XtraBlatt Issue 02-2020

4 5
IMPRINT
Publisher:
Maschinenfabrik
Bernard Krone GmbH & Co. KG
Heinrich-Krone-Straße 10
48480 Spelle
Tel.: +49(0)5977/935-0
info.ldm@krone.de
www.krone.de
Responsible according to Press Law:
Henrik Feldmann
Editorial staff:
Beckmann Verlag GmbH & Co. KG
Rudolf-Petzold-Ring 9
31275 Lehrte
www.beckmann-verlag.de
Layout:
Beckmann Verlag GmbH & Co. KG
Rudolf-Petzold-Ring 9
31275 Lehrte
www.beckmann-verlag.de
Print:
Bonifatius Druckerei
Karl-Schurz-Straße 26
33100 Paderborn
Photographic material:
Unless specified differently:
Maschinenfabrik
Bernard Krone GmbH & Co. KG
and editorial staff respectivelyS. 6–9:
Metzgerei Ammon
S. 24–25: arturdidyk/Depositphotos.com
S. 28–31: Feuerborn/agrarheute
S. 34–37: Kneer (3)
S. 46–49: Meusel (4)
S. 51: Graphic: LandBauTechnik-Bundesverband
S. 60: Graphic: vska/Depositphotos.com
Print run:
38,000 copies
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CONTENTS
CONTENTS
5
3 Editorial
Editorial
6 Metzgerschlachthof Fürth: Regional from conviction
Metzgerschlachthof Fürth: Regional from conviction
10
10 Biohof Kinkelbur: Ice and eggs sell well
Biohof Kinkelbur: Ice and eggs sell well
14
14 Quality forage harvesting series: Ease off speed
Quality forage harvesting series: Ease off speed
20
20 Pasture pigs: Swine in the open air
Pasture pigs: Swine in the open air
24
24 Maschinenfabrik Bernard Krone: Sailing on
Maschinenfabrik Bernard Krone: Sailing on
28
28 Farm contractor Will Murphy (GB): Big business big bales
Farm contractor Will Murphy (GB): Big business big bales
32
32 Behind the scenes
Behind the scenes
34
34 Kneer family: Real professionals
Kneer family: Real professionals
38
38 News-Ticker
News-Ticker
40
40 Agrimec/Abemec (NL): The specialists
Agrimec/Abemec (NL): The specialists
43
43 Krone museum: “Now it’s really good.”
Krone museum: “Now it’s really good.”
46
46 Hay Heinrich: Farming – conservation – adding value
Hay Heinrich: Farming – conservation – adding value
50
50 LandBauTechnik-Bundesverband: Performance providers
LandBauTechnik-Bundesverband: Performance providers
54
54 GreenNight-Tour: Meadow movies
GreenNight-Tour: Meadow movies
56
56 Dortmund Parks Department: Nature-near city parkland
Dortmund Parks Department: Nature-near city parkland
59
59 EU Education Ministers: A look into learning
EU Education Ministers: A look into learning
60
60 Future Lab: Testing heart and soul
Future Lab: Testing heart and soul
14
INFORM
QUALITY FORAGE HARVESTING SERIES – PART 2
TEDDING AND SWATHING
FOR BETTER FEED
EASE OFF SPEED
15
QUALITY FORAGE HARVESTING SERIES – PART 2
TEDDING AND SWATHING
Those seeking good results in tedding and swathing
should tend towards slower operation speeds. And
if higher work rates are wanted, go for bigger machines
with more working width.
FOR BETTER FEED
EASE OFF SPEED
FARM CONTRACTOR WILL MURPHY, GREAT BRITAIN
BIG BUSINESS
BIG BALES
Will Murphy runs a classic new business up in the county of
Suffolk, Great Britain. His concept is baling straw with two
Krone HDP machines packing a good 30,000 bales per season.
A great reason for a visit from Bernd Feuerborn, journalist with
agrarheute magazine.
The business base is hard to find, nestling somewhere
way out in the British countryside. Narrow lanes lead
to the farm – fields as far as the eye can see. In the yard
stands a corrugated iron barn with an office container
settled in front. Alongside the barn await two Krone large
square balers, ready for action. One, a BiG Pack 1290 HDP
High Speed and the other a BiG Pack HDP II. The HDP High
Speed was a season old, the HDP almost new, when we
visited contractor WRM Agri Ltd in summer.
Will Murphy founded his contractor firm in 2016 as 27-yearold
seeking the independence of self-employment. Beforehand,
he’d worked a couple of years in the straw trade for a
firm that bought straw as power station fuel. In the electricity
plant straw was mixed with wood chips before firing the
boilers to produce 44 MW, enough for 82,000 households.
Each year, 240,000 t straw were needed for this purpose,
with the plant now in its fourth year of full operation. This
is where Will saw his chance as a self-employed supplier of
straw. In fact, there are four such biomass electricity works
in the region with a total straw requirement of 1 m t.
28
INTERNATIONAL
season’s business should go. The most important machines
in this respect are the balers, a reason why the Krone balers
are new or almost new.
