TIME–MOTION ANALYSIS OF CORN SILAGE HARVEST SYSTEMS

Forage produced as corn silage is the primary feed for many dairies in the upper Midwest. Machinery costs in silage production represent a major cost of milk production. Many large dairy farms now use self–propelled forage harvesters with crop processors and truck–mounted dump boxes to transport chopped silage to bunker silos several miles from where the crop was grown. Farm managers, consultants, and others working with machinery management use equipment capacity information to estimate costs and select machinery to complete field operations within the time available. As new technology and information become available, a periodic study of on–farm activities is required to maintain current and useful information. A time–motion study of corn silage harvest on seven Michigan dairy farms was used to identify representative forage harvester throughput and cycle times, transport vehicle travel speeds, and time in maneuvering transport vehicles in the field and near storage. A typical harvester throughput ranged from 5.4 to 7.1 t–dm/h–row (6 to 7.8 ton–dm/h–row). When transport wagons drove alongside the harvester about 85% of the harvester cycle time was available for processing silage, and 15% for turning on the headlands and waiting for a transport vehicle. Truck– and tractor–drawn transport vehicles hauling to a bunker silo required about 7.5 min plus filling and road travel time for each cycle.