As a country blessed with the soils and climate needed to produce high yields of quality forage, there is strong demand for machinery to maintain and harvest copious quantities of grass in spring and summer, and of forage maize crops in the autumn.

Figures published by AEA – the trade organisation of agricultural machinery manufacturers and importers – on sales of grass equipment is limited to just a handful of machine types.

However, Great Britain’s farmers and contractors buy about 3,000 plain mowers and mower-conditioners each year; 950 or so round balers, 200-odd big square balers and 160 big ticket self-propelled forage harvesters.

See also: Tractors: where are they made?

In addition, there is regular investment in tedders and rakes – to manage the crop immediately prior to harvesting and putting into storage – as well as crop-slicing forage wagons.

Europe dominates

Manufacturers in continental Europe dominate the market, with all self-propelled forage harvesters now built in Belgium and Germany, so Agco’s big square balers made in Hesston, Kansas, and Tubeline bale wrappers from Canada are the only bits of equipment shipped across the Atlantic.

British manufacturing resources are minimal as far as forage harvesting is concerned.

Teagle is the only contributor with its Super-ted swath conditioner, although the likes of Kidd in Wiltshire and Wessex in Hampshire do build rotary toppers.

In a similar vein, Browns Agricultural in Bedfordshire and others produce flexible tine rakes for pasture maintenance, and several firms make grass rollers.

For harvesting, the market belongs to long-established large-scale players such as Claas, Krone, Kuhn, Kverneland, Pottinger and Vicon, as well as smaller firms, including Irish manufacturers McHale, Malone and Tanco.

These are notable for complementing their established products – such as bale wrappers – with mower-conditioners, tedders and rakes, and also round balers in McHale’s case.

Newcomers to the British market, SIP from Slovenia and Samasz from Poland, are also making their mark.

And, in addition to Claas, the big tractor manufacturers have seen the value of filling out their product ranges – and “captive” dealers’ yards – with grass kit.

John Deere is an established player in this respect, but with a relatively limited product line of mower-conditioners, self-propelled forage choppers and balers; and Case IH, likewise, with just balers.

New Holland added mowers, tedders and rakes with CNH’s Kongskilde Agriculture acquisition.

Kubota got an even bigger package when it bought Kverneland Group and is now increasingly presenting the products in Kubota orange where appropriate.

After some time leaving the Fella product line alone – having acquired it from Argo Group with the Laverda combines operation – Agco took the opportunity to build a more comprehensive grass implements line for its Massey Ferguson and Fendt brands by purchasing complementary Lely and Welger equipment.

Mowers, tedders and rakes, and new round balers and bale wrappers, bolstered the Massey Ferguson range. Meanwhile, Fendt acquired full-line status by adding forage wagons to its balers and self-propelled forage harvesters.

European manufacturers dominate all aspects of the grass harvesting process – this is the Claas line-up

See the map of manufactures, where they are, and what they make, and read the rest of the detail below. Click on the icons to see the detail.

Where are they built?

Abimac

Manufacturer Abimac specialises in rotary grass rakes and the Avantime front-mounted models in particular for one-pass raking and baling of spread or swathed grass.

The machines, built south of Turin in north-west Italy, are imported by farm-based Abimac UK.

Agronic

Finnish firm Agronic manufactures round balers (including static models for chopped forage maize), wrapping balers and standalone bale wrappers at its factory in Haapavesi, but is best known in Great Britain for its novel grass rakes.

These twin-rotor machines imported by Henderson Agri Services are designed for front- or rear-mounted operation and use shallow-angle nylon tines and sweeping flaps to bring grass into a swath.

Bergmann

In addition to manure spreaders and grain chaser bins, Ludwig Bergmann builds a range of high-capacity forage wagons and forage haulage trailers distributed in Great Britain by Glos-based Continental Soil Technology.

The business located on an 11ha site in Goldenstedt, north-west Germany employs around 150 staff and celebrates its 125th anniversary this year.

Case IH

Round and square balers are the sole grassland products supplied in Case IH colours in Europe.

The round balers are produced at CNH Polska in the town of Plock, central Poland, while the square balers are assembled in CNH’s Zedelgem plant in the north-west of Belgium, near Ghent.

