Empire Farm Days

This last week was spent in Seneca Falls, NY at Empire Farm Days.  Last Tuesday, the first day of the show, was very wet.  It rained off and on all day with some of the showers being complete downpours.  There were quite a few people that braved the rain and mud and came to the show anyway. All of the demos were canceled for the day. 

Wednesday and Thursday were much sunnier days and there was a good crowd at the show.  The first demos started at 10:00 with the silage chopping.  I ran the BiG X 700 with the EasyCollect 753 ten row corn head and the EasyFlow 3801 hay head.  The corn was planted late so it was only about 4 feet tall.  The BiG X and EasyCollect cut the corn with no hesitation.  The hay was cut with the BiG M 400 CV and merged with the self propelled Obxo 4334 34 foot merger.  The EasyFlow hay head was able to really show off it smooth camless pickup.  Those who came to see the machine in the field after the demo told us that they really like the VariStream on the new generation BiG X.  The VariStream system consