw bedder into a low-roofed building.

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