This is a YouTube video titled "9500i, Testimonianza del cliente" containing a detailed customer testimonial from February 15, 2024. The speaker, representing Stevens contracting in Somerset, discusses their long experience with agricultural contracting since 1974 and shares an in-depth review of their use of the 9500i forage harvester, highlighting its performance, fuel efficiency, ease of maintenance, and customer service support. The content is a monologue focused on agricultural machinery and operational insights.
We're Stevens contracting, agriculture contracting from the heart of Somerset. We've been foraging our agriculture contracting since about 1974. We do about 6,000 acres of first cut, approximately about 500 acres of whole crop, and then around about 2,000 acres of maize. We run two foragers, 14 tractors in total. More and more predominantly pinch on there at the moment, but we're seemingly getting on well. We try and cover all aspects of contracting. We've always ran a different brand of chopper and now this season we've gone 9500i. It was a big decision that wasn't taken lightly for many years. We've always demonstrated different brands of foragers. Approximately two or three years ago, Stuart Fuller came out with a demonstrator machine and we tried it and we kind of looked at it and our heads were turned slightly. We felt that all of a sudden there was actually a product that would contend with what we've been used to. And there was lots of things about it that we actually liked. And we put ahead potentially of the class forager, which made us make a decision. I suppose one of the big factors that we've stuck with class is the brilliant backup that we've always received. For all those 32 years, we had to allow Hunt Forest Group to prove themselves on backup. I'll add at the moment, very, very pleased, but service has been exceptional. As a contractor, these machines are not getting any cheaper. You have to be running them for a lot and on a day like today, this grass is going to dry out. You've got to keep that machine running. And so far, I would say brilliant. So we chose the 9500. We've always been used to around about 600 horsepower, 650. So here in Somerset, potentially smaller fields, smaller setups, so we didn't want to go for the massive high output machine. We chose the 30R header and it's been faultless. Brilliant crop flow. The machine is always running extremely even. You know, it's never peaking up and down with its feed roller input or the torque curve on the harvester on the forager engine. Also, AdBlue is a major, major issue for us. We've gone from a situation where we would run a 6000 litre fuel bowser on this specific team and we run 100 litre AdBlue tank on the back. With this new 18X, we're running no AdBlue. It's a dream. It's making things so much easier in terms of logistics for refuelling, but not only that, in our pocket as well, for not having to pay for a considerable liturg of AdBlue on a daily basis. I would say throughput to be is actually we've had a better experience with throughput so far I would have said this season than we have in previous seasons. The feed rollers have fed it through beautiful. Including the 30R as well. We've had no issues at all with any crops. We've had a funny season this year as well. So the start of the season the grass was so wet, so we were picking up some real heavy wet crops right through to now where we're struggling to find grass with a bit of moisture in. So the feed rollers and the header has coped with any situation we put it through fuel usage. I think we're about 8 of a litre on average day actually on fuel consumption than our previous brand of past. I would have also said due to running the operations centre. So we actually spent a good time go around and map quite a few acres. I think we actually mapped around about between 15 to 20,000 acres. We're now in a situation where 99% of the customers we go to will have mapped. So just on a night before or morning sent the harvest plan straight to the forager that's picked up on his screen. HE CLICKS ok. And that's it. That then comes back to the operator and I'm then in a situation due to the harvest lab. I can send the information straight to the customer with not just yield mapping of the fields but also is me dry matter, protein ash, whatever they might find important for their farming decisions. Another of our issues or our worries potentially last year was would our drivers get on with it? What's the phrase? I think he's took to it like a duck to water. He seems to be getting on well with it. We're clearing the acres in a day and everything that falls to hand. It's a nice quiet cab, does everything it says it needs to do and more. In terms of maintenance on the machine, I would have said it's very easy, very, very easy to work on. You take the pickup off, blow it through, pull the feed rollers around, check the blades. That process is extremely quick and extremely easy. We have gone for the 40 knife drum which was equivalent to our old brand is the 29th. Our customers want top length of about 18, 18 mil roughly for grass. Top quality is excellent. Shreddledge for us was another big worry because we were concerned that we've got customers that are sold to shreddledge brand. It has to be shredlidge. Can John Deere's extreme processor do a shreddedge? Yes. Yes, it can. We've proven it. Are we pleased? Yes. Are we impressed? Yes. I would say going forward, to anybody looking at a decision, it's been a good machine. It does as I on the tin and more. We've had no complaints of backup. So going forward, yeah, I can see us, can see us carrying on with this brand of forager in the future.
