A modified round bale haylage harvesting system for peat soils.

摘要

Peat soils have been proposed as a land base for forage production in Newfoundland and Labrador, but have not been utilized because modern forage equipment is too heavy to operate without some modification. A front wheel assist farm tractor and a variable chamber round baler were modified for use on peat soils by installing dual wheels on each axle. Dual wheels can be mounted or removed by two people in 2.5 h to allow the equipment to be used on either mineral or peat soil. A single cut harvesting system has been used for five seasons to produce forage crops at an average dry matter yield of 5 t/ha. Total cost of modifications for peat soil operations was approximately $5000..