# Pull Type Forage Harvesters, what to expect



## foreman (Nov 26, 2015)

We have been growing aprox 70 acres of corn for silage every year for our beef herd, and have always hired a custom chopping crew to do it for us. in the spring they call us up and ask what we are doing for acres and are all gung ho to do it. when it comes time to chop their either way behind schedule due to weather or are 4 hours away and will be a week or two... or three before they get to us, or in some cases just dont show up. it kills me to watch all the money in 70 acres of corn to just dry up and have turn cows in to graze it. We have looked at doing it ourselves for a couple years but havnt done anything about it yet. If we had our own unit we would probably end up planting more like 100+ acres plus choping some first cut alfalfa. Having our own SP unit is out of reach so a pull type would be our only option. We would end up using a high dump wagon, then into a truck. Our longest hual would be 1.5 miles so maybe two trucks? We have a 7520 jd @ 140 odd pto hp to run it with.

My question is, what kind of acres can a relativly modern pull type do in a day? Also JD or NH?

Does anybody on here have any experiance with JF harvesters?

We love doing chopped silage but there has to be a more reliable way to do it.

Thanks


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## 8350HiTech (Jul 26, 2013)

You only have one custom crew at your disposal?


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## Teslan (Aug 20, 2011)

foreman said:


> We have been growing aprox 70 acres of corn for silage every year for our beef herd, and have always hired a custom chopping crew to do it for us. in the spring they call us up and ask what we are doing for acres and are all gung ho to do it. when it comes time to chop their either way behind schedule due to weather or are 4 hours away and will be a week or two... or three before they get to us, or in some cases just dont show up. it kills me to watch all the money in 70 acres of corn to just dry up and have turn cows in to graze it. We have looked at doing it ourselves for a couple years but havnt done anything about it yet. If we had our own unit we would probably end up planting more like 100+ acres plus choping some first cut alfalfa. Having our own SP unit is out of reach so a pull type would be our only option. We would end up using a high dump wagon, then into a truck. Our longest hual would be 1.5 miles so maybe two trucks? We have a 7520 jd @ 140 odd pto hp to run it with.
> 
> My question is, what kind of acres can a relativly modern pull type do in a day? Also JD or NH?
> 
> ...


About 12 years ago a tenant farmer on one of our farms got a pull type harvester. Not a new one by any means. An old NH I think. I think 2-3 rows. He did it fairly fast. I don't remember him spending weeks in the field. Maybe a week and a half to get 145 acres. So I think you could get 70 down pretty easily.


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## Widairy (Jan 1, 2016)

I have run pull type choppers for the last 25 years. What are you looking to spend? Also an articulated tractor can be cumbersome to operate these units depending on size, shape, and topography of the fields of corn you are harvesting. And 140 horsepower will be a big limiter, I run 160 hp on a 3950 Deere with a two row narrow head. I can cover 10 to 15 acres in a day depending on the tonnage. The newer New Holland FP units have a lot more capacity but bring more money.


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## Trotwood2955 (Sep 4, 2012)

Been awhile since I've been around chopping equipment but using a dump wagon and trucks you ought to make pretty good speed. And I'm assuming your 7520 is a new 7520 not the old articulated version someone else mentioned. A 7520 should be plenty of power for a 2 row chopper in my opinion.


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## Gearclash (Nov 25, 2010)

My experience is with NH, although I don't hear anything bad about the later Deere pull types. 900 and FP230 are the same size machine, good match for your hp although they can take 200hp. FP240 is a little bigger. All are good machines. With 140hp might want to stick with 2 row. Depends how good your corn is.


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## Widairy (Jan 1, 2016)

Both my uncle and I have run the Deere pull types forever. Very good reliable machines. Last season I was having trouble with some sorghum Sudan getting through my 3950. I rented an FP 240. No comparison in capacity. With my 3950 I was clutching in first gear and was with the New Holland I jumped up to 4.5 to 5 mph. Impressive chopper. Whenever I get a different chopper I will be looking for an FP 240. I used to run my 7510 Deere on my chopper before getting the higher horsepower magnum. The 7510 dynoed 122 at the pto. Worked nice on the 3950. At 140 hp you'd be at the top end of what I'd put on a 3950 or 3955. I would suggest going with a 3970 or 3975 if you go with Deere and I'd suggest a 3 row head. If you look at New Holland with the experience I have I'd bet you could run with a 3 row unless you have insane heavy tonnage corn. The tons per acre really determine how many acres per day/hour you will cover. I have put up 200 tons in a single day back when I had the 7510 on the chopper, and that was between morning chores and evening chores.


