How should I use a forage harvester?

[MrSquealypig]

I really like using a forage harvester, but I've only ever used them for poplars in the past.

To be honest, I've never really known whether I should be using a forage harvester vs. just mowing and using a loading wagon or making bales.

Are they really only meant to be used for really large fields? I was thinking about getting one on my mini-brunn save, but maybe that's not appropriate.

Let me know how you guys use your forage harvesters. Any advice is greatly appreciated!

[Noraf]

Well, you have the E 281-C on the modhub that'll probably fit just fine there

[chedly_farms]

Get one. For Real. If this game was about realism, we should be using 3m seeders on most of our fields. I like using a forage harvester just because it gives me a different machine to have fun with. I do use a pickup trailer for a lot of grasswork, but on Marwell I use the John Deere for corn silage. And I use the Fliegl Bull trailer from TopAce888 when I need to pull a wagon on Corn end rows and doing grass. If anything, just lease one if your on the fence.

[this_is_gav]

In reality they're used on all sorts of fields, big and small.

In game you'll only be able to use the hired helper with corn or whole crop (regular grains for example).

In the UK the more popular use for forage harvesters is similar to bales. Mow > windrow > pick up with forage harvester and have a few trailers carting back and forward to a silage pit. Headlands are done first as you would with grass bales and combine harvesters.

On console the only way to this is to hook up a trailer to the back of a forage harvester, and you're limited to only a few trailers (those with a high hitch, namely the Straumann SEK 802, the Fortschritt HW 80, the Farmtech TDK1600 and the Agroliner HKD 302 in the base game), and either drive the forage harvester back and forward to the silage pit or disconnect it and use a tractor, which quickly gets annoying.

On PC you could use Follow Me, where you drive the harvester and you set the tractor to follow, offset to either the left of the right side of the forage harvester and just in front of it. It's a little bit of a faff, but it works well.

[Mwal]

Corn silage would be the thing they can do vs. the pickup trailer They are faster for bigger fields irl with one head they can mow and load the grass in one pass as well.

[Crazof]

I usually use one for corn chaff. running two trailers, a tractor and the forage harvester, put a worker with the harvester towing one of the trailers, while I run the other trailer to the unload point. then switch trailers once full.

in FS17 I had a large popular stand near the sawmill, for that I let a worker run the harvester and I towed two trailers with a tractor and would just stop the worker when I had to go unload the trailers. ( did the same with with sugarcane)

I think the new front attacher gives a few more options now for towing trailers with the harvesters, might want to check into that.

[Dairydeere]

We use a SPFH IRL for alfalfa windrows and corn silage. Never heard of poplars with it til FS17

[Illinois Farmer]

Irl a forage harvester would cut up the grass/hay to make it easier to digest for the cattle. Whereas as balers or forage wagons do not. We use bales as a starter to get the cattle chewing and eating more. Also chop hay creates less waste by the cattle, which I mean they don't drop as many pieces on the ground and leave it there. Also, they will gain weight faster off chop hay.

[TurboJ]

Could someone do a rundown of all the functions for a forage harvester in the base game? I've played FS19 for quite a bit but never yet bought a forage harvester as they do carry a big price tag and if you don't do corn then seems it isn't very economical to get one.

The corn silage thing is clear to me. But I do wonder how you handle fields that AI workers don't do properly (I've given up on CoursePlay due to mod conflict issues)? I guess the only option then is to use a trailer that you can tow with the harvester? BTW, can all in-game f.harvesters tow a trailer?

So I see they can also mow grass which might make sense in that you can have a big trailer for storage and don't need to buy separate grass equipment for tractors.

What's the point of the pickup header? Just an alternative for a loading wagon...?

Then there are also the headers that cut stuff but not into chaff (can't recall what they're called) - what is the purpose of these and when would it make sense to use them?

[FarmCatJenkins]

I’m pretty sure there are modded headers that cut everything into chaff

[Mwal]

Could someone do a rundown of all the functions for a forage harvester in the base game? I've played FS19 for quite a bit but never yet bought a forage harvester as they do carry a big price tag and if you don't do corn then seems it isn't very economical to get one.

The corn silage thing is clear to me. But I do wonder how you handle fields that AI workers don't do properly (I've given up on CoursePlay due to mod conflict issues)? I guess the only option then is to use a trailer that you can tow with the harvester? BTW, can all in-game f.harvesters tow a trailer?

So I see they can also mow grass which might make sense in that you can have a big trailer for storage and don't need to buy separate grass equipment for tractors.

What's the point of the pickup header? Just an alternative for a loading wagon...?

Then there are also the headers that cut stuff but not into chaff (can't recall what they're called) - what is the purpose of these and when would it make sense to use them?

Pickup header would be handy if you had a large haybine or ha a mower that takes a much larger swath than the mowing header and compare that to the forage wagon the chopper chops it into a much finer chaff than just grass. The chaff is more easily digestible for cattle

[Tylercheesey1986]

I use two BSM trailers when running forage harvesters for corn chaff or grass. One on harvester another on a truck, I think I just had to use a pin hitch dollyto get the harvester to tow one. When it filled I swapped it out for the empty one on truck, helper will continue in harvester while going to unload.

[CowsGoMoo]

Don't the trailers not working with foragers had to do with the hitch type? Foragers have pin type and most trailers have ball type.

[Bryan83]

Nearest I can tell, that is correct.

For me. I like to put a Fliegel TMK on my forage harvester and run alongside it with a BsM 70000/6. That way, when I need to change trailers, the TMK keeps our working until I get back with an empty.

[Doc3d]

I’m glad this topic came up. I’ve been wondering the same things myself and have pretty much avoided them in my 6 years of playing FS. What’s the use when other MUCH cheaper equipment do the same (except corn silage).
The finer chop I get - irl, but that’s not an issue in the game.. but then again, if you like to play realistically, it should matter anyway. Also, seeing harvesters pick up a swath, same thing there with the finer chop related to forage wagons?