Forage Chopper Revamped To Shred Brush

Forage Chopper Revamped To Shred Brush FORAGE HARVESTERS 33-1-19 A 35-year-old self-propelled silage chopper has a new job cutting brush on Junior Schneider's Nebraska ranch. "It's like a giant lawn mower with the deck out in front of you," says the Burwell, Nebraska, rancher. "It can shred 5 to 6-ft. tall cedar trees." The invasive trees were taking over his pasture, and he couldn't keep up cutting them by hand. So a couple of winters ago, Schneider revamped the old Fox chopper. The harvesting components were worn out, but everything else worked well. He removed the knife housing and blower and cut the frame off 3 ft. from the front. He left the engine, drivetrain and cab in place and fitted the front with 3-pt. hitch arms off a salvage tractor. He used the belt drive from the chopping housing to run a 30 gpm hydraulic pump. He added oil coolers from an old Deere pull-type swather and a 12-volt electric fan to keep the hydraulic oil from overheating. Once the swather was rebuilt, he mounted a Brush Wolf brush cutter, designed for skid loaders, on front. "You can see exactly where you're going," Schneider says. He raises the cutter to take off the top of taller trees, then works his way down. The Brush Wolf can handle stumps up to about 4 in. Schneider says he likes the way it chops the trees up, leaving a green wreath on the ground. Within a year it mulches down. It's preferable to just cutting down trees and still having to deal with them. Besides trees, Schneider cuts brush and grass and has tallied 400 to 500 hours with the machine. He estimates it cost about $5,500 to adapt the Fox chopper. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Junior Schneider, 82525 Jones Canyon Rd., Burwell, Neb. 68823 (ph 308 346-4852; schneider1@nctc.net).

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