Claas

Several factories produce the Claas range of grassland equipment, with the flagship Jaguar self-propelled forage choppers built at the Harsewinkel plant in Germany.

Some Jaguar components are produced at the Bad Saulgau factory, also in Germany, which is the main “green harvest” plant where Disco disc mowers and mower-conditioners, Volto tedders, Liner rakes and Cargos forage wagons are put together.

However, the Corto drum mowers come from a Claas factory in Hungary, 85 miles south-east of Budapest, where combine headers are assembled. All Rollant and Variant round balers, and Quadrant square balers are manufactured at the Metz factory in north-east France.

Conor

In addition to the company’s trailed bale wrapper, Conor Engineering’s factory at Tubber, County Clare, in the west of Ireland, produces the Swather 7000 swath wilter for speeding up the grass wilting process.

Elho

Finland’s Elho manufactures disc mowers and mower-conditioners in single and rear-mounted “butterfly” form, twin-basket rakes for swath merging and bale wrappers, as part of its grass equipment portfolio.

Handled in Great Britain by Shutts Farm Machinery, Elho’s factory in Bennäs, on the south-west coast of Finland, also produces a swath wilter and double-chop flail and precision chop trailed forage harvesters.

Enorossi

This Italian manufacturer’s products, distributed by Amia in Great Britain, are all built in the town of Calzolaro in Perugia, central Italy.

Mounted and trailed mowers, tedders, rotary and finger wheel rakes, and bale wrappers complete Enorossi’s forage products range.

Fendt

While the flagship Katana self-propelled forage harvesters are built in Germany at Agco’s Hohenmoelsen factory, near Leipzig, alongside Rogator crop sprayers, Fendt’s other grass products are built in former Lely and Fella factories.

Round balers produced in Wolfenbüttel – the former home of Lely Welger baler production in mid-Germany – will soon be joined by forage wagons in a rationalisation move that will see the Waldstetten site 300 miles to the south closed.

Cutter drum and Slicer disc mowers, Lotus and Twister tedders, and Former rakes are built in Agco’s factory in Feucht, on the outskirts of Nuremberg, while Fendt big square balers continue to be sourced from the Hesston plant in Kansas, US.

Fiorini U&G

This relatively small manufacturer located in Bastiglia, near Modena, northern Italy, supplies its Combi 5 tedder/rake through Weaving Machinery.

Fransgård

Danish company Fransgård supplies its disc mowers and rear- and front-mounted rotary rakes through agent George Buchan.

The company’s factory at Farso, in the north of Denmark, also produces a swath wilter with optional side delivery belt, while the Intenso version uses crop conditioning tines.

John Deere

Zweibrücken in Germany is the production home of John Deere’s self-propelled forage harvesters, where they are built in the same plant as the company’s combines.

Deere’s round balers are assembled at Arc-lès-Gray, near Dijon, France, where tractor loaders are also produced. Mounted and trailed mower production is handled by Kuhn at its headquarters plant in Saverne, France, while square balers are made at Kuhn’s Geldrop factory in the Netherlands.

Although not part of the John Deere product line-up, the Kemper business – which is owned by Deere – builds grass swath pick-ups and row-independent maize headers for forage harvesters in Stadtlohn, north-west Germany.

Kongskilde Agriculture

Now owned by CNH Industrial and operated by New Holland, Kongskilde Agriculture’s former JF grass product line originally manufactured in Denmark, is now mostly distributed in New Holland colours.

The only exception is the trailed forage harvester line-up built alongside diet mixer-feeders since 2015 at Kutno, central Poland.

Krone

While all the other big grass equipment makers have dispersed manufacturing facilities, progressive expansion of Krone’s headquarters in Spelle, north-west Germany, means it remains the company’s sole location for all products.

EasyCut disc mowers and mower-conditioners, including the Big M self-propelled, Vendro tedders, Swadro rotary rakes, X-family forage wagons and the new EasyWrap bale wrappers are all manufactured and assembled on the substantial site.

There are also assembly lines for the Big X forage choppers, four ranges of round balers and Big Pack square balers.

Kubota

Selected models of round balers and bale wrappers built in Italy, and mowers, rakes and tedders assembled in Denmark by its Kverneland Group subsidiary, are now produced in Kubota colours.