The only bale size he wanted was 120 x 90 cm and he likes
density as high as possible, which in turn minimises straw
transport costs. This is why the 1290 HDP High Speed joined
the fleet in 2018. With this machine the contractor takes a
further precautionary step and has the baler serviced by
the local Krone dealership and has bought an extended
guarantee for the machine. “The capacity for enormous
straw density in the bales, but also the good service supplied
by the Krone dealership, were decisive factors for my purchase”,
says Will Murphy. The baler is powered by a Massey
Ferguson (MF 8670) 2012 model with 3,300 hours on the
clock. “With the tractors I’m always on the lookout for good
used machines, older but with low hours.” With its 320 HP,
the present MF has the required power for the HDP baler.
Things were different in the beginning with a Xenon 3800,
already 12 years old, running in front of the HDP II. It came
into the business with 2,500 h. This baler needs more than
380 HP on-hand in order to achieve full output, reckons Will
Murphy. For this reason, he’s added another 40 HP with chip
tuning. It seems there’s no problem in this respect with the
road authorities in Britain or road vehicle insurance.
Both tractors are fitted up-front with Agriweld swath rollers.
In this region the combines are working with 6 to 12 m
cutterbars and with the roll pressure on the big swaths, it’s
reckoned that the baler can work at up to 4 km/h faster. We
would have liked to have seen this proved in action.
Will Murphy started off small scale. He asked the manager of
a 2,400 ha farm if he could buy and bale 80 ha straw. Because
the manager was at the time not so happy with his present
contractor, he ended up being offered 400 ha for baling.
He grabbed the opportunity and impressed everyone with
prompt service and clean baling work. Nowadays, he bales
straw on the whole farm and has secured baling contracts
for a further 1,600 ha in the region.
The business with the straw is quite a simple one in this area.
The farmers sell their straw from the field to the contractor.
Thereby barley, wheat and – amazingly – rapeseed straw are
all baled. As soon as the combine is finished, Will enters the
field with his baling team. Because he’s expected to clear
the stubble quickly, work capacity is important. After all, the
complete risk lies with the contractor. Payment is by weight.
All bales are recorded and traceable to field of origin. The
contractor gets his cash on delivery of straw to the power
station storage barns. Here, every bale is weighed.
TWO HDP BALERS
Three years into the business, Will Murphy’s labour force
had reached six seasonal workers employed for up to 10
weeks from July to September. However, the main work
is completed – weather and harvest permitting – usually
within six weeks. The contractor has a clear vision of how the
The two Krone balers run by
Will Murphy together manage
to produce up to 30,000 bales
per season.
29
40
PARTNER
GRÜNLAND-MANAGEMENT: NIEDERLANDE
NUR QUALITÄT
Leading machinery makes in the product
range and benchmark status in service have
helped the Abemec Group establish a powerful
presence in the southern half of the
Netherlands. Interesting thereby: sales and
service facilities now exist as separate subsidiaries.
The aim is clear: “Optimally, none of
our customers should have to drive
further than 30 km (18 miles) to reach one
of our sales or service locations”, emphasises
Hans Quint. He’s managing director
of Abemec b.v. which has its head office in
Veghel, around 25 km north of Eindhoven
and therefore in the heart of Noord-Brabant,
one of the Netherlands’ three southernmost
provinces. But the operative area of this
company specialising in sales and service of
farm machinery stretches far further afield.
14 of the now existing 21 branch depots
run by this 70-year-old organisation lie in
the “home ground” of Noord-Brabant and
Zeeland. As part of a carefully planned expansion
strategy, a further seven locations
have been added in the centre and north
of the country.
NEW STRUCTURE
But why did Abemec open, in February 2020,
a further, completely new-built, facility
in 10,000-soul Beek en Donk, just 12 km
from Veghel? After all, purely from business
logic this close positioning of specialised
facilities makes little sense. In this case,
though, there’s a logical explanation, says
Hans Quint. Between 2014 and 2019, the
Munich-based agricultural supplier BayWa
AG gradually took over Abemec.
This led to the challenge of retaining the
Fendt exclusive sales strategy, as carried out
by the business for the preceding 55 years
in Veghel. “The concept we’d so far successfully
followed, as far as our customers were
concerned, involved always listing strong
brands from specialised manufacturers in
the individual product sectors”, explains
Hans Quint. “We had worked with most
of these firms for decades. For example,
with Krone since 1995. To relinquish this
policy would have set us back enormously
in the market. So we made up our minds to
continue this strategy, and to unite it with
that of our new owner for best possible
synergy effect.”
This has resulted since 2019 in a trio of
self-contained companies under the roof
of a single holding: Agrimec. One of the
daughters, Agromec, focusses exclusively
on customer-advice and sales for the complete
Fendt range. Abemec Machines, on
the other hand, is responsible for sales of
the other core brands – except for tractors.
And the third part of the trio is responsible
only for technical customer services, as
emphasised by the company name Abemec
Service. The highlight here is that the
service division supports all products from
both sales companies. And so the question
on locational nearness of the Veghel and
Beek en Donk facilities is explained. “In
Veghel, we concentrate on Fendt sales and
presentation of new Fendt machinery. In
Beek en Donk, the head office of Abemec
Machines, our interest is centred on Krone,
Dewulf, Agrifac and other specialists”,
explains the managing director.
