Forage Harvester

Overview

A self-propelled forage harvester is the fastest way to turn a field of standing corn or a wilted grass swath into chopped silage. Unlike a Combine Harvester, which separates grain and discards the rest, a forage harvester chops the whole plant into short, uniform pieces and blows the entire stream into a wagon driving alongside. That chopped material is hauled to a clamp or bunker, packed, and fermented into the silage that feeds dairy and beef herds through winter.

The machine is built around an enormous diesel: chopping wet, dense crop at high throughput is one of the most power-hungry jobs in agriculture, so the Diesel Engine can exceed 900 hp on the largest models. Power feeds the ground drive and the working line in parallel, and the operator manages the whole process from the Operator Cab through a single terminal.

How it works

Crop enters through the Pickup Header, a tined pickup reel for grass, or a wide row-crop head for standing corn. The gathered crop passes into the Feed Roller Unit, where smooth and serrated rollers squeeze it into a tight, even mat. The speed of these rollers relative to the cutterhead sets the chop length: feed faster and each knife pass cuts a longer slice.

The mat is fed across the fixed shear bar of the Cutterhead Drum, where two dozen or more knives mounted in a chevron spiral sweep past at high tip speed, slicing the crop cleanly. Chopped material then drops into the Accelerator Blower, a paddle rotor that re-accelerates it and hurls it upward. From there it travels through the Discharge Spout, a tall swiveling chute the operator aims into the wagon; hydraulic actuators swing and tilt the spout, and a deflector flap trims throw distance so the wagon fills evenly.

Underneath, the Drive Transmission and a hydrostatic ground drive move the machine through the field on large front wheels and a steering rear axle. Header lift, spout movement and steering all run off the Hydraulic System circuit, while the Electrical System system carries the lighting, sensors and controls that tie the whole harvest process together.