Silage Cutter

a machine for cutting up straw and green crop materials being ensiled in the preparation of feeds for livestock. Silage cutters may be motor-driven, horse-driven, or manually operated. Only motor-driven cutters are used in the USSR. They are driven by an electric motor or a power take-off shaft from a tractor engine.

A silage cutter consists of a cutting mechanism, a feed conveyor, and a drive mechanism; the cutting mechanism may be of the disk or drum type. Both types work on the principle of a scissors: rotating knives attached to a drum or disk serve as one of the blades, and the cutting edge of a fixed shear plate serve as the second blade. Drum-type silage cutters are usually stationary; disk-type cutters have wheels and are equipped with blower conveyors. Both types are used in the USSR. Depending on the type of material being chopped and the purpose for which it is intended, the cutter may be positioned next to silos when green crop materials are being ensiled, in feed shops when livestock feeds are being prepared, and at locations where chopped straw is being prepared for livestock feed or bedding.

Silage cutters of similar design are used abroad.