Separate sales structures will continue
to exist for individual main makes. But
servicing in Abemec’s 21 locations will be
carried out in the same way for all makes.
AGRIMEC/ABEMEC
THE
SPECIALISTS
41
50
INTERVIEW
Farm machinery dealerships represent
the key interface between
manufacturer and end customers.
Why interactions at this point are
not always stress-free, and what
solutions to improve the situation
might look like, is discussed here
in an interview with Ulf Kopplin,
president of the LandBauTechnik-
Bundesverband (National
Agricultural Machinery and
Equipment Dealers and
Repairers Association).
51
LANDBAUTECHNIK­BUNDESVERBAND
PERFORMANCE
PROVIDERS
XtraBlatt: Herr Kopplin, machinery which has become
increasingly complex over the years ensures that the importance
of the supplying, servicing and repairing dealership
increases. Isn’t this development actually a very welcome
one?
Ulf Kopplin: You’re correct in the assumption that highly
qualified personnel are needed more than ever in dealership
workshops to ensure reliable servicing of machinery that can
include the very latest technological developments. This gives
our member companies a central and growing importance in
the relationship between manufacturers and end customers.
However, there are definitely no grounds here for unrestrained
jubilation. The investment needed to support this level of
performance, and to encourage further the appropriate
technical development, is gigantic. For instance, the cost
item ‘vocational education and training’ alone represents
tens of thousands of euros each year for every dealership,
even when simply considering calculated training costs and
related downtime through the days when the trainees are
not at their workplaces. On top of this comes the required
workshop equipment, joining another cost block that’s just as
serious: the area of guarantee costs. All this is hardly possible
any longer at the rates commonly charged. The dealerships
are the performance providers of the branch. Their input must
be justly rewarded!
XtraBlatt: Aren’t you complaining here from an already
excellent position? After all, standard rates of 90 €/h for
a skilled mechanic with a master certificate, or 65 €/h for
one who has completed all basic training, cannot be called
chickenfeed - at least from the point of view of the bill-paying
customer. And not every dealership workshop provides
highest standards in work quality and performance.
Kopplin: As far as hourly rates are concerned, those charged
by our farm machinery dealerships remain well below those
of other technical sectors, e.g. for road going vehicles, or IT.
And do not forget that the standard of knowledge and qualifications
represented in a farm and construction machinery
mechatronics engineer compared with colleagues in the
other areas just mentioned is – in all modesty - substantially
greater. I am absolutely convinced of that. In practice, there
may well be differences in quality. But the future-oriented
companies are all in a very good position in this context.
And what I do not like is the current tendency, at least in
some customer circles, to expect us as service providers to
consider reducing our bills. What we charge now represents
income that’s crucial for our businesses. That the economic
situation in farming and therefore in agricultural contracting
too, may be unfavourable is not an acceptable reason. Just
think about it: Would you make a similar demand of your
In particular, the
so-called internal
workshop hours
drive costs upwards
substantially for many
dealerships.
Distribution of workshop hours 2019
Paid-for time in workshops
in agricultural machinery dealerships 2019
Internal time in workshops
in agricultural machinery dealerships 2019
Absent
24.0%
External
hours 36.9%
Internal
hours 33.8%
Assistance
hours 5.3%
New machinery
28.5%
Used
machinery
10.9%
Guarantee/
goodwill 23.3%
Depot/delivery/
demonstrations
etc 14.9%
Rest
22.4%
60
INFORM
FUTURE LAB
TESTING
HEART AND
SOUL
The more thorough the testing of
material and machinery, the better the
outlook for subsequent breakdownfree
customer operation. With this in mind, Krone opens
a new chapter in quality assurance with its “Future Lab”.
61
start such a test laboratory valued at over 20 m €. And to get
it working with a team and the very latest test technology,
representing a once-in-a- lifetime chance in a professional
career. “On top of this, the Krone Group puts its complete
know-how into the validation from both its divisions:
commercial vehicles and agricultural machinery. This produces
very many synergy effects, boosting our work results
enormously. A situation not to be found anywhere else in
the manufacturing landscape”, he states with noticeable
enthusiasm.
SIMULATING STRESS
And how or, indeed, what is to be tested in each case? There’s
an enormous variety of possible subjects. Too long to list
here, says Jürgen Graumann. But he mentions a couple of
the available facilities such as often very large test stands.
There’s also a test track and an outdoor area for trials. The
main work includes functional and long-term load tests
with the aim of literally discovering the limits of what is
possible with the material involved. Such tests take place
under an enormous number of simulated scenarios. “Krone
products must function reliably and continually under all
climatic conditions and weather zones around the globe. So
we test, among other things, electronic modules in a climate
chamber to ensure that influences such as temperature or
moisture content levels do not impact functionality”, he
explains.
As a further highlight, he names the road simulator, called
X-Poster in specialist speak. With this, among other things,
working life cycles of the drive train and
bodywork of truck trailers are reproduced.
