Contractor Hermann Krug uses his S280 to chip wood over half-a-meter thick

24.11.2004

Hermann Krug from Germany has nevertheless made his S280 into just such a forest tractor. Krug needed a tractor with around 300 horsepower to power his heavy-duty chipper. Manufactured by Austrian company Eschlböck, this chipper can handle wood 56 centimeters times 98 centimeters in diameter.

“Engine torque, a strong powertrain and the rear-drive system were important factors when I was choosing a new tractor. The guys at Eschlböck recommended a 930 Fendt or Valtra S280 to power this particular chipper. I chose the Valtra because I like its engine better, and I don’t need an infinitely variable transmission for this job,” Krug explains.

Hermann Krug has several chippers, one of which he powers with a Valmet 6400 tractor. Another chipper has been fitted to a truck chassis. Although this engine offers 450 horsepower, it still cannot match the results of the higher-torque S280 and chipper.

S280 offers flexibility

Around 90 percent of Krug’s work involves chipping. The remainder involves transporting the wood chips, cutting down problematic trees, milling stumps and doing other forest work. His customers are usually forest owners, who hire Krug to chip trees that have already been cut or logging waste. Altogether, Krug has around 250 regular customers. The typical job involves around two hours of chipping, as Krug’s machines are able to chip up to 100 cubic meters of wood in a single hour. His customers often use the wood chips themselves for heating. Fir trees are the most common raw material.

“You have to be quite flexible in this kind of work and do what the customer wants. Tractors are a particularly good source of power, as they can be used for all kinds of other work as well,” Krug says.

His main market is within a 100-kilometer radius of Nuremberg in the southwestern Buch am Wald region. When necessary, Krug travels much further, as he competes with three other chippers in his local area.

Using additional workers only as needed also increases flexibility. Krug’s son is often with, but two to three other experts can be easily found if there is a lot of work.

Target: 1000 hours a year

According to his calculations, Krug’s Valtra S280 will pay itself back and produce a profit at just under a thousand hours a year. Of course, this means a thousand hours of actual chipping work that can be invoiced to the customer and excludes, for example, transfer journeys.

“Contractors around here often think that they can earn money easier by using old and cheap machines. In fact, new and more efficient tractors pay for themselves, as they allow you to serve more customers,” Krug points out.

The cost of fuel is another important factor for chippers. Although the fee for chipping has remained the same for the past two years, the price of diesel has increased by twenty percent.

Customising his tractor

What makes Hermann Krug’s tractor special is its equipment, which has been designed and built by himself. An auto electrician and welder have helped out where needed, but in practice the machine has been customised by Krug himself.

“The protection bars are made from rustproof steel tubes and attached so that they can also be easily removed from the tractor. An auto electrician helped me install the controls for the forest crane and the work lights. In addition, there is a camera in the front of the tractor and another on the chipper. I can monitor these from a screen inside the cab, which helps me see better what is happening in the chipper,” Krug demonstrates.

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