XtraBlatt Issue 02-2020

ON-FARM
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and mainly comprises premium makes and
specialised machinery. “This we certainly
need”, says Heinrich Meusel, “because under
our production and working conditions,
material wear and tear is very high.”
SAFECUT HELPS
Heinrich Meusel nowadays produces hay for
household pets from 120 ha. Several Krone
mowers are used. “The SafeCut system was
behind the decision to go for this make”, he
continues. “Beforehand, many of my fields
had lain fallow. This leaves a field surface
that can provide unpleasant surprises for
the mower operator. SafeCut helps avoid
damage under such conditions. But even
when a roll pin shears, it can be replaced
on the field in just a few minutes.” Heinrich
Meuser has also experimented with double
knife cutterbar, although not too successfully.
His field surfaces often have sudden
ups and downs. Revolving knives therefore
work better.
As a rule, the mower is immediately followed
by the tedder for quick drying, with
a repeat on day two. Sometimes the hay
has to be turned again on the third day
before swathing – all with machinery from
Spelle. For baling, small bales are favoured
at 80 cm and 1.9 to 2.0 m length with under
16 % moisture content. To spread out any
labour peaks, a round baler is often sent
into smaller fields as early as the second
day. These bales then go into the farm’s barn
drying plant. The same applies to hay carted
home early because of rain.
TRACEABLE
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This farmer works with high performance
transport capacity. “Not so long ago I invested
in a bale trailer with hydraulic load
securing”, he explains. “This is a real advantage.
We no longer need to fiddle around
with tension belts. It saves time and is much
safer, especially evenings with the last loads
of the day after sunset. We load the trailers
with front loader and for unloading we use
a compact telescopic loader. Traceability
entails precisely recording which fields each
load comes from and where the bales are
stored. I work with a special food standard
IT system. Every package of pet feed is
stamped with a traceability code.”
The automatic packaging system is sited in
the farm buildings. Firstly, the bales go into
a shredder with sieve system, then by conveyor
belt into the actual packaging plant.
Each portion of appropriate weight is first
pressed into a form and then pushed into
plastic wrapping. The packages are further
packed into cartons and palleted ready
for road transport. “It took quite a while
before the packaging plant ran smoothly”,
recalls Heinrich Meusel. “It has a highly
complicated management technology and
many adjustments were necessary. Even
nowadays, my workers and I are continually
1 For “Hay Heinrich”, additional business
enterprises feature landscape
conservation, forestry and advisory
services.
2 Thuringian rural entrepreneur Heinrich
Meusel: widely known as “Hay
Heinrich”.
3 Special machinery is applied on the
sometimes very steep slopes.
4 The hay is harvested conventionally.
But important for Heinrich Meusel is
that the sward contains a high content
of valuable herbs.
making corrections. The plant runs yearround
in two shifts per day.”
BIO-CERTIFIED
The hay fields are mostly on steep slopes
and usually just one cut a year is made.
“In order to encourage herb growth in the
sward, we tine harrow each spring. Our
USP (unique selling point) is that all our
hay areas are certified as organically managed
and that we produce real mountain
meadow hay including valuable herbs such
as spignal, yarrow and arnica”, points out
Heinrich Meusel. “Most of our competitors
sell only dried grass. Until we could really
convince customers, I had to carry out lots
of persuasion work, have plenty information
at hand and carry out intensive discussions
with end customers. There was, and still is,
tremendous effort required in marketing,
advertising and sales. I never set out to sell
on price. Instead, I concentrate on quality.
But now we have a good customer base
and are listed by big chains e.g. Rewe,
Kaufland and Tegut. Admittedly, there are
still problems, for instance meeting delivery
requirements in some cases, and the
associated logistics. But the trade lays down
the rules and we follow them. This gives us
delivery conditions that are generally very
stable.”
Because, meantime, demand has overtaken
own production, this farmer has founded
the Thuringia Hay Exchange. Project partner
is the region’s Landscape Conservation Association
that collects suitable hay from growers.
Quality is strictly controlled according to
an official catalogue and the results govern
payment. Deliveries now not only go to Hay
Heinrich but to other customers, including
riding stables. “What I’m especially pleased
about is that there’s a good community
feeling developed amongst our hay makers,
and now we’re working together in other
respects.”
MANY IDEAS
“The hay harvest lasts around one and
a half months. And to better exploit my
investment in special machinery I’ve started
other enterprises: landscape conservation,
forestry services and associated advisory
work”, adds Heinrich Meusel. “Our business
spectrum is therefore varied. In forestry
work, for instance, it stretches from tree
planting over fence building through to
timber extraction. In landscape conservation
there’s a lot of classic mowing work
in difficult to access locations, but also
renaturation, and stabilising of steep
slopes. For the latter work I’ve developed
a special procedure involving strands of
hay. Particularly in the service sector, I’ve
invested considerably in the last years. Since
the beginning of this year we are using our
own ‘walking excavator’, a backhoe that
moves on hydraulic legs. Extra attachments
for this are a mulching head and hydraulic
tree shear. A forest tractor with crane and
rear bogey are to be delivered next.”
Ideas just keep on flowing from this young
farmer and entrepreneur. He’s further
processing the valuable flowers from his
hay meadows for use in cosmetics. A farm
shop to sell the ensuing products is just now
being completed. And because environment
and landscape conservation are not only a
business for him but a real mission, he’ll
doubtless soon have interesting new projects
in this sector too. «
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