Fendt has definitely been the preferred tractor make of Carl Johan Schmidt from Agershov for many years. When Carl Johan needed to replace his combine harvester, he was in no doubt about the choice of make, and that it was to be a shaker.

The two Fendt tractors don’t look very old, but the hour meters in them have a story to tell. “My 712 has done 12,500 hours since 2002, and my 822 has done 11,000 hours since 1999,” says Carl Johan Schmidt from Agershov. Apart from the two Fendts mentioned, he also has a two-year-old Fendt 718 and an older Fendt 615, which has just been put into operation. But the newest member of the Fendt family of the chicken and pig producer from South Jutland is a Fendt 8410 combine harvester with a 30-foot PowerFlow cutter bar. “For 13 seasons I had been harvesting with the same MF 7272 with a 22-foot cutter bar, so the time had come to replace it,” he says.

The choice of brand was not hard for him to make. Carl Johan Schmidt has been driving with a PowerFlow cutter bar for many years, and he wanted to carry on doing so as it gives a very even introduction. “When I was able to buy a Fendt combine harvester later, it had to be just that. It is compatible with my tractors. Besides, in my opinion, a shaker is best for threshing seeds,” he explains. He himself farms 242 hectares of rye grass, winter barley, winter wheat, spring wheat, winter rape and maize for biogas. For himself he reaps around 220 hectares and for others a further 150 hectares per season. “With my new Fendt 8410 I have increased my harvesting capacity by up to 25 per cent. Besides, I have got a machine with a good deal of other important benefits,” he says.

With an annual production of around 750,000 chickens and around 3,500 pigs, Carl Johan Schmidt uses all the winter wheat and winter barley he produces himself. Grass seeds, winter rape, biogas maize and spring wheat is sold - spring wheat at a higher price than for grain for bread. “I appreciate the fact that the cabin is quieter and larger than the one on my previous combine harvester,” he says.

On Carl Johan Schmidt’s farm winter rape has to be harvested by the root with as little waste as possible. “Therefore, I have had a rape auger fitted to my Power Flow cutter bar,” he says. The winter rape is usually so high that it has a tendency to be left hanging on the rear edge of the cutter bar. It doesn’t do this, however, if a rape auger has been fitted, which helps me to direct the cut rape in towards the conveyor. “The system works really well,” says the South Jutland farmer.