Assessment of a Big Square Baler Able to Reduce Soil Impurities During Baling Process. First Evaluations

In animal husbandry, results optimization is largely dependent on how the animals are fed so fodder-crops have a fundamental role in this sector. Dried fodder production has relevance in Southern Italy, even if in this territory the agronomic and meteorological conditions generate physical and micro-biological problems in the production of fodder. Some of the fundamental complications are connected to the amount of soil inside the fodder, which often is the vehicle of a large number of CFUs (colony forming units) of Clostridium bacteria, that could have dangerous effects on the welfare of the cows. The aim of this paper is the evaluation of the performance of a large square baler, manufactured in Southern Italy, equipped with innovative devices which should allow to make prismatic bales compact and with less impurities if compared with the bales produced by similar square presses, built by other manufacturers. The presence and the amount of soil and impurities was assessed through first comparative tests carried out, considering also other two similar square presses. The obtained results, even if have to be validated through other in-depth tests, seem to confirm the benefits of the adopted technical solutions of the analysed large square baler.