The aim here is to simulate one million km
roadwork within a three-week trial - over
as many different types of road surface as
possible. “The collected data allows realistic
usage results to be fed into a computer
model for reliable information on lifetime
stress. The development steps, up to prototypes
and the later test phases of the
machinery, can in this way be substantially
more effective. This helps efficiency, because
prototype construction and the further steps up until
readiness for serial production are extremely cost intensive.
“Thus, the better we carry out our work in the Future Lab,
the less teething troubles to take care of later. Or, to stay in
health simile mode: prevention is better than cure. What
we have tested heart and soul is therefore very fit for the
future.” «
The best machinery manufacturers have always tried
to put their money on safeguarding respective reputations
for tractor and implement reliability. And increasingly,
as machinery becomes more sophisticated and complex, as
the pressures to get a quality crop in are ever-greater in line
with larger farms, bigger herds and the demand for optimal
crop quality, downtime for expensive equipment out in
the field is a very expensive experience. So the pressure
continues to test every idea, design and material involved
the best way possible. Particularly in vehicle technology, the
effort invested in such testing is enormous - for example
by Krone.
“After all, our products represent investments of substantial
value, that in practice are subject to considerable wear
and tear. The more comprehensively testing is carried out
during even first development steps on the computer and
then right through to the final inspection before customer
delivery of a completed machine, the better its resultant
assurance and operational quality. In other words, value
retention for the customer remains acceptable”, explains
Jürgen Graumann. He’s manager of the “Future Lab” created
by Krone in 2019, although in official Krone formulation, it’s
called the “Validation Centre”.
BUNDLED KNOW-HOW
The term validation indicates the focal point of the operations
taking place in the Future Lab, located at Lingen in
German Emsland. “Our task is, above all, to utilise complex
modern measurement and testing technology, as well as
appropriate analysis procedures, to test the
functionality and robustness of components,
component groups and complete vehicles and
machinery. The data and information thus
collected flow finally as basic information into
product development and the production process”,
explains Jürgen Graumann. “This has,
however, little to do with the quality control
carried out by our colleagues, for instance
on goods coming into the factory or during
checks at the end of the assembly line before
delivery. The knowledge collected by our work
is applied much earlier. One can say the information we
secure ensures the constructive success of future products
– so that the name Future Lab fits very well.”
This materials engineer is fascinated, not only by the daily
work in the lab - which alone is enthralling enough, he
reckons. But mainly by the opportunity to plan from the
“KRONE PRODUCTS
MUST FUNCTION
RELIABLY AND
CONTINUALLY
UNDER ALL CLIMATIC
CONDITIONS.”
JÜRGEN GRAUMANN,
FUTURE LAB MANAGER
54
INFORM
THE GREENNIGHT­TOUR
MEADOW
MOVIES
This year, the corona crisis stopped the
famous Krone Grassland Evenings. This
left us with the question: How can we still
manage to combine information on our
latest machinery with personal distancing
and not forgetting the traditional
conviviality? The Krone management
team’s answer: Tractor cinema on 14
locations throughout Germany.
White nights, blue hours...Summer
offers many magical moments.
This year, green nights joined the spectrum.
More precisely: the GreenNight-Tour from
Krone. Behind this lay a Germany-wide
series of tractor cinema events staged on
grassland over a period of almost three
weeks. “The idea came to us as the development
of the corona pandemic encouraged
a renaissance of traditional drive-in movies
in many places, a cinematic experience
permitting distancing and hygiene rules.
This could also function with tractors, we
thought”, relates Ingo Schoppe from the
Krone marketing team.
MOBILE CINEMA
Conceived, achieved: a total 14 such events
were planned between 18th June and 12th
July, with venues right across the republic
between Wurster near Cuxhaven on the
North Sea coast and Dentingen, southwest
55
of Ulm. At each event there was strong
support from the respective regional Krone
dealerships. “This was a great help for us
because an awful lot of work was involved.
After all, it wasn’t just that invitations were
to be sent off to customers from the region
and available areas of grassland found and
booked for the cinema evening with room
for a large number of tractors. Among the
most imposing challenges were the safety
and hygiene aspects, as well as securing
permission from the local authorities. In
fact, though, everyone involved worked
together superbly with us”, he smiles.
On-site, procedure was always the same. In
the forenoon the GreenNight team arrived
with sack and pack to get the site ready.
Stand areas were measured and parking
spaces marked out with lawn mowers,
boundary tapes were staked out and an
entry control hut positioned, the 18 x 9 m
screen was inflated, film and audio equipment
assembled – just some of the many
jobs necessary before all was set to go. And
although the procedure became almost
routine after the first event, every date and
location needed small extra adjustments.
Evenings just before 8.30 the first guests
rolled in with their tractors. Mostly, it took
an hour before everyone had arrived and
the machines lined up in neat rows. Clear
instructions were given on what everyone
had to watch out for. “For us, the obeying
of hygiene and distancing regulations was
obviously very important, and instructions
were handed out to every participant on
arrival because in this respect we could
afford no compromise”, emphasises Ingo
Schoppe.
