Fliegl brought its Buffel (or ‘Buffalo’ as it will be known in some markets) to this week’s SIMA show (in Paris, France).
The Buffel is a novel forage harvesting machine; it 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.
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.
It reckons that the Buffel offers the best of both worlds. Unlike a self-propelled (precision-chop) harvester, it doesn’t need a trailer running alongside all the time.
‘Doesn’t have to stop’
Unlike a conventional self-loading forage wagon, harvesting doesn’t have to stop each time the wagon is full. The Buffel can keep ‘picking’ – albeit with the help of additional tractors and trailers.
The Buffel employs a wagon-type chopping system.
All told, Fliegl believes that wagons offer improved fuel economy over forage harvesters – on an acre-for-acre basis.
