Grassland technology
The Grassland Technology describes the equipment used for harvesting forage for herbivorous animals .
Use of green forage
The daily gathering of green forage during the growing season was recognized and common practice in earlier times. However, this type of use is falling steadily. At first the mowing was done with a scythe , the cart was loaded with a fork and pulled by the draft animals . Small farmers used a handcart. For these activities, several working hours per day were calculated on the larger farms. The mechanization of the use of green forage began with the development of the finger mowers and the swath board. With the invention of the forage wagon in the 1960s, economic full mechanization was finally achieved. The necessary working time could be reduced to 10% compared to manual work. Further inventions such as the rotary mower or the distribution belt on the loading wagon optimized this harvesting chain over time.
Haymaking
In the past, hay had to be extracted for more than 180 days in order to ensure that the animals were fed during winter . After mowing with a scythe, the grass used to be tied up (spread out) with a fork. It was then turned over with a rake for several days , until the desired degree of dryness was achieved. In areas with frequent rainfall , the hay was hung on hay racks , where it was allowed to dry for several weeks. Was retracted i. d. R. with the hay cart, also known as the ladder cart , onto which the hay was loaded with a pitchfork . In impassable areas, the hay was packed in large dry cloths or nets and then carried on the shoulder to the storage barn. The hay was transported into the valley by sledge in winter . In the barn was also stored with the pitchfork in the haystack. The grass mowing machines appeared from 1850 , which were then supplemented by the drum turner from around 1900 . With the introduction of the small gasoline engines from around 1920, more and more grabs were used in new buildings , which were driven by transmissions and pulleys and took over the unloading by hand and storage. The first motor mowers were also developed from 1920 . An essential step was the introduction of the star wheel rake , which enabled the mechanical swath formation for the hay. The hay was then picked up with low-pressure balers , which pushed the compacted hay onto a wagon and placed it there by hand. The alternative was the bound high-pressure small bales, which were also stacked by hand. Later, with the introduction of the bale thrower, the manual work was limited to storage in the barn, where a certain relief was created with bale lifts. So-called haytails , large 2 m wide pitchforks with 1.5 m long tines, were used on small farms . They were attached to the three-point hydraulic system and were loaded by spearing the hay swath while reversing. The development of small tractors made it possible to use pulled field choppers who picked up the hay, chopped it up and then blew it onto a closed wagon body. The introduction of the loading wagon in 1961 led to enormous savings in working time. Other attempts at mechanization for hay collection, such as the multiple loaders , thus came to nothing . The hay collection with the loading wagon was further promoted by the development of the hand-loaded hay blower , as this ensured proper filling even in old, structurally unfavorable warehouses. The Hächsel blowers used until then fell far behind in favor of farmers. From about 1960, the era of began centrifugal Heuer , which all other forms and mechanical tests of Heuzettens, -wendens and -lüftens largely repressed. This development has not yet been completed. Leaning against this centrifugal principle were swathers developed and these have established themselves in Europe as the dominant Schwadtechnik at the expense of finger wheel rake. The increase in performance through the new technology increased the area coverage and the use of large rotary mowers became possible. In the meantime, the trend in recovery and storage technology was towards full mechanization. With the increased performance of the tractors, new pressing processes were introduced. The round balers became more powerful and the use of front loaders with hydraulic device actuation led to the hay blowers being shut down. In order to be able to better utilize the storage capacities and because the corresponding tractor power is now available, square bales are currently being used more and more.
Fermentation technology
The preparation of silage is essentially the same as that of hay, but the degree of drying is less. Storage used to be in high silos made of wood or stone / concrete. While grippers were initially used for this purpose, fans were later used, but also mobile conveyor belts . This set the course for the loading wagon in the harvest chain from 1960. With the development of self-propelled forage harvesters at the beginning of the 1970s, however, the "pre-loading wagon era" was continued and the chopped silage was blown onto a tipper. In order to be able to take advantage of the increased efficiency during the rescue, the ground silage was further developed and more and more drivable flat silos with concrete walls were built. They are standard for current silage production. Another development was the film tube, a tube made of airtight film with a diameter of approx. 2 - 3 meters that can be filled with a separate machine. The silo bales have a firm place in the preservation of grass silage. The pressed round bales are wrapped airtight in a film. The prerequisites for this were powerful tractors and high-lifting front loaders, both of which were available from around 1980.
literature
- Agriculture: Volume 3 - Agricultural engineering and construction . BLV Verlagsgesellschaft, Munich, ISBN 3-405-14349-7
- Udo Bols: Agricultural implements for tractors in earlier times . Verlag Podszun-Motorbücher GmbH, Brilon, ISBN 978-3-86133-441-5
Web links
- Page no longer available , search in web archives: Milestones in agricultural engineering