It gives Kubota dealers the opportunity to supply these products in areas where the Kverneland and Vicon-branded machines are already represented.

Kuhn

With the exception of forage harvesters and silage wagons, Kuhn produces a comprehensive range of grassland equipment.

Its disc mowers, tedders, rakes and belt swath mergers are assembled at the group’s headquarters factory in Saverne, eastern France alongside many of the company’s tillage products.

Geldrop, on the outskirts of Eindhoven in the south of the Netherlands, is the home of Kuhn drum mower, round baler, square baler and bale wrapper production as a result of these products and the factory being acquired from Kverneland Group in 2008.

Kverneland

A modernised factory in the town of Russi, to the east of Bologna in northern Italy, is where Kverneland bale wrapper production is centred, as well as KV-branded round balers for markets other than the UK, where they are sold as Vicon and Kubota.

The plant was bought in 2012 from the owners of Gallignani after forming a strategic partnership two years earlier.

However, the group’s mowers, tedders and rakes continue to be built in the coastal town of Kerteminde, Denmark.

Malone

The grass product range manufactured by Malone Farm Machinery has expanded from crop-chopping forage wagons to include mowers, tedders and rakes in recent years.

All are produced at the company’s Carrowreaghmony factory near Ballyglass, County Mayo, in western Ireland.

Massey Ferguson

While big square balers in the Massey Ferguson range have always been built in Agco’s Hesston factory in Kansas, US, round balers have mostly been sourced from other manufacturers on a partnership basis.

But like all products in the much-expanded MF range, they are now produced in-house, including balers at Wolfenbüttel, 45 miles south-east of Hanover, Germany, where bale wrappers are also built, as a result of Agco buying the Lely forage equipment line in 2017.

Mowers, tedders and rakes are built at Agco’s ex-Fella plant in Feucht, 300 miles further south, which benefited from an £8m-plus capacity-increasing investment in 2018 after the MF distribution reach led to increased sales volumes.

See also: Loaders: Where are they made?

McHale

A comprehensive range of wrappers for round and square bales brought McHale Engineering to initial prominence, followed by the Fusion baler-wrapper.

Today, the range also includes several round baler models and rotary rakes built at a factory in the town of Szolnok, Hungary, which gained capacity and manufacturing technology improvements in 2019.

Further expansion of McHale’s range has since come with mounted and trailed mowers added to the production of the Fusion and bale wrappers at the company’s Ballinrobe, County Mayo, headquarters in western Ireland.

Mesko Rol

This Polish manufacturer, based in the south-east of the country, supplies Weaving Machinery with its Heybob traditional spreading and rowing-up tedder.

New Holland

Flagship New Holland products for the grassland sector – the FR series self-propelled forage harvesters and BB square balers – are manufactured in CNH’s Zedelgem plant in north-east Belgium. Round balers are assembled alongside combines at the Plock factory in Poland.

In recent years, the New Holland grassland range has been expanded to include mounted and trailed mowers and mower-conditioners, grass rakes and tedders, following the acquisition by CNH of Kongskilde Agriculture in 2016.

Production was moved to a new Kongskilde factory in Poland in 2015, but there is now an OEM supply agreement for the grass implements to be built at the Maschio-Gaspardo group’s modern and newly expanded Chisineu-Cris factory in western Romania.

The factory, employing up to 400 staff, is Romania’s biggest manufacturer of agricultural equipment and already produces New Holland tillage implements under an earlier agreement.

Ploeger

Best known for pea, bean and potato harvesters, and large self-propelled spreaders and tankers, Ploeger Machines also manufactures a relatively new range of trailed and self-propelled belt-type swath mergers.

Built at the company’s headquarters in Roosendaal, the Netherlands, the products are supported in Great Britain by the company’s Norfolk-based Ploeger UK subsidiary in Fakenham.

Pottinger

The Austrian manufacturer Pottinger’s name is synonymous with forage wagons as a leading protagonist for the one-tractor, one-machine grass harvesting system and builds its comprehensive range at the headquarters plant in Grieskirchen.

However, the same site is also used to produce the company’s mowers and mower-conditioners, tedders and grass rakes, so when it came to entering the round-baler market there was no room for another product line.

