Gav836

I can get you some of our grainstore tomorrow F-P, will be loading wheat out of it all day

Now that is a little harsh! He's alright, just a little bit heavy handed and quick with the machinery.

we haven't got the time or the necessary labour to run a beet harvester ourselves, let alone the financial ability to buy it in the first place. Just easier if we let someone else do it for us. We also use contractors for putting the fertilizer on for sugarbeet, lime spreading and for any weed wiping that we have done. It's just not possible for 4 men to do everything over the area that we cover, well 4.25 if you include the boss : :D

The beet are dug out a few days in advance of the factory wanting them if we can, but it's impossible to lift at the same time as they are taking them away as we wouldn't be able to keep up with the cleaner. Its easier to dig them out and take them straight away if you run your own harvester but we, like a lot of farmers now, use a contractor so what we generally do is work on a 3 or 4 visit strategy where he comes and lifts enough beet for that month's requirement on our permits. All of the land that is going into winter wheat is lifted by mid December and all of that going spring barley is lifted last as a general rule unless the game keeper wants it otherwise for shooting reasons. If we dig them out and they talk of severe weather we have to cover them up with straw as frost can damage them and cause them to rot.

Not my tractor its our 816, mine was still on the plough and we needed to clear up the remainder of that heap. What can i say, i just love my farm machinery and enjoy finding out about them, always have done. If i use something i always want to know how it works and not just how to use it. I never got to see the engine but i did know that it was all hydraulic/hydrostatic drive. Yes it does a brilliant job at clearing up and leaving the ground in good condition, the Hanomags make an horrendous mess a lot of the time.

Could well be for lifting fodder beet. Heres a scan of the model page out of the leaflet

TIM is a long established and well respected manufacturer of 2 and 3 row trailed and at one time a 6 row self propelled harvester. Machines are imported by Kongskilde near Cromer here in Norfolk. They are made in Denmark, theres a lot of them working in this area now, got some leaflets on them somewhere as my late father sold them in the early 80's, at that time they even made a specific harvester for fodder beet

widest i've pulled is 6m, being rolls, harrows, cultivators and beet drill, most of our cultivation kit is that width except the corn drill which is 4m

OOPS! Did i forget to mention that i charge for rides after the first 10 minutes : :D

Pity you aren't down near to me really, i've lost count of the number of passengers i've had on board, boss doesn't mind as long as i'm still getting on with my job

Heres a copy of the specifications of the Ropa cleaner, gives you all details on it if it's of any interest

You have to stand next to it to believe it's size. There's some pictures of models on here too when we were talking about big beet harvesters http://www.britains-tractors.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=4423.0

One from the other side of the machine at the back

back view of the machine

Hers a few pictures of the machine all folded up ready to leave

One showing the intake and pick up rollers in more detail

Another one of the same

In case anyone was wondering what the bit sticking out the front was for heres some pictures of it in action dragging the last few beet into the pick up bed

Its a hell of a machine when you're standing up on the footplate while it's loading a lorry, but i was surprised as to how quiet the engine was for such a big machine. Quite strange seeing the beet flying along under your feet

Most of ours is tipped on the field as we often lift 100-150 acres in one go at the farm i'm based on, we haven't got big enough concrete pads for that sort of quantity (2500tonnes or more)

wish it was still, we got a load returned last year as there was too much mud in it, Hanomag driver had dug too deep while loading the cleaner. We were not amused!

The haulier who owns the Ropa also runs a fleet of Hanomag loading shovels and trailed cleaner loaders. All of the beet has to be loaded this way as the factory will deduct money off for too much dirt or in the worst case, reject the load altogether. Will try to get some pic's of the Hanomag and cleaner when they come to collect our last heap

Its only purpose is for the cleaning and loading of sugarbeet into lorries between mid September and mid February. The rest of the year it will not be used.

one from the front showing some of the intake bed

heres one taken from the back, gives you an idea of the size of the machine