ONE of the more interesting developments for silage harvesting unveiled at Agritechnica was Fliegl's Buffalo system.

This machine picks up silage, just like a forage wagon, except that the Buffalo never needs to leave the field. It has a storage hopper on board that offloads into a tractor trailer combination but which can also store the silage when the trailer is full and off being emptied, therefore keeping on the move.

Fliegl won a silver medal for innovation at Agritechnica for the Buffalo. It’s quite a simple system as the silage is picked up, chopped by an easy-drive cutting rotor, stored in the hopper and from there loaded into the trailer.

The company say the benefits lie in the fact the Buffalo never needs to leave the field and can work continuously storing silage on board when the carting trailer is off being emptied.

It also can work alone in tight areas or unfavourable ground conditions and then fills a trailer when the time is right.

Consequently, the Fliegl Buffalo is being sold as a cost-effective and efficient alternative to rotor cutter forage wagons and even forage harvesters.