Combines Why don t they market Gleaner rotarys in EuropeIJ

[John]

One, you are talking about totally different soils and field conditions than where the Gleaners are developed in MO_KS. Europe has many more swampy areas than the NA or Australia. Second, the rotary(any brand)chews up the straw finer than a conventional and the Europeans have more use for the straw than we do in NA. Why does or did JD have the 4425 that was European built and a 4420 US built. I know of 1 4425 JD in the area and it didn't work worth a crap against a 4420 JD on US Corn and Soybeans. Third the Europeans have pride in their products and are not as willing to buy foreign products. We produce cars and trucks here in the NA that are as good as the Mercedes, BMW, Volkswagen, Jaguar.... and yet when in Europe you don't see many Japanese or NA built cars and trucks, whereas in NA we buy about 50% of our auto market offshore. Massey has a European customer base and factories to supply the demand for the European needs and designs. Being smart business men, the AGCO execs listen to the needs of the customer base in Europe where they are selling more products, the NA have proven with time that they are willing to accept and buy offshore products if they fit their needs. North America in my opinion will stay dominate in the production of the big, heavy, and high capacity farm equipment. Agco had to make heavier than normal Massey_AA_White, now Massey_Agco tractors to withstand the loads and needs of the NA farmers. look at the basic weight of a European tractor and size vs what is needed and used in NA.

 

[bluestem]

I guess that is the reason for the European built machines that are built are mostly conventionals.

 

[chassis]

You're right on the different conditions , in most parts of Europe the straw is baled, and a rotary combine has the reputation to chew it up. Some rotaries are sold in France and Germany, mainly Case, but even people who don't need the straw are not very reluctant to buy a rotary because of its low secondhand value Massey is not one of the main players on the European market, because the combines are produced in the former Dronningborg factury, Dronningborg never had a very good reputation with it's combines.Now Massey is trying to get rid of this reputation, they use the Fendt brand name to sell the top-line.

 

[Tim_nj]

If I had my choice between chopped up rotary straw and longer straw from a conventional to bed animals on, I'd take the chopped stuff. Easier to clean. Case in point: most farmers who use straw bedding buy it from a farm that uses a conventional, then they take it home and run it through a bale chopper in the barn. Why not buy it already chopped upIJ I know for a fact that there is enough straw left behind an Axial-Flow to bale; did it last year for a neighbor. Old habits die hard, I guess.

 

[Tom_Russell]

Old habits die hardIJ Heres another one. Some livestock guys in this area who have since retired insisted on growing their own corn for feed. They wouldnt think of buying feed because it wasnt as good as the stuff from their farms. Okay, I can believe that, but get this. They didnt own dryers so they took wet corn to the elevator. They never stopped to realize that the dry corn they got from the elevator was never their own. Yes, old habits die hard. Tom in MN

 

[FarmBuddy]

I think there might be other objections to the Gleaner rotary. The Gleaner is low profile, but it is probably wider than 3.5 meters, (about 3.7 meters) and too wide for EU rode transport. Conventional systems still dominate the European market.

 

[bluestem]

I have noticed that there are a lot of smaller conventionals built over there.

 

[Chris]

All of the input I've got has suggested that if your harvest conditions are less than perfect, you've got to sacrifice the grain, or sacrifice the straw. The biggest issue with the straw length isn't for the quality of bedding, it's with trying to get the bales held together. I know that there are plenty of folks out there who have baled straw behind a rotary, but there are also plenty who have not been able to keep a bale together long enough to get it to the barn, either.