MACHINERY AND TRACTOR We catch up with Gloucestershire contractor David Hunt to see if his Kuhn Merge Maxx 950 is living up to expectations. Geoff Ashcroft reports.
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ased in the Cotswolds, agricultural contractor David Hunt faces a constant battle with stones. While it is tough on his arable kit, it wreaks havoc with forage equipment – even more so when a rake has been through the crop. Mr Hunt, based at Middle Brookend Farm, Moreton-in-theMarsh, says: “Rakes are pretty aggressive. Unless your fields are super smooth and flat, there is always going to be some unwanted ground contact. And we have found rakes can also damage some grass varieties – they are just not gentle enough.” Though until recently, the challenges of the stony Cotswold region are something that D. Hunt Agricultural Contractors has had to accept when it comes to grass and forage equipment. “Unfortunately, the risk of forage contamination is something we, and our customers, have had to tolerate for years. And to add insult to injury, forager blades, shear bars, chute liners and trailers all take a good hiding from stones and flints.” But light is now at the end of the
tunnel, with recent developments in swath merging equipment. After buying a three-metre front-mounted merger four years ago, the firm invested in a Kuhn Merge Maxx 950 for the 2019 season. “I bought the small unit as an experiment and it was brilliant. We saw a big reduction in forage contamination, but what we really needed was a much bigger merger,” says Mr Hunt.
Swath “It also proved pretty useful during harvest. We bale straw for a merchant using our 2270 and 2270XD six-string MF balers, and we could be sent anywhere, working in all kinds of swaths. Now we can merge straw into much bigger rows for these hungry balers and we have the option of easily moving straw after a shower of rain.” Supplied by local dealer Turney FieldForce, the merger was bought to take the lion’s share of rowing up from the company’s Kuhn GA9531 twin rotor rake. “I ordered the merger in 2018 as soon as I saw it. I thought it was just what we needed to improve forage
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