The company says though traditional shear grabs cut relatively cleanly, their design often makes them too slow and unable to pick up enough silage in each load to suit large-scale farmers who need to handle several tonnes daily.
“As a result, many farmers have gone back to using standard silage grabs which are relatively fast to load out with and are easy to use,” says sales manager Glen Malcolm. “But the down side is these silage grabs loosen the stack face every time you get a load, letting air in and heating the silage, which burns up sugars and reduces quality and digestibility.
“The biggest concern is the potential for harmful toxins and bacteria to develop in the silage as a result.
“We all know the negative result of feeding milking cows silage that’s starting to spoil, even if it is only a small percentage of the stack.”
The Topstar has a counter-rotating knife which cuts on three sides, Malcolm says.
“The operator simply drives the forks of the Topstar into the silage stack and presses the third service button on the loader.
“The top part of the machine then cuts vertically down to the forks, using a scissor action.
“Once cut, that whole block of silage is simply lifted out and can be tipped into the feed-out wagon. The cube shape means even the smaller-model Topstar is still capable of taking well over a tonne of silage in a single cut.
“Not only does this mean fewer backward-and-forward movements for the loader operator, but the way the Topstar works requires no levering with the loader to get the silage out. It’s simply cut and lifted out like a block of Lego.”
The other major advantage of the Topstar versus the traditional shear grab is that the action of the counter rotating knives effectively seals the stack as it cuts. No loose silage is left lying around to spoil.
Tel. 0800 932 254
www.webbline.co.nz
