Hayleage Focus of Field Demos at Farm Technology Days in Clark County

Thursday, June 23rd, 2022 -- 2:01 PM

Hayleage will be the focus of the field demos at Wisconsin Farm Technology Days this year.

Chair Ron Zygarlicke says perhaps the biggest challenge this year was to get the machinery. Supply chain issues have left many dealers with limited inventory, “Thankfully, we have nine or ten companies have said yes, they will do demos.”

Zygarlicke says things are going to be different this year compared to previous shows. For one thing, the morning sessions will be different from the afternoon sessions. They will do mowing, merging and forage harvesting in the mornings (except no mowing on Thursday morning).

In the afternoons they will feature raking, baleage baling and baleage wrapping. The format will be different this year as well. Zygarlicke does numerous farm shows throughout the year for H&S Manufacturing, he is patterning these field demos after a forage show in Pennsylvania.

“You will first listen to the rep from that manufacturer talk about that machine for just a few minutes.” Then he will take his machine down the field about 1,000 to 1,200 yards. Then he will bring the machine back to where he started.

Once all machines have made their run; “That is when the education starts. We will drop the rope and allow you to come on and talk to those manufacturer reps.” Zygarlicke says so much has changed in forage harvesting, there is so much to learn.

Another idea he brought to the show this year, seed companies have seed plots right in Tent City. They are on the west side by the Heritage Machinery display. Plus, as part of the Heritage display, there is a demonstration of “check-row planting”.

Check-row was a prominent planting style from the 1870s until the advent of chemical weed control in the mid-1950s. Each day they will cultivate the part of the plot which was planted earlier and do some additional planting.

Feel free to contact us with questions and/or comments.