The agricultural machinery manufacturing company New Holland was founded in the town of the same name in Pennsylvania, USA.

The agricultural machinery manufacturing company New Holland was founded in the town of the same name in Pennsylvania, USA. In over a century, it has become one of the world leaders in its field, and agricultural machinery of this brand is produced all over the world. Recently, New Holland combine harvesters were spotted in the fields of SVF "Zaazerye".

The farm has large sown areas, growing thousands of hectares of grain crops every year. At the same time, the load on each unit of machinery is enormous, even double for some operations. Therefore, last year and before, the harvesting of grain crops and rapeseed on the farm was completed at the beginning of September. With a normal load of 230-280 hectares per combine per season, this year it has again been significantly exceeded in "Zaazerye". Each of the seven available "Gomselmash" combine harvesters would have had to harvest more than 450 hectares.

The last verb "would have had" is not used in vain in the conditional mood; the farm received great assistance – New Holland combine harvesters. Since the current year, SVF "Zaazerye" has been joined to the open joint-stock company "Vitebsk Meat Packing Plant". The Vitebsk team helped – one combine harvester is constantly working in the fields of Lepel, and once two more joined it for a whole working day. The difference in productivity can be judged by the production indicators. By the morning of August 9, seven "Palesse" combine harvesters together threshed 1160 tons of grain, while one New Holland, during the same period, threshed 577 tons.

I went to see the imported machinery in the middle of the day, when the harvesting operations were in full swing. I was informed by phone at "Zaazerye" that the seconded workers were harvesting the Aerodrome field near the village of Drazhna that day. When I arrived, lunch was just finishing. The combine operators and machine operators, who were harvesting green mass in the adjacent field, had just finished their drinks, took a bottle of mineral water each, and were heading back to their machines.

Combine operator Leonid Paramonov and his assistant Dmitry Skripalyov, both seconded from Vitebsk, are working on the New Holland. Leonid Nikolaevich has extensive experience; he first sat at the controls of a combine harvester independently back in 1988. It was an SK-5, the famous "Niva". Then came the "Don-1500", "Lida-1300", KZS-1218 – the entire range of grain harvesting machinery that formed the basis of the combine harvester fleet in different years. Dmitry has only been working on combine harvesters for the second year; he is learning fromand experience from a more senior comrade.
All conditions have been created for the combine operators and their productive work. They were accommodated in the dormitory of the Lepel Dairy and Canned Goods Plant branch, provided with hot meals – just work, harvest the hectares and thresh the tons.

The combine is large, painted in the corporate New Holland colour – yellow. However, the most impressive feature is the header width – 10.5 meters! In this regard, the machinery surpasses the KZS-1218, not to mention the KZS-10. However, with such a width of the unit and all its power, the productivity of the machine makes the issue of choosing the right place for its application important. This scale of machinery operates with maximum efficiency on wide, flat fields with high yields, from 30 centners per hectare and above. On small, contoured, hilly fields, this New Holland will consume more fuel and waste its engine life.

The field where the combine worked that day perfectly matched both the machinery and its name – Aerodrome. On the flat, long runs, the New Holland showed its full potential. Two vehicles are assigned to transport the grain behind the combine. They could barely keep up, and largely thanks to the fact that the grain was located nearby, in the village of Stai. And if it were five to seven kilometers further? In that case, one or two more vehicles would have been necessary.
With a wide header, over ten meters, attached, it is naturally impossible to drive on roads, so a special trailer is used to move from field to field, which was standing at the edge at that moment. The combine operators circled the field once along the perimeter, and then began harvesting it from one side, passing strip by strip.

This combine model does not have the usual drum and straw walkers; it has two rotors, through which the grain mass is threshed.

In general, it is worth noting that a modern imported combine is packed with electronics; a computer is at the combine operator's fingertips, which fully controls all processes and displays information on the monitor. How many kilometers it has travelled, how many hectares it has harvested, tons threshed, diesel fuel consumed, yield on a specific field – it will answer all questions.

However, an imported combine is an imported combine, with all its advantages and disadvantages. The machinery has not worked much yet, a competent opinion can only be expressed after at least one full season of operation. However, today I can say that it is highly productive and comfortable for the crew. On the other hand, based on my experience, I would note that

Combine harvesters are quite expensive in terms of maintenance. For example, filters, bearings, and other spare parts and components are not produced in Belarus; they are imported, and therefore, as a rule, cost significant money.

Meanwhile, the New Holland is working on the Zaazerye fields, harvesting dozens of tons every day. With such assistance, it is quite likely that "Zaazerye" will complete the grain harvest in the shortest possible time and switch its efforts to other types of work.

Vasil MATYRKA.
In the photos: the New Holland crew – combine operator Leonid Paramonov and assistant Dmitry Skripalyov