After acquiring ‘Shredlage’ technology from its inventors last year, Claas is emphasizing the cow health benefits of the forage harvesting process.
Shredlage, says Matt Jaynes, self-propelled forage harvester product manager with Claas, is a patented term used to describe the harvesting technique that takes corn through a special kernel processor, as well as cutting it to a longer length (somewhere between 21 and 30 millimetres, depending on moisture content and environmental conditions).
“It’s not only obliterating the kernels, but it’s also about stalk structure. We want the stalks long, but we strip it into pieces, so it’s long and thin, so we can pack it in a pile,” he explains.
The rollers on the Shredlage processor chop cob fragments and crush kernels in counter-directional helical grooves. Kernels are split into four or eight pieces, and 95% of the stalk content becomes thinner than 4mm.
What you ultimately want, says Jaynes, is a long but thin stalk, to improve digestion, milk yield and overall health in individual cows.
Ross Dale and Roger Olsen built the first prototype corncracker in 2008. Their company, Shredlage LLC, sold the Shredlage technology to Claas in August 2016.
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