PLENTY APPLAUSE
Our marketing team member found the
resonance from customers impressive. On
average, between 120 and 150 vehicles
found themselves on each grassland site,
up to 95% being tractors. A few cars also
turned up and they were naturally let in too,
so that their occupants could also follow
the exciting programme. Included in the
introduction was “Performance-Bingo”
a very competitive game devised by the
marketing team. This featured contestants
drawing numbers and then having to rush
over to a bingo board at the entrance and
hook up on the matching number there.
Part of the excitement was the lighting up
of the screen as sunset approached. First,
came a number of “action films” featuring
the latest Krone machinery at work. The
main attraction without a doubt, however,
was the film “Farm mechanisation worldwide”
produced in cooperation with “profi”
magazine and “landtechnikvideos”. At the
end there was plenty applause, contented
faces and, during the exit of the visitors in
their tractors, an absolutely sensational
light show staged by the tractors. “One
thing was always clear to us as each evening
event finished”, concludes Ingo Schoppe.
“Our guests were delighted to experience
an open-air event again, after weeks and
months of the corona limitations.” «
Ingo Schoppe: very
happy about the
great success of the
GreenNight-Tour
2020.
10
TITLE THEME
BIOHOF KINKELBUR
ICE AND EGGS
SELL WELL
Milk, ices, eggs, potatoes – and beef too. These are the
main products sold in the Kinkelbur family’s farm shop.
The Kinkelburs have been dedicated to organic production
for almost 40 years now, and have a farm business
to be proud of.
The Kinkelbur organic farm started
direct marketing in spring 2020 with the
establishment of its first “henmobile”.
A crowing cockerel on a dung heap surrounded by deep,
muddy puddles? Perhaps partly due to old-fashioned
images in children’s books this, or something like it, is what
springs to mind for many as the typical organic farmyard.
But does “bio” farming really have to look like this? Not at
all!
Quite the opposite, in fact, is to be seen on the Kinkelbur
family’s Bioland farm at Minden-Haddenhausen in the
German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. A large herd of
black and white dairy cows loose housed in a cubicle barn,
and 350 laying hens in mobile accommodation (the “henmobile”)
are all kept in a neat and tidy farm business that’s
grown steadily over the years. It’s beautiful there. In fact,
very beautiful! Nestling idyllically under the Kaiser Wilhelm
Memorial at Porta Westfalica near Schloss Haddenhausen,
the Kinkelbur farm attracts crowds of customers to its
seven-days-a-week farm shop.
On our visit, we joined a busy throng in the yard. Farm
workers, potato buyers, shoppers with questions to ask,
a vet and someone delivering animal feed. All vied for
attention – and always in the centre of the turmoil, farmer
Friedrich Kinkelbur, energetically helping and organising.
The 51-year-old is organic farmer through and through.
He’s convinced that the bio way is the right way. His father
changed to organic management as early as 1981, so that
much of the land has been organically farmed for almost 40
years now, with not a single drop of plant protection spray
or spot of mineral N fertiliser applied in that time. The farm
has grown steadily. Fields are continually added, there’s been
renovation and rebuilding. A neighbouring farm has been
rented and this is where the herd followers are kept. “When
a farm expands, new colleagues are needed that can think
for themselves, work well and be self-reliant, ever ready to
inject their ideas into the business. And this is the kind of
staff we have”, emphasises the farmer.
FARM-MADE ICE CREAMS
The farm shop has been open since spring 2020. Available
there are home-grown potatoes as well as eggs, milk and
beef. Friedrich Kinkelbur explains that regionality is a major
aim with the food he sells. “Our cattle are slaughtered
nearby by a family firm.” There, the carcasses are jointed
by skilled butchers. The proportion of saleable cuts per
carcass is high. Each customer can order a box. And the
box is delivered with everything that’s available: filet and
roastbeef, roasting cuts, ready-cut beef casserole slices, soup
meat, ossobuco, bones, goulash and mince.
XtraBlatt: We already reported in XtraBlatt issue 1-2020
the precautionary measures undertaken by Krone in spring
to combat the effects of the corona virus. How should we
summarise the results of all efforts following nearly nine
months in pandemic mode?
Martin Eying: As far as company-internal measures are
concerned, we can be very positive. Certainly, such measures
sometimes entailed enormous changes for all employees.
Reorganisation of all processes was also a huge undertaking,
but one that was carried out with great commitment and
energy by everyone concerned. An example is the way in
MASCHINENFABRIK BERNARD KRONE
SAILING ON
The Krone farm machinery division thankfully
sailed free and fair through the corona
squalls of 2020. But what lessons were
learnt from this period? And what
might the long-term consequences
be? XtraBlatt discusses some
results of the crisis with Martin
Eying, managing director sales/
marketing, and marketing
manager Henrik Feldmann.
24
INTERVIEW
which our IT department established at such short notice
the necessary technology for home office work wherever required.
Many other departments mastered similar challenges.
