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Review: Strautmann Magnon Series

While the new Strautmann wagon range doesn’t have much in common with the ‘80s crime drama set on the beaches of Hawaii, the new 22mm chopping length does now put the viability of foragers into the spotlight.

No matter how you dress it up, 22mm is fine chop, certainly fine enough for good rumen function and as such, puts forward the question – will loader wagons make a resurgence?

Admittedly, I can’t quite carry off the suave coolness of Thomas Magnum and his iconic bushy moustache. My scraggly ginger beard more resembles a motley cat but, nonetheless, we did some investigating of our own. 

To test our theory around the increasing popularity of loader wagons, we headed to Kaweka Dairies in the Hawke’s Bay, a 420ha property complete with a milking platform of just over 200ha, designed to keep milking herd walking distances to a minimum.  

Currently milking 1300 cows in a split calving, System 5 feeding system, this unique but isolated location was highlighted during the events of Cyclone Gabriel. Having to endure months without road access for a tanker or feed trucks, and with large portions of feed being brought in, feed security was problematic. 

Things had to change, and newly appointed contract milker Jeremy Wapp decided to investigate the benefits of lucerne, not only as a protein rich feed source, but to lift the capacity of overall feed grown on the property, particularly in the dryland areas – thanks to its deep taproot.

The high protein content and palatability benefits saw them investigate the cut and carry concept. Enter the new Strautmann Magnon 10 loader wagon. In a world of DEI (Diversity, Equality and Inclusion), this machine identifies as a Magnon 10 and a Magnon 11, thanks to having had a complete front-end overhaul to take the 35mm chopping unit out and put the 22mm chopping unit in.

While this wasn’t necessarily a deal breaker for the lucerne, as often only a half set is run, it comes into its own during mature and bulk grass silage, which they are now able to do on their own terms, along with utilising the trailer as a bin trailer for maize silage harvest. 

Jeremy’s experience with outstanding backup service from Strautmann Hopkins was also a deciding factor in his purchasing decision.

Magnon Wagon Overview

A quick overview of the Magnon Series: The Magnon 8 and Magnon 10 have 35mm chop (with 48 and 52 knives respectively), while the  Magnon 9 and Magnon 11 have the 22mm chop (with 78 and 84 knives respectively).

Continuous Flow System 

Magnon means ‘to travel as a unit’ and that epitomises Strautmann’s Continuous Flow System, a smart concept which is a hallmark of all Strautmann loader wagons brought into New Zealand.

This innovative technology ensures a smooth and consistent flow of material from the pickup to the rotor, more like a carpet and less of a row. The most notable feature is the large steel accelerator roller in the pickup. This essentially works like a baler rotor; it spreads the crop across the chamber to give tighter well shaped bales. The accelerator roller does exactly the same, spreading the crop across the width of the rotor giving a more even chop, fast efficient filling and better still, reduced drive requirements and less fuel consumption.

Let’s start at the start, with the pickup itself. It is 2.25m wide with 6 helically arranged segmented tine rows on a camless pickup. Plastic tines are flexible L-R but are stiffer front to back, which allow them to be run lower to the ground for a hoover-like finish. 

The other benefit is that if they do come in contact with the ground, they don’t have the coil spring tension of a steel tine. This means less soil contamination. Additionally, a large roller underneath the pickup also reduces the risk of bottoming out, as it is not relying entirely on the outside guide wheels alone. If you are unlucky and do break one, changing is via an easy-to-get-to single bolt. No strippers means no steel on steel, making for significantly less wear and tear on the pickup. Further aiding this is the fact it’s hydraulically driven. 

When the pickup is lifted, it shuts off, and when the pickup is put down, it starts up. To keep up with the flow of grass, a speed sensor from the rear wheels tracks your ground speed – all good stuff.

Rotor and Knives

The CFS system allows the rotor to be mounted 100mm higher. This means the tractor doesn’t have to push the cut grass as far to the bin, in turn reducing power requirements. The direct-driven, 8 tine, 1.89-metre rotor is designed in a wave motion, like the pickup, all with the aim of even load and consistent chopping through the knife bank. Speaking of knives, whoever dreamed up double-sided knives is a genius. As most wagon drivers will tell you, sharpening knives is the least fun part of the job, particularly when there are 84 of them to provide the theoretical chop length of 22mm.

Bin and Moving Bulkhead

The Strautmann Magnon loader wagon is equipped with a moving bulkhead. This feature allows for variable chamber capacity, can compress loads and essentially gains the machine 5m³ of capacity by having the moving bulkhead over top of the rotor. 

Once the machine is full, auto unloading is done via the ISOBUS controller. Simply hold the tail door lift button for three seconds and it does the rest. Two chain drives (one each side) take care of the floor chains. Once unloading is over halfway, you can crank it up to high gear, all with the aim of not getting a spray from the stack driver.

Steering, Suspension and Scales

Comfort and stability are paramount in the design of the Magnon loader wagon. The hydraulic suspension system provides just that. Once the machine is put into transport or ‘road mode’, superior shock absorption via the drawbar ‘hump’ rams and the axle rams ensures a smooth ride at high speed and on uneven terrain.

Linked into these suspension rams is a load bar, combined with one on the K80 drawbar (five in total) and during our test, the scales worked fantastically. We wanted to get six tonne of wet lucerne for one particular mob of cattle. Thanks to the easy-to-read monitor from the cab, once our desired weight had been achieved, it was off to load the mixer.

As gateway width and machine size have not grown in correlation to each other, you often find yourself in a tight spot. Strautmann have thought this and offer three different steering options.

  1. Passive Steering: Provides straightforward control, its either in float and does its thing, and you lock for on the road and reversing.
  2. Electro-Hydraulic Steering (our test wagon had this): An angle sensor on the drawbar, linked to the K80 ball and thanks to the slim drawbar and short driveshaft allows for tight turning.
  3. Forced Steering: Works in exactly the same way as electric steering but uses mechanical rods to move the wheels to follow the tractor, in a similar way to how a swather works.

Options two and three work very well if you get yourself in a bind as the wheels will steer in reverse and as such you can steer yourself out of the aforementioned bind, handy stuff.

ISOBUS Machine Functionality

The Magnon loader wagon series is fully integrated with ISOBUS technology, providing seamless connectivity and control. In some ways the functionality of ISOBUS is wasted as majority of the wagon’s features are done in auto mode. Road mode (empty), loading mode, road mode (loaded) and emptying are the four modes. Individuals can set up personal preferences in each mode. Once you switch between modes your last settings are saved. Obviously, you can also run it fully manually if your heart desires. If you don’t have an ISOBUS-compatible tractor, fear not, a Smart 570 has an optional 5.7” coloured screen controller, which again is intuitive to use with plenty of pretty pictures for the simpletons like me.

Summary

The Magnon range continues to set the standard for loader wagons. Its robust construction, clever CFS feeding system and sophisticated knife system are right up there at the pointy end of best in class. 

It’s always hard picking up short, wet material, and nothing gets shorter and wetter than 18% DM lucerne straight out of a front mower, and that was what we faced during our test conditions.

The way the pickup, accelerator roller and rotor spread the material out and present it to the knife bank like a carpet allows the 22mm chop length to be world class. Given the price of foragers, the team of people and machines that must also accompany them and how it all grinds to a halt if it goes down is a risk. 

If you run a team of wagons with this chop length and one goes down, the show goes on, and in the depth of silage season, the show must always, go on! 

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