The first John Deere 9900i self-propelled forage harvester to be sold in Europe is working in Northern Ireland for contractor Lagan Brothers of Moneymore in County Londonderry.
Started in 2003, the business is run by Michael Lagan and his brothers Seamus and Paul, with father James and younger brother Noel also taking an interest.
Supplied by local John Deere dealer Johnston Gilpin & Co of Lisburn, the 970hp V12 powered 9900i is the biggest of the new 9000 Series self-propelled foragers launched last year.
“We needed to upgrade our two year old John Deere 8800i with a more powerful machine,” said Michael Lagan, who operates the 9900i.
Northern Ireland contractor Michael Lagan with his John Deere 9900i self-propelled forage harvester.
Each year the contractor harvests around 7,000 acres of grass and 70% of that is destined for biogas plants. “These plants require finely chopped material down to 4mm that is easily digested, so we made the decision to upgrade to a machine with more power and more knives – 64, compared to 56 on our previous model.”
Alongside the new forage harvester, Lagan Brothers operate a fleet of John Deere tractors ranging in model age from 2006 to 2019, including four 6R Series and one 7R Series machines plus three older 20 and 30 Series models. For silaging they use a 6190R and 7280R, both equipped with triple mowers while a 6155R runs the rake. A Volvo L70G wheel loader used in the pit completes the grass contracting fleet.
