Krone hay equipment roundup – 2018 AFIA Fodder Festival

Krone demonstrated not one, not two, but four hay making equipment at the 2018 Fodder Festival showcasing the best of German engineering to a keen crowd.

Its line-up at the event include the Krone BiG M450 CR self-propelled mower conditioner, the Krone EasyCut R360 mower, the Krone Swadro TC760 Plus rake and the Krone Comprima V 180 XC baler.

The BiG M450 CR with a cutting width of 11.2m and equipped with a steel super conditioner roller was showcased in a static display at the Fodder Festival.

Powered by a 449hp Liebherr engine, the BiG M450 CR self-propelled mower conditioner has hydraulic running gear for added ground clearance.

V-type steel tines on the 64cm diameter rotor feed the crop past an adjustable baffle plate which rubs the wax layer off the plants.

“When drying hay, that is important as the material needs to get off the field as quickly as possible,” said Kubota Tractor Australia’s Krone senior product manager, Lars Pasedag.

“To have better conditioning is crucial where there is ryegrass or grasses, and you need the wax layer removed for a quicker dry down.”

According to Pasedag, a straight mower has the advantage of being more price competitive, simple and not as heavy on the tractor.

“As soon as we had a conditioner to a mower, it increases the weight by about 500kg,” he said.

Pasedag said the 3.6 and 4m working widths of the EasyCut R360 mower had proven popular among dairy farmers in Victoria and Tasmania.

“It has a centre-pivot giving it a nice rotation from left to right, and uniform ground pressure on the cutter bar,” he said.

“There is a simple pin adjustment for the flotation or an optional hydraulic cylinder can be added for adjustment from within-cab.

“If the mower happens to strike an obstacle, a spring release allows the mower to swing up and back to potentially go over an obstacle.”

Pasedag advised regularly checking the blades.

“Worn blades will result in more horsepower requirements, especially in lucerne,” he said.

“There is a lever to quickly release blades and new ones can be installed in seconds.

“When talking cutterbars, it is important to run the machine at the manufacturer’s PTO specifications.

“The blades are meant to run at a certain inertia to give a good cut, and too slow will result in knife wear.”

Pasedag said Krone has a strong, fully welded cutterbar.

“If you do happen to hit an obstacle, Krone SafeCut allows the discs to move away.”

Instead of transferring the full shock load to the spur gears, the roll pin in the sprocket driveshaft breaks when there is a momentary overload.

This way, SafeCut prevents damage to the spur gears and the neighbouring discs.

“Once that has happened, take a disc off, replace the roll pin, put the disc back on and off you go, all within a few minutes,” Pasedag said.

“TC stands for trailed centre-delivery and 760 is the maximum work width or 7.6m,” Pasedag said.

“The work width can be hydraulically adjusted with the rotors pulled in to 6.8m.

“That also changes your windrow width so we have tried to adjust the windrow as wide as possible, and as narrow as necessary to ensure a wider windrow than the 1.2m bale chamber of round balers.

“The more you use your augers on the balers to feed that material in, the nicer will be the edges of the bale.

“Unfortunately that width will not always be achievable this season.”

Pasedag said a mechanically adjusted working width is available in the same model.

“There is a top link and you can option the hydraulic cylinders as well,” he said.

He added the TC760 is Krone’s most sold rake in Australia and models in the stable go all the way up to 20m.

“The four rotor machine is becoming more popular as people want to rake more material into the windrow for high density, high speed square balers with an amazing appetite of up to 90 tonnes an hour.

“The tines on our machines can be height adjusted via an electric motor.

“If you see on your monitor dust flowing away from the tines, they can be adjusted upwards, or dropped down if material is being left behind.

The tine is called a lift tine as it is bent a little forward at the bottom so material can ride up on the top part of the tine.

“In turn, there is more room at the bottom for material gathering while the rake is going around,” Pasedag said.

“This results in a cleaner raking effect – the crop is not being dragged along the ground and there is less dust in the windrow.

“That is a quality aspect you should look for when buying a rotary rake.”

Pasedag said the TC760 has a dry cam track inside the rotary housing, with no lubrication required.

He said rotary rakes are popular with dairy farmers and contractors.

“What you want to get out of a rake is obviously an ideal windrow, rake the material cleanly and not leave anything behind,” he said.

“Our machines are run at a PTO speed of about 350 to 450 rpm.

“The compliance use in our rotors, whether you buy a Swadro 35 3.5m single row machine or the biggest rotary rake in the world - the six rotor centre-delivery Swadro 2000, it’s exactly the same components used.

“We don’t cut corners and put the contractor gear into the smallest range.”

According to Pasedag, rotary rakes has an advantage over basket rakes in wet conditions during silage making.

“In wet conditions, there is no problem getting the material off the ground with rotary rakes,” he said.

“Developed in Europe, they are now becoming more widely accepted in the Australian broadacre and dry hay markets.

“The machines pick up the material well without collecting sticks and rocks in the windrow."

He added in dry conditions, the V-rake is a good option as it is price competitive, simple and can be pulled behind a ute.

Pasedag said it is important for the tines to leave a square shaped windrow to feed the baler.

The variable bale chamber on the Comprima models produces steplessly adjustable bale diameters of 1m to 1.5m, or 1.8m to 2.05m.

The specific diameter is entered into the cab-based control unit.

Bale and core densities can be set on a hydraulic pressure control valve, which can be electrical as an option.

“The fully variable six foot machine is capable of doing 0.9m by 1.8m bales,” Pasedag said.

“This is our premium machine and is ideal for farmers and contractors doing 3000 bales plus a year.

“This machine has a cam-less pick-up, which means the pick-up can be run 30 per cent faster and has less wear parts, a quiet pick-up and reduced maintenance costs.

“Behind the pick-up, there is a cutting rotor with 17 knives giving a 64mm cutting length.”

Pasedag said the operator can alter the number of knives to determine the cutting length.

“Wet silage conditions is what this baler loves,” he said.

“It is hard to find a variable baler that loves wet material as much as this one.

“We have net on this demo machine but it is also equipped with a film kit.”

Pasedag said the Comprima combines the advantages of the Krone slat system with belts.

The robust and endless rubber fabric belts with metal slats achieve superior baling densities.

Although ideal for wet conditions, the Comprima is also capable of baling dry barley crops.

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