Today, we can recognise that the limitations and regulations
imposed by the situation, although not always easy, have
become part of normality. All, and this means every single
person involved in our complete team, have excelled in terms
of responsibility and commitment during this time, and for
this deserve heartfelt appreciation!
Henrik Feldmann: Our internal pandemic working group not
only succeeded in developing the initial protection concepts
and then applying the measures decided upon; the group
also continually optimised and redirected the measures. For
instance, in summer at the end of the holiday season. The
result is that, since March, we’ve maintained continuous
production and deliveries without quarantine restrictions
and any significant downtime losses. We’ve been able
to fulfil completely the orders of our customers, and
this makes us very happy indeed!
XtraBlatt: And the delivery chains of suppliers?
Weren’t these interrupted?
Eying: Naturally there were shortterm
disruptions initially, but no
definite stoppages. Through
a number of our European
suppliers being quickly
registered in spring as
system relevant, overall production continued smoothly with
no significant bottlenecks.
XtraBlatt: In other words, a good basis for a satisfactory
gross turnover in the farm machinery division of 732 million
€ and 4.8% growth.....
Feldmann: Please don’t forget, though, that our business year
begins 1st August and ends 31st July. In other words, into
the 2019/2020 results have flowed the earnings from seven
months without corona. Still, by the time the pandemic was
underway in spring, we didn’t dare hope for the respectable
results we in fact achieved by July although, as mentioned,
we did after all fulfilled all our orders.
Eying: Naturally, demand developed very differently in
individual markets. But on the whole, it was acceptable in
all countries: not only in terms of gross turnover but still
more concerning market share. Our estimates indicate an
additional 1% for all our machinery categories worldwide.
Looking back though, we can see this is typical. Especially in
so-called crisis years, Krone has always profited above the
average reported by competition.
XtraBlatt: Why is this?
Eying: The reasons are to be found in the core values of the
family and the Krone company. For generations, these entail
absolute orientation on customers and service, on flexibility
as well as intensive personal contact with practicing farmers
and the markets. Nowadays, of course, the steady growth of
the company means this concept has other characteristics
than those of 20 or even 40 years ago. But the basic principle
remains. And it’s clear that customers really appreciate such
values, especially during difficult years.
XtraBlatt: But this personal “connection” to customers is
increasingly difficult under corona conditions.....
Feldmann: That’s true. But it’s still possible. Certainly, what
we’ve had to accept from the pandemic situation is that, in
the near future anyway, large-scale trade fairs will not be
25
34
ON-FARM
KNEER FAMILY, BAD DITZENBACH, GERMANY
REAL PROFESSIONALS
35
KNEER FAMILY, BAD DITZENBACH, GERMANY
REAL PROFESSIONALS
Some words are often misunderstood.
The word “amateur”, for instance. In the
correct sense, an amateur is someone who
does something for the love of it. This is
an entirely fitting term for brothers Moritz
and Florian Kneer. But they easily earn the
title of farming professionals too ... even
although their main business is building
windows.
Oberberghof is a well-kept horse farm
on the outskirts of Bad Ditzenbach,
nestling amid the Swabian Alb foothills.
Enthusiasts of rural architecture would
recognise right away some of the farm
buildings originally fulfilled another purpose.
This is confirmed by Florian Kneer
who runs the farm with brother Moritz.
“From our mother’s side we come from a
family which, as was earlier quite common,
ran a hostelry and butcher’s business along
with the farm. By 1962, our grandfather had
established a beef herd as main enterprise
on Oberberghof. Later, horses were brought
into the business and, after his successful
graduation in horse husbandry at the
Baden-Württemberg State Stud Farm in
Marbach, he specialised completely in this.”
Florian and Moritz took over in 2004, with
Florian manager of the non-agricultural
side and Moritz the person usually found
around the farm.
“We farm around 75 ha here”, explains
Moritz Kneer. “Most is pasture, mainly on
steep slopes. We only have about a hectare
of arable land, along with some woodland.
We have 25 horseboxes with 16 of these
rented out to private horse owners. Riding
is a hobby for most of our customers and
the same applies to us. We’re open minded
about breeds. We keep mainly warmbloods.
A rare breed is represented here by
our Altwürttemberg horse. Additionally,
Florian (l) and Moritz Kneer together manage Oberberghof farm in Bad Ditzenbach.
HAY HEINRICH
FARMING – CONSERVATION –
ADDING VALUE
It’s generally accepted that the content
in small packages is often substantially
dearer than that in larger containers.
This applies to hay too. By text deadline
for this issue of XtraBlatt, first-cut hay in
large square bales averaged just under
160 €/t. On his website, “Hay Heinrich”
sells his organic mountain meadow
hay for 1.50 to 3.00 €. Per kilogramme!
Safe to say, this represents a more than
respectable margin. But the business isn’t
as straightforward as it seems. Until the
hay lies ready for sale in the shop shelves,
a lot of work has to be done. And a fair
portion of know-how is needed, too.
