New Holland Forage Harvester’s Productivity in Short Rotation Coppice: Evaluation of Field Studies from a German Perspective

Abstract

Modified forage harvesters are a common technology used to harvest short rotation coppice (SRC). This paper describes results of time studies from harvest trials with the New Holland forage harvester equipped with the cutting head 130 FB. Seven fields comprising a total of 13.6 ha SRC were harvested, and data from 22h 41 min were collected. In the studies, 0.77 hectares were harvested per productive machine hour (pmh−1). The share of productive times was 74% of the total work time. The average harvesting productivity was 20.5 odt pmh−1. Under good conditions, productivities up to 30 odt pmh−1 were reached. The harvesting costs were 19.70€ odt−1 on average, excluding the costs for the transport of the chips and of the harvesting machine to the fields.