Million dollar baby polishes up like new at Beef

"We've lost a week mucking around on that thing to get her ready for Beef," said Alan Judd of Judd Bros Contracting, Warwick.

And yesterday afternoon, Mr Judd was giving it a last minute polish and cleaning the windows to make it look "like someone loves it".

The 2023 model is worth about $1 million, has done about 780 hours and, according to Mr Judd, chopped about 60,000 tonnes of forage since it was purchased last year.

The harvester is part of the Lallemand display at Beef 2024 in Rockhampton this year.

Mr Judd said the Lallamand site gave producers a one-stop shop to see, touch and smell everything to do with silage.

He said Lallemand's plastic tarps, covers and bacterial inoculants were part of the display.

"Pretty much anything in that food chain of silage is in this stand," he said.

"Pacific Seeds have got their stand with the seeds and varieties, and people can talk to the guys who sell the seed to know what you want to plant in your area.

"The guys who sell the feed additives and the hay and all that to put in the ration (are here), as well as the guys from Eagle Direct...and this machine (the forage harvester) that's harvesting the crop with all the attachments."

Mr Judd said there was also a demonstration of seven different varieties of crop silage in bins that people could come and touch and smell. There is also a miniature version of a rotor mix mixer.

Mr Judd said his Claas 960 was last used about three weeks at Rangers Valley Feedlot, Deepwater, NSW, in the Glen Innes area.

"That machine as well as the other two in that area probably chopped about 50,000 tonnes (of silage) in that one postcode," he said.

"We got it in June last year and it would have chopped about 60,000 tonnes so far, it's a bit over a million bucks."

Mr Judd has also brought along a 1965 model New Holland to show at Beef.

"It's one of the very first self propelled machines in the country and was the first machine that New Holland did back in the day ...we did it up three years ago and bought it up here (in 2021)...the paint was still wet."