ECONOMIC
CONCEPT
Heinrich Meusel doesn’t come from a
farming background. His grandfather was
botany professor and while his father is, in
fact, an agricultural engineer, his main activity
for a long time has revolved around
landscape conservation, his full-time post
being managing director of the Naturpark
Thüringer Wald e. V. (Thuringia Forest
Nature Park). He is also honorary member
of the board for the German Landscape
Conservation Association and the Foundation
for German Landscapes. So, a family
connection is definitely present. “I’ve
always been happy working with hay”,
reports Heinrich Meusel. “Even as a kid,
I improved my pocket money by cutting
mountainside meadows with a single-axle
mower and then making hay. This fired my
ambition to be a farmer. The appropriate
education I underwent in the Austrian
uplands. Hereby, it became increasingly
clear to me that my interests lay not only
in nature conservation, but also strongly
in the machinery aspects. And I aimed to
apply this through an economically viable
business concept. Even then, I didn’t want
to rely on just farm subsidies. This is how
I arrived at the production of hay for pets
as an enterprise.”
Heinrich Meusel registered his first company
at 17 years of age. The beginnings
were modest. Initial mechanisation was a
single-axle mower, later joined by a small
tractor, then a tractor of Russian origin.
Finally, a “real” tractor could be bought in.
The first specialised machine was a Metrac
bought second-hand in Switzerland. “I
started without any land and no capital
either”, Heinrich Meusel remembers. “It
wasn’t easy to get credit and was quite
normal to sell off machinery at the end of
the season so that starter capital would be
available for at least part of next season’s
purchases.” In the meantime, the implement
fleet has substantially expanded
46
ON-FARM
HAY HEINRICH
FARMING – CONSERVATION –
ADDING VALUE
Heinrich Meusel worked with hay even
as a child, then as teenager. And he was
brought back to hay later during his search
for a viable farm business model. He sells
his production as pet feed through grocery
retailer chains.
47
DORTMUND PARKS DEPARTMENT
NATURE-
NEAR CITY
PARKLAND
56
AT WORK
1
More usually, round balers are to be seen on
farms or in an agricultural contractor’s fleet.
There’re seldom used on municipal green
areas. But the city of Dortmund proves the
exception.
W estfalenpark in Dortmund. While
the morning commuters join the
traffic jams on the adjacent B 54, a team
from the city parks department get to work.
A sizeable patch of meadow landscaped
around a road junction must be mowed. But
not, as in earlier years, using a cost-efficient
and speedy mulcher. Instead, a tractor and
cutterbar mower go into action. Admittedly,
the equipment is not as simple as a mulcher.
But substantially less insects fall victim to
the mowing operation. “A few years ago,
we changed the way we look after our
grassland areas and started extensive
methods”, says Jürgen Hundorf, planner
in the Dortmund Parks Department, responsible
for a total 400 ha within the city
precincts. Nowadays, around half of this
is managed extensively. “These areas are
cut twice yearly with cutterbar mower”,
says Soenke Janssen, agricultural master
craftsman and responsible within the parks
department for the Technical Service West.
The changeover from mulching to cutterbar
mowing is, however, not the only adjustment
in machinery used. Whereas the
mulched vegetation is left lying on the surface,
the cut grass has to be removed after
a few days. Firstly, it’s swathed by a tractor
mounted band rake, then round baled.
Especially for this, the Park Department in
early 2020 bought a Krone Bellima F130. The
investment in the machinery needed for an
organically managed parkland system is not
insignificant, but is necessary”, emphasises
Soenke Janssen. There was no resistance to
the required investment.
THE RIGHT KIT
The Bellima F130 represented the baler
Soenke Janssen really wanted when the
tenders were submitted. “The round baler
is comparably light, very compact and suits
very well our communal tractor, which is
smaller than the tractors used on farms”,
he explains.
The new Dortmund biodiversity is especially
impressive taking the example of wildlife
on the meadows around a housing district
in the southwest of the city. The meadow
flowers in widely varied colours were in the
1 As part of the grassland ecological management, the Dortmund
Parks Department has invested in new machinery including a
round baler from Krone.
2 In favour of extensive grassland management: Jürgen Hundorf,
planner in the Dortmund Parks Department.
3 Nature-friendly and insect saving cutterbar mowing.
57
2
3
6
TITLE THEME
Konrad Ammon jn is a self-employed
master butcher and managing director
of the Metzger Schlachthof Betriebs
GmbH in Fürth.
7
METZGERSCHLACHTHOF FÜRTH
REGIONAL FROM
CONVICTION
Planning the shortest possible transport distance for meat
is no mere passing fad for this Fürth butchery business. It’s a
deliberate strategy. Here we meet Konrad Ammon jn, master
butcher and managing director of the family business, to discuss
his interesting concept.
The meat sector stands – as so often – under criticism.
But this time the subject is neither animal welfare
nor hygiene. Instead, it’s the massively increased COV-
ID-19 infection rate amongst workers in a number of large
slaughter companies. Main causes were unsuitable working
conditions and crowded employee accommodation. Both
factors arise directly from the predominating structure of
the industry where workers are mainly subcontracted.
