Grass on the stem

I would reckon they would be in bits after a few years on the road, €12 a ton would be about the fair price. Front mower and forage wagon if going contracting would be the best. Pottinger do a machine that can be adapted nowadays. Nowadays I just consider it as another way to add cost and burn diesel
Have you tried the forage wagon? I have heard of a few experiments with silage machines and cows weren't mad on the grass and it heated quicker than from the zero grazer
 
Have you tried the forage wagon? I have heard of a few experiments with silage machines and cows weren't mad on the grass and it heated quicker than from the zero grazer
I would think that a line put forward by zerograzer machine sales men. Sure pull out the knives and cant see much difference. One contractor I use is on the road full time zerograzing in autumn and spring with a huge wagon and front mower, says farmers are happy out. youtube is my friend
Think he is getting enough to buffer 300 cows in a load :eek3:
 
I would reckon they would be in bits after a few years on the road, €12 a ton would be about the fair price. Front mower and forage wagon if going contracting would be the best. Pottinger do a machine that can be adapted nowadays. Nowadays I just consider it as another way to add cost and burn diesel
A friend tried it with a wagon before wasn't a success, the grass heated it's the rotor does the damage along with the conditioner mower I presume. My god that is an impressive outfit
How much does a zero grazer cost to buy, and how would you charge for the service? By the hour or the tonne or the load? Would potential customers baulk at €50/hr?
I've heard €70 a load, there would have to be a call out charge so maybe it would be €70 for the first and €50 there after or something similar by the hour, don't quote me on those actual figures, it probably wouldn't sound too dear when spread over a herd of 100 cows.
Has there also been questions raised on here regarding the suitability of some of the machines for contracting use?
https://www.donedeal.ie/tractors-for-sale/grass-technology/16682191 I think in the past year they have started to address this and beefed them up a bit, this is what I'd have in mind.
 
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Question`s are been asked about the reliabilty of zero grazer`s in general . The one at work (grass tech machine ) is currently out of action again the second time in 3 weeks for the same bearing to go in the drum mower saucer . Cost of parts for the mower are mad also . Blade holder on the mower are e85 a piece theres 4 per drum and bit of a stone or scraw and it blow`s off the the little stub on the holder there only pressed into place . And a proper hunt to change .
Has there also been questions raised on here regarding the suitability of some of the machines for contracting use?
 
A lot of the changes seem to be just cosmetic`s from what i seen on that machine at the ploughing .
A friend tried it with a wagon before wasn't a success, the grass heated it's the rotor does the damage along with the conditioner mower I presume.

I've heard €70 a load, there would have to be a call out charge so maybe it would be €70 for the first and €50 there after or something similar by the hour, don't quote me on those actual figures, it probably wouldn't sound too dear when spread over a herd of 100 cows.
https://www.donedeal.ie/tractors-for-sale/grass-technology/16682191 I think in the past year they have started to address this and beefed them up a bit, this is what I'd have in mind.
 
A lot of the changes seem to be just cosmetic`s from what i seen on that machine at the ploughing .
I wasn't at the ploughing so didn't see it in the flesh, it just looked a lot stronger in the photos, I must travel up and have a look, so the grass tech machine wouldn't get your vote :unsure:
 
They`v changed the drawabar mind that was so they could get it rated for 50kmh and there`s heavier saucer on the 7`9" mower strange work`s one is 7`9" on the lighter saucer . The grass tech machine is the only one i`v driven / really looked at in detail . When it`s going it works well but the few thing`s it given trouble on are things that should last a lot longer before giving trouble . The one here only does work`s own work that`s 2 loads a day all year since april i think we started . Weather and the breakdown has stopped the cutting here . @086lavey brother has one doing a lot of contract work with it .
I wasn't at the ploughing so didn't see it in the flesh, it just looked a lot stronger in the photos, I must travel up and have a look, so the grass tech machine wouldn't get your vote :unsure:
 
Doesn't that black one in the ad linked above also have a disc rather than drum mower? At least thats what I was told be a user anyway.

They seem to be all the rage around here at present with several doing 8 miles trips.
 
have a zerograzer at home here and its not far from the old bonino. perfect behind the elevators but the chasis is cracking on the far side where the telescopic stay for the drawbar hinges. rest of the machine isnt bad just cant stick offset pull.
 
