High yield livestock need a high quality basic ration. Ruminants are fussy about their forage. The quality of their basic ration will determine whether your animals consume the forage in high quantities, or not. In addition to energy content, odour and taste, a low crude ash content plays a critical role.
Clean, nutritious basic ration is readily eaten and consumed in high quantities. The amount of concentrates used can be reduced. This cuts forage costs while at the same time improving animal health.
Healthy livestock reward you with higher fertility, a longer useful life and, crucially, higher milk and meat yields. The bottom line is that you benefit from clean, high quality forage with more profit generating from your farm business.
Raking means applying mechanical stress to the forage. Depending on the type of crop, there is a greater or lesser risk of losing valuable plant nutrients in the form of disintegration losses in the field. The drier and leafier the forage, the higher the risk.
Alfalfa and clover are among the crops that are considered particularly sensitive to disintegration losses during harvest. Here, the valuable leaves quickly fall off the stem, representing an enormous loss of nutrients. However, more frequent dry summers are making it increasingly popular grow these crops, in particular to use as a supplemental basic ration for your livestock.
That is why PÖTTINGER provides you with a tool to prepare both grassy permanent pasture and leafy forage crops for harvesting without loss: MERGENTO, the merger from PÖTTINGER.
Choosing MERGENTO means choosing the highest quality forage with all types of crop. Because with the PÖTTINGER merger you do more than minimise disintegration losses. You also harvest clean forage in a wide variety of crops. The result is more energy, more crude protein and less crude ash in the basic ration.
How MERGENTO works
MERGENTO collects the forage from the ground using the pick-up. Without further contact with the ground, cross conveyor belts transport the forage to the swath. This has two major advantages:
Dirt and stones remain on the ground because there is no contact with the pick-up's tines.
Disintegration losses are reduced to a minimum because the forage is not raked across the ground - an advantage especially with dry, leafy forage such as clover or alfalfa.
Johannes Müller is a farmer and contractor to the north of the Black Forest in the German state of Baden-Württemberg. He operated a MERGENTO VT 9220 during the 2021 harvest season.
"Clean forage in the swath and a clean and tidy raked field, that's what our customers like to see. We used the MERGENTO for one-third whole crop and two-thirds permanent grassland. The machine impressed us both on permanent grassland and raking alfalfa and clover crops. The shape of the swath is comparable to a centre-swath rake, even with a side swath. Personally, I especially appreciate that it is easy to operate and easy to maintain. Anyone who knows how to use a rotary rake can easily use the MERGENTO."
Johannes Müller, Farmer and contractor
Bad Teilnach-Zavelstein | Germany