Behind the change in the meat branch that brought today’s
huge company facilities was an originally very commendable
idea: improvement of hygiene in slaughter, jointing and
further processing. However, the EU certification procedure
involved meant hurdles that proved too high for many
smaller businesses. Often, existing buildings made meeting
the regulations impossible and unviable financially. The
result: many butchers gave-up slaughtering, buying their
meat as carcass halves or in other portions from the bigger
slaughter businesses. The municipal slaughterhouses, that
in the past were to be found in nearly every town or city as
part of the fundamental regional facilities, were gradually
closed down for the same reasons.
VACCINE PRODUCTION
This was the fate also faced by the slaughterhouse in Fürth: a
facility, the opening of which way back in 1881, represented
an important milestone in the community’s history, bringing
substantial relief to the citizens of Fürth. Up until then, there
were numerous smaller slaughter facilities that brought with
them problems of noise and odours, not to mention suspect
hygiene. The town butchers were initially sceptical of the
new municipal slaughterhouse. After all, it left them with
just one supply point for their meat. They even boycotted
the opening ceremony and instead, the meat workers’ guild
rather provocatively arranged a day trip to nearby Würzburg.
Gradually, however, butchers came to see the advantages
and the Fürth town slaughterhouse began to flourish. As its
throughput approached full capacity a fusion with nearby
Nürnberg and the building of new facilities were briefly
considered, although nothing transpired. In 1918, before the
end of WW I, the slaughterhouse was extended. In WW II
facilities were partly destroyed with makeshift adjustments
keeping production going. Following the country’s monetary
reform, the town council found it couldn’t finance a new
building. But hope for better production conditions arose
through a partnership with pharmaceutical manufacturer
Behring that was producing a foot-and-mouth vaccine from
deliberately infected cattle in a purpose-built isolation
station, a station which also featured a slaughterhouse. A
cooperation with this slaughterhouse proved very profitable
and incidentally attracted support from state subsidies,
cash that was also invested in the facilities so that by the
1960s Fürth had one of the most modern slaughterhouses
in Germany.
20
PASTURE PIGS
SWINE IN THE
OPEN AIR
hen Johannes Erchinger comes
with the feed bucket nothing
else matters. Even out on the meadows
where boar and sows produce piglets
the natural way, all is forgotten when
the farmer appears with the feed bucket.
Only seconds after he steps into the
field he’s surrounded. He makes sure
that every pig gets some of the pellets.
There’s no fighting and even the boar
that can weigh-in at up to 350 kg seems
easy-going and doesn’t push the others
aside. “Pigs kept outdoors are simply
more relaxed”, says the farmer from
Logabirum near Leer in East Friesland.
This is classic dairy farming land and pig
producers are scarce. Johannes Erchinger
also runs a dairy herd with 80 cows, and
he represents the fifth generation on this
family farm. The farmyard is right in the
middle of the village so there’s no way
of expansion and simply moving out to
build on a greenfield site never attracted
him and his family. “In the second half
of the 1990s I thought very hard about
starting a second enterprise and finally
somehow landed on the idea of pig production
outdoors on pasture,” recalls the
farmer. The pig breeding company PIC
at that time invited him to visit a farm
near Schleswig (Schleswig-Holstein) that
specialised in outdoor pig production. In
just a few weeks, he had completed a
practical training course there for a
deeper insight into this type of enterprise.
Even before he’d completed the
course, Johannes Erchinger had first
calculations ready so that he could
convince his family to start off the
adventure “pasture pigs”.
INITIAL
RESISTANCE
At first, there was some resistance in
the village when his plans became
known. “Pigs are associated with unpleasant
odours, although this is con-
ON-FARM
21
Contended pigs:
These high-welfare piglets are
grouped after weaning and then
bedded daily with plentiful straw.
Keeping pigs on grassland? East Friesland farmer Johannes
Erchinger found this an interesting business
idea. Some 25 years ago he sought a new agricultural
enterprise and found it with his Berkshire swine.
nected with housed animals”, explains
Johannes Erchinger, adding that pigs
kept outdoors don’t smell. This is partly
because of nature’s own ventilation, but
mainly because the animals eat mostly
grass and straw that leads to markedly
less smell from the dung, one reason
being that the dietary fibre binds odour
compounds. The initial unrest therefore
soon settled down. In fact, the pig pastures
have meantime become something
of an attraction in the neighbourhood.
The pigs are visited often by primary
school classes and Johannes Erchinger
takes the opportunity to inform the kids
more about farming.
Starting the enterprise was investment-intensive,
even without the cost
of animal housing, which is of course
not required. Firstly, the equipment
including water troughs, arks, feeding
tackle, as well as a “pig taxi” for livestock
transport, all had to be bought-in - and
the pastures suitably prepared. In De-
32
INFORM
BEHIND THE
SCENES
A smoothly running online conference
with the professional touch
needs loads of preparation and
practice beforehand. Here, a selection
of impressions snapped “behind
the scenes”.
33
After some two years’ work, the Krone Museum is now
completely redesigned. For Walter Krone, as manager of the
working group involved, the project has been something very
dear to his heart – and its completion the crowning culmination
of his activities within the company.
KRONE MUSEUM
“NOW IT’S
REALLY GOOD.”
43