Grassland specialist Pöttinger has added another new product to its grassland range – its new Mergento VT 9220 belt-type rake has working widths of up to 9.2m for a central swath and 8.7m for a side swath.

This machine collects the forage using its pick-up, leaving dirt and stones on the ground – a feature that reduce grass contamination. The cross conveyor belts transport the forage to the central or side swath and with delicate and dry crops minimises disintegration losses because contact with the ground is minimal.

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The crop is collected from the ground by the successive pick-up tines and fed to the cross conveyor belt, where a cam track makes the tines retract just before the belt. This allows the forage to fall freely onto the conveyor belt.

Its freedom of movement provided by the centre pivot mounting of the belt units ensures constant weight alleviation over the working width. It is also the basis for 3D ground tracking.

The ingenious design of the boom uses three hydraulic cylinders to react quickly to any bumps in the ground. In centre-swath mode, the vertical freedom of movement is plus 475 mm to minus 195 mm while lateral float is plus 30° to -13°.

The cross conveyor belts switch off automatically at headlands and start running automatically at the beginning of the next pass – ideal for a tidy finish and saves time.

The direction of rotation and the position of the two cross conveyor belts can be adjusted from the tractor cab and can be configured to place a centre swath, swaths to the left or right, two single swaths, convey from the inside out, and even load forage for a short period.