From the archive record
A forage harvester (also known as a silage harvester, forager or chopper) is a farm implement that harvests forage plants to make silage. Silage is grass, corn or other plant that has been chopped into small pieces, and compacted together in a storage silo, silage bunker, or in silage bags. The silage is then fermented to provide feed for livestock. Haylage is a similar process to silage but using grass which has dried. Forage harvesters can be implements attached to a tractor, or they can be self-propelled units. In either configuration, they have either a drum (cutterhead) or a flywheel with a number of knives fixed to it that chops and blows the silage out a chute of the harvester into a wagon that is either connected to the harvester or to another vehicle driving alongside. Most larger