Caring for delicate crops
Kuhn has launched two mower-conditioners for use in delicate crops like lucerne or alfalfa, where leaf loss can be a major problem if conditioning is done by traditional flail type designs.
Kuhn NZ has this year been showing its Merge Maxx 950 belt merger that uses twin pick-ups and belt conveyors to form the required swath.
And now the Dutch company Ploeger, with an eye on contractors, has developed a self-propelled swather, the CM4240 Merger, due for launching at Agritechnica in November.
It will have a working width adjustable between 10 and 12m, and pick-up technology from Reiter, well known in Europe for its front- and rear-mounted mergers/swath formers.
Several Ploeger designs are seen in the machines, including a side-shift function that allows push-button changes from central to side-delivery configurations.
Ploeger says the front positioning of the pick-up heads helps provide exceptional visibility and prevents the machine having to run on the crop, so avoiding crop contamination.
Power is delivered by a 260hp FPT, 6-cylinder engine said to be capable of pushing the machine to operating speeds of up to 20km/h.
