John Deere’s latest 6250R tractor with the award-winning CommandPRO joystick, its C441R combined baler-wrapper and a ‘manure sensing’ system will all be front and centre at the UK-based Grassland & Muck 2017 event at Stoneleigh, Warwickshire.
Grassland & Muck 2017 takes place on May 24 and 25.
The 6250R tractor will be equipped with John Deere’s triple mower conditioner (TMC), consisting of a front-mounted and two rear-mounted units. To achieve the maximum cutting width of 9.9m, an F350R 3.5m wide front mower-conditioner can be combined with the largest available R990R rear-mounted units. The combination of the smaller F310R front-mounted mower with either the R950R or R870R rear mowers reduces the cutting width to 9.5 or 8.7m respectively.
The 6250R features an AutoPowr transmission and develops up to 300hp with ‘Intelligent Power Management’. It comes as standard with JDLink telematics, including remote display access (RDA) and wireless data transfer (WDT) linked to the MyJohnDeere.com website portal.
Latest ‘combi’ baler-wrapper
The new C441R ‘premium’ combined baler-wrapper is said to incorporate a “heavy-duty drive system”, rated at up to 210hp.
The new 18-roller bale chamber has also increased in width, from 1.17m to 1.21m. The baler features a number of other enhancements designed, says John Deere, to improve the machine’s overall durability and performance in both heavy, wet grass crops and dry straw.
The wrapping unit now features a 15% faster wrapping arm – working at 40rpm. The new bale transfer system is also said to be faster – by 18%.
There is a choice of 2m or optional 2.2m pick-ups, feeding the MaxiCut HC rotor with 13 or 25 knives. The baler also incorporates a full-width parallel drop-floor system – operated from the tractor cab. According to John Deere, this enables blockages to be removed easily.
The machine is available as a single axle unit (as standard) or with an optional tandem-axle chassis – for improved stability.
‘Manure sensing’ system
Now commercially available from the John Deere dealer network, the new ‘manure sensing’ system is based on the same award-winning HarvestLab near-infrared (NIR) sensor technology used on the 8000 Series self-propelled forage harvester line-up.
The system will be featured on a Joskin slurry tanker, which will work in the Muck Machinery Demonstration area at the event.
The system is designed to adjust slurry spreader application rates to match field conditions. This, says John Deere, helps to increase productivity and crop yields while minimising input costs.
Based on complementary data from yield mapping, soil sampling, N-sensors and other sources, the required application rate (e.g. target or maximum rate) can be set in the GreenStar in-cab display before starting work.
The NIR sensor is able to measure the key constituents of the slurry being applied (dry matter, total nitrogen, ammonium, P and K) in real time. The system then automatically adjusts the final flow of slurry – to deliver exactly the quantity of nutrients required.
If a John Deere tractor is used with the spreader, this process can be enhanced by the Tractor Implement Automation (TIA) system. This enables automatic speed control of the application rate adjustment, based on the tractor’s forward speed.