The CSP Metitron 560 (pictured above) can produce pellets from a variety of ‘raw materials’.

It’s designed to be used in the field and in the yard.

An infinitely-variable hydrostatic drive – to all four wheels – is said to make the machine “easy to control”. It can be mated to different ‘front-end’ attachments, enabling it to tackle all sorts of crops – including miscanthus.

To produce pellets of “high quality”, CSP says that it has developed a sophisticated material preparation system – pre-shredding can apparently be adapted to all material types.

Pellet size is adjustable from 6mm to 12mm; the ‘standard’ size is 8mm.

According to CSP, the Metitron “unites a vehicle and a pelleting plant”.

The advantages of the Claas-based machine, says the manufacturer, include the “speed and ease” with which it can produce pellets. Its “agile” design means that it is practical to use in any field; its self-propelled configuration means that a separate tractor is not needed to power the unit.

CSP (Cut System Pfronstetten) GmbH was founded in 2005 as a contract manufacturing company, but it soon homed in on the development and construction of what it describes as ‘special’ machines.

Back in 2014, the entity was named one of Germany’s ‘most innovative medium-sized companies’ – with a top-100 placing.

Of course, CSP is not the only manufacturer to offer an in-field pellet-making machine. Don’t forget that Krone’s Premos 5000 can also produce a “marketable” pellet (in the field) in a single pass – albeit needing a tractor to drive it.

Like the Metitron, the Premos 5000 is a mobile pellet harvester that can also operate as a stationary unit. It can, for example, produce straw pellets with a bulk density value of up to 700kg/m³.

Claimed hourly output, for the Krone machine, is up to 5t.