Initial production started in a leased facility but, last year, Pottinger opened a £21m factory in nearby St Georgen, and moved assembly there along with production of large rakes.

The modern premises on a 17ha site is already being expanded in a £38m second phase, and eventually the plant is expected to match the scale of the large Grieskirchen factory as sales continue to grow.

Reiter

The Respiro range of tractor-mounted and trailed belt swath mergers up to 9m wide is the specialist product of RT Engineering, based near the Pottinger factories in north-west Austria.

Suffolk Farm Machinery is the distributor for sales in Great Britain.

ROC

This Italian manufacturer, based near Rimini on the east coast, specialises in large capacity belt-type swath mergers in front-mounted and trailed formats.

In October 2021, 80% of ROC’s shares were bought by Kverneland Group with plans to maintain the brand and distribution, which in Great Britain is through Shutts Farm Machinery.

Samasz

The Polish manufacturer Samasz may not be among the more familiar names in grassland equipment, but it builds a substantial range of products.

There are drum and disc mowers up to triple combination sizes, along with tedders and rakes of the familiar rotor type and the less familiar “basket” lateral raking design, with selected products distributed by Weaving Machinery.

These are all produced in a £16m factory opened in 2018, at Zabludów in the far east of the country, employing some 1,400 people.

Schuitemaker

Specialising in feed boxes and self-loading forage wagons, Schuitemaker Machines builds its products at Rijssen, in the central eastern part of the Netherlands.

The company is one half of the SVGroup partnered with slurry spreading specialist Veenhuis, and its forage wagons are available through a number of dealers in Great Britain.

SIP

Agricultural machinery from Slovenia may be unfamiliar but SIP Strojna Industrija aims to change that with its extensive range of grassland products, which has attracted a number of UK dealers.

There are tedders and rotary rakes, front-mounted and trailed belt-type swath mergers, plus mounted and trailed disc mower-conditioners up to the four-deck Silvercut Disc T, laying 15m of grass at a time.

The company, located on an 8ha site in Sempeter, 40 miles north-east of the Slovenian capital Ljubljana, has more than 200 employees. SIP Distribution UK handles dealer sales in Great Britain.

Sitrex

The product range of this Italian company, comprising drum mowers, tedders, rotary rakes and finger wheel rakes, is handled in Great Britain by Rapid Tractors.

The machines are built in separate manufacturing and assembly plants in Trestina, in the province of Perugia, central Italy.

Strautmann

Self-loading forage wagons, distributed by Opico, are one of the mainstays of the Strautmann product line, alongside manure spreaders, diet mixer-feeders, grain chasers and other trailers.

They are manufactured by the 370 employees at the company’s Bad Laer site in north-west Germany, using some components engineered at satellite plants in Poland and Hungary.

Talex

This Polish manufacturer located in the north of the country supplies its grassland products through J Bourne Tractors in Great Britain.

The drum and disc mowers, tedders and swath wilters, rotary rakes and bale wrappers are assembled in a modern factory recently equipped with a new shot-blasting facility.

Tanco

Having remained focused on tractor-mounted, loader-mounted and trailed silage bale wrappers for many years, Tanco Autowrap has more recently diversified into mower production.

The Autocut front-mounted/semi-trailed triple deck disc mower combination, in sizes up to 9.9m, is produced alongside the wrappers, feeding bucket and bale shears in south-east Ireland, 14 miles north-east of Kilkenny.

Teagle

Best-known for its comprehensive range of bale shredders, Teagle Machinery’s sole contribution to grass harvesting operations is the Super-ted 211 swath conditioner.

It’s built alongside a range of tractor-mounted rotary toppers at the company’s works near Redruth, Cornwall.

Tubeline

Canada’s Tubeline Manufacturing inline bale wrappers and small bale sledge accumulators are constructed in two nearby facilities in the Ontario town of Elmira.

The products are distributed in Great Britain by Agri Marketing And Insight.

Vicon

As part of the Kverneland Group, the Vicon business supplies a full range of mowers, tedders and rotary rakes from the Kerteminde factory in Denmark.

Both conventional and non-stop round balers, plus bale wrappers, are built in the group facility in Russi, in the province of Ravenna, Italy.