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## flatlander (Oct 1, 2014)

We used to run a JD 3975, now we have a self propelled JD 7300. We used to use a jiffy high dump and one truck, now blow straight into 2-3 trucks, depending on the field.

A power shift can be a huge asset so you can adjust to conditions a bit better, unless your conditions are perfect all the time . Our 3975 was pulled by a JD 4640 and it was ok, it can likely handle up to 200 hp on the drive lines, etc... if I remember correctly the 3975 has the big 1000 pto and the 3955 has the small 1000 pto?

I really like the individual knives of a JD cutter head, pull type or self propelled, over the larger curving knives of a NH. But I do admit that I've only operated JD!

The JF does look interesting, the lack of a cross auger is a huge benefit, we could plug the JD where the auger met the fan a little too easily. It doesn't have anywhere for a kernel processor, may not do as good of a job for corn silage.

But dealer service and parts availability would be the trump card no matter what....


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## foreman (Nov 26, 2015)

Wow thanks guys! If we were to buy one it would be in the 15-18k area.


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## foreman (Nov 26, 2015)

8350HiTech said:


> You only have one custom crew at your disposal?


There are 3 or 4 but they are all the same, book way more then they can cover and don't give a hoot if your corn gets done or not


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## Gearclash (Nov 25, 2010)

15k should get you close to buying a used NH FP. When my brother went to an sp machine and sold his FP240 I think he only got lower teens for it with a hay head no processor, and it was in nice shape yet. The 900 that he also sold with 3 row head and processor sold relatively better, considering it was quite a bit older and more worn.


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## Northeast PA hay and beef (Jan 29, 2017)

So we've run both jd and nh pull type forage harvesters. We were filling silos and had 7 silage boxes. Think we could average 25 to 30 acres a day in heavy corn. That is pretty much never stopping the chopper. Biggest stop gap in the system was the blower. Would sometimes be waiting for wagons. Jd and nh are good machines, i like the hyrdralic controls on jd better than electric on nh. Haven't run a fp series nh though. You should have enough hp to run a smaller pull type, think 150 is usually the cut off between smaller and larger machines. And with a smaller machine your 15 to 18k will get you a machine in better shape.


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## Josh in WNY (Sep 7, 2010)

Foreman, first off, I've only run a chopper for the dairy farmer I worked for when I was a teen. So I'm not going to give you much advise, I'll just try and let you know what I've seen out there. Sorry, I don't remember the model of the JD that I used for the dairy farmer, but there weren't that many problem with it in the time I worked there.

I'm not sure where you are located in Canada, but there were a few choppers and heads that sold in the local fall auction for decent prices here in Western New York a few weeks ago (this place has annual spring and fall auctions). I know you said you were looking for a pull-type, but there was a NH 1900 self-propelled that went below your price range with the heads. It still had some debris in the head from chopping corn a couple days before the auction and looked like it was in pretty good shape for an older unit. A self-propelled chopper would leave the 7520 available for pulling the dump cart in those wet years. If you do start looking at some of the older SP units, I have heard that the JD ones had an issue with dust and chaff building up around the brakes which would lead to fires.

I'll let others comment on good/bad/ugly of the different brands and models. Here are the results from the auction.

JD pull type model ? - $1800 (no heads)

JD 3-row corn head - $1800 (might have fit the chopper above)

NH 2-row corn head - $2000 (not sure what models it would fit)

JD 3950 with pickup and 2-row corn heads - $3500

NH 1900 SP 4X4 with 4-row corn and pickup heads - $11,750

Claas Jaguar 880 SP (base unit only) - $24,000 (heads were sold separately, PU380 pickup for $2,000 and RU450 corn for $4,500)

NH FP240 - $33,000 for chopper with pickup head and 3-row corn head

NH 2-row corn head - $700 (not sure what models it would fit)

Claas RU600 corn head - $6,500


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## Gearclash (Nov 25, 2010)

How many hours on that 880? Looks like a buy. My brother's 880 has just over 5000 hours and has had very few problems in the 3 or 4 years he's had it. 70 acres of alfalfa 3-4 times per year plus 80-90 acres of corn.

I think new or low use pull type forage harvesters are over priced compared to what a used SP machine is worth. The Claas 880 mentioned above has easily double the capacity of the FP240.


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## Josh in WNY (Sep 7, 2010)

Gearclash said:


> How many hours on that 880?


Not sure, they probably said on auction day but I was just looking at the results on their website.


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