Interview: Mayor 640 – Agritechnica 2023 prize

The winner, Mattis Osmers from near Oldenburg in the Ammerland district, has been using the Güttler Prismenwalze® Mayor 640 on his fields since March 2024. For overseeding grassland, he also tested the GreenMaster grassland harrow, to which the Mayor can be coupled at any time. At the beginning of December, Markus Stauder from Güttler visited the winner to talk about his experience.

Markus: Hello Mattis, could you start by briefly introducing your farm?

Mattis: Together with my father, I run a mixed farm with 40 ha of grassland, 80 ha of arable land and a biogas plant. In our crop rotation we grow maize, rye for whole-crop silage and grass leys as feedstock for the biogas plant. Our grassland is also put to good use via the biogas plant. Apart from forage harvesting, we do all the machine work ourselves and work closely with two neighbouring farms.

Markus: How did you find out about the Güttler competition?

Mattis: I have been following the Güttler Instagram channel for a long time. That is where I saw the advert for the competition, and I entered straight away via the Güttler website.

Markus: Had you been in contact with Güttler and its machines before?

Mattis: At agricultural college we learnt a lot about the need for grassland care and overseeding. Güttler harrows and Güttler rollers naturally came up all the time, so I had wanted to test a combination of Güttler harrow and roller on our own farm for quite a while.

Markus: How did you hear that you had won, and how did the handover and first use go?

Mattis: Shortly before Christmas, Sebastian Weitzmann from Güttler called me. It was a lovely surprise that I had won the Güttler roller. The roller was then handed over to me in February. In March, the grassland roadshow by Güttler and Meiners Saaten was a guest on our grassland. We learnt a lot about proper grassland care there. Straight afterwards, we used the GreenMaster and Mayor combination for the first time.

Markus: What have you used the Mayor for so far? What is your experience? What did you particularly like?

Mattis: I would have liked to use the prism roller in spring to stimulate tillering in cereals, but unfortunately, because of the wet autumn of 2023, we had not sown any winter cereals. So I mainly used the Mayor on grassland for care and overseeding, together with a Güttler GreenMaster. I also sowed catch crops and grass leys with the combination. I am particularly impressed by the high output with low fuel consumption. I sowed 30 hectares of grass ley in just 8 hours, with fuel consumption of only about 4 litres of diesel per hectare – very cost-effective. Sowing with the drill combination would have taken much more time and diesel and caused more wear as well. The grass ley emerged quickly and evenly, so we were still able to take two cuts in autumn. As the European corn borer is becoming a problem in our area too, we also used the prism roller on maize stubble. The pressure of the prism points reliably damaged the maize stalks and so destroys the corn borer’s winter quarters. Here too, I was impressed by the output combined with low operating costs.

Markus: What challenges do you face as a farmer? Where do you see uses for the Mayor roller?

Mattis: In my opinion, the biggest challenge is the weather. The time windows for getting the fieldwork done are getting shorter and shorter. When fieldwork is possible during a break in the rain, there is a lot to do. That is why we need machines with a high output that are robust enough for the harsh conditions. And if working with the machines is fun as well, so much the better – then we will even work through the night if we have to.

Markus: Where do you see the main advantage of the prism profile compared with a Cambridge roller or a flat roller?

Mattis: Thanks to the prism rings, you get very good stimulation of tillering, both in cereals and on grassland. Rolling after sowing also gives you a top seedbed for fast emergence.

Markus: What did you notice when working with the Güttler GreenMaster?

Mattis: In spring, the Ripperboard allowed us to level molehills and damage from wild animals perfectly, so that later we brought very little dirt into the forage. That is very important for us as a biogas farm too, so that we can use all pumps and agitators for as long as possible. The harrow removed the thatch from the old sward, and the many gaps were closed directly by overseeding. The effect of the overseeding showed at the grass harvest. We were able to harvest good yields with high energy content from the overseeded areas.

Markus: And what did you notice when working with the Güttler Mayor?

Mattis: Thanks to the hydraulic pressure compensation, the weight is distributed evenly over the entire working width. That gives us a uniform result. As I said, I am also impressed by the effect and the work pattern of the prism rings.

Markus: What is your conclusion?

Mattis: I am pleasantly surprised at how effective overseeding grassland is. The overseeded grassland delivered high yields straight away this year. Besides the successful results, I was impressed by the high output. We were able to make optimum use of the short time windows and had very low operating costs thanks to the Güttler machines.

Markus: Thank you very much for sharing your experience with us, and all the best for the future!