Silage Harvester (redirected from Forage harvester)

Silage Harvester 

a machine that combines the operations of cutting and chopping agricultural crops that are to be ensiled and loading the crops into transport vehicles. A silage harvester can also be used to prepare haylage, green topdress-ing, and grass meal.

The cutting mechanism of the silage harvester severs the stalks and a reel places them on a feed conveyor, which transports them to the upper and lower rollers of the feed apparatus. The rollers seize the stalks, compress them, and push them onto the shear plate of a chopping mechanism. A knife drum paired with the shear plate cuts off sections of the stalks, which fall onto a conveyor. The conveyor unloads the chopped material into transport vehicles.

Table 1. Specifications for silage harvesters manufactured in the USSR
Specification
	Model
	KS-2.6	KSG-2.6	KS–1.8
Swath width (m) .............	2.6	2.6	1.8
Productivity (ha/hr)...........	0.-9–1.5	1.0	0.6–1.1
Cutting height (mm)...........	80–150	150–200	60–200
Length of cut section (mm) ......	20	20–30	10–60
Tractor models used ..........	MTZ-80 T–150 T–74 DT–75	self-propelled	MTZ–80 T–150 T–74 DT–75 luMZ–6

The USSR produces trailer and self-propelled silage harvesters; the latter are used for work on very wet soils. The harvester is controlled by the tractor driver or the harvester operator (for self-propelled models). Silage harvesters used abroad operate in a similar manner.