How much does a zero grazer cost to buy, and how would you charge for the service? By the hour or the tonne or the load? Would potential customers baulk at €50/hr?
Just thinking about the rate wouldn't €50hr be the absolute minimum you could work for? If you had a tank, dump trailer, hedgecutter you would be nearly getting that and it could be for a 10-15hr day with the zero grazer you would be only getting called in for an hour or twos work :scratchhead:
 
Local lad bought big capacity 0grazer for hire ,everyone taught he was mad like you say all he would get was a few loads a day at most .Well it has turned out it is on the go 14-16 hours every day with the last few months €50/load/hour for regular customers might be a bit more for odd loads .I would easily say it is easily his best move but it is in an intensive dairy area with nearly all smallish farms well stocked
 
Just thinking about the rate wouldn't €50hr be the absolute minimum you could work for? If you had a tank, dump trailer, hedgecutter you would be nearly getting that and it could be for a 10-15hr day with the zero grazer you would be only getting called in for an hour or twos work :scratchhead:
Lad around her and he is at €50 a load and €40 if there is a second load. That's the price I was told anyway. Hard to see it paying driving around by the time you get to a place and open gate. Cut grass. Close gate and back to farm and unload and then back home for €50
 
Just thinking about the rate wouldn't €50hr be the absolute minimum you could work for? If you had a tank, dump trailer, hedgecutter you would be nearly getting that and it could be for a 10-15hr day with the zero grazer you would be only getting called in for an hour or twos work :scratchhead:

€50/hr and a €50 call-out charge would be the minimum I would imagine, it's a waste of time going out with a tractor for less than €100. I mentioned it on here a few times over the years, I gave a Norwegian fella a lift to the airport from the ploughing a good few years ago and he told me at that stage that Norwegian contractors had a call-out charge for every job that worked out at around €60, it made the difference between making money or not on the small jobs and it was negligible on the big ones. It would be a very similar country to here with average farm and field sizes etc.
 
I'd have a couple of fields that I wouldn't mind zero grazing later in the year but it wouldn't pay me to buy a zerograzer. But if there was a local contactor with one I'd probably get him.
 
Agreed what are guys charging down you're area there seems to be quite a few down around there
My lad changed his pricing last spring by nearly doubling it. Think he charged €100 an ac, and he was cutting an acre for me ever second day. 2 handy loads. Before that when I paid him for last autumn I gave him a fifty euro note for beer on top of the bill which was only about a thousand so I taught he was way too cheap:scratchhead:
only tried it for one spring and autumn and taught it a waste of time. If you have good silage/feed ensiled you wont think much of the performance on zgrass but if you have shite silage you will think zgrazing is the best job since the bread slicer
 
Another bit of a notion, fairly big dairy area here, farmers with rented ground that's only grazed by heifers and can't be accessed by cows, seems to be a bit of an interest in zero grazers, would buying one be a total act of madness, there's nobody else with one in the area, I also have a 20ac block or grass rented it's getting tired and the owner wants to reseed it, a neighbor started milking but is limited to 45-50 cows I reckon he might be interested in buying in that grass which would allow him to increase his numbers, it would also mean I wouldn't be tiring out ground taking 3 cuts of silage from it anymore, might just have too much thinking time on a Sunday night.

I pulled out the wagon today to bring in grass for a local dairy farmer. He's mowing it himself with a 8ft mounted mower. It's on a outfarm that split by a busy road so it can't be grazed with the heifers.
 
So I've done a few loads for the farmer. There's a lot of trial and error at this job. We changed fields yesterday into a slightly heavier swarth and this morning the cows were down on milk. I don't find it a problem picking up after the plain mower and according to the farmer the grass isn't heating.
 
So I've done a few loads for the farmer. There's a lot of trial and error at this job. We changed fields yesterday into a slightly heavier swarth and this morning the cows were down on milk. I don't find it a problem picking up after the plain mower and according to the farmer the grass isn't heating.
I have heard a local dairy man that zero grazes that he gets on better when he is cutting grass that is at a stage where it is just gone a little strong for grazing. for my own observations, grass needs to be cut when you would consider it ideal for grazing in the field, but beef animals can be different
 
I have heard a local dairy man that zero grazes that he gets on better when he is cutting grass that is at a stage where it is just gone a little strong for grazing. for my own observations, grass needs to be cut when you would consider it ideal for grazing in the field, but beef animals can be different

I've been told the exact same by a dairy farmer who is zero grazing as well.
 
Bad enough to have to make this sort of mess at slurry but everyday of a wet week
 

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