New ‘unload-on-the-move’ silage wagon gets international outing

Fliegl is now bringing its novel Buffel (or Buffalo) to international shows and trade fairs.

The non-stop forage wagon was first unveiled at November’s Agritechnica show – in Fliegl’s home German market.

Now the machine is starting to pop up in Fliegl’s export markets. This month (January), for example, has seen it make an appearance at Polagra Premiery – a major Polish exhibtion. The picture (above) shows the eye-catching machine on the company’s stand in the run-up to the event.

Is it just a matter of time before we see an example put through its paces here in Ireland?

The company says that “pilot production” will start this year; the machine will be available to buy in 2019.

What is it?

The machine encompasses a pick-up reel, a chopping rotor (similar to that in a silage wagon or a round baler), a bunker and an unloading conveyer.

In other words, it is essentially a self-loading silage wagon that can unload on-the-move – enabling it to keep picking up grass whilst unloading.

The idea is that the machine can continuously pick up swaths of grass – unloading (on-the-move) as and when tractors and trailers come back from the pit.

Upon each empty trailer’s return, it simply runs alongside the Buffel – in much the same way as a trailer would ‘side-fill’ from a self-propelled (precision-chop) harvester.

However, in the case of the Buffel, grass is unloaded via a conveyor system (rather than being blown by an accelerator through a chute).

Fliegl is rather excited about the machine’s prospects. It describes the Buffel as a “revolution” in the harvesting of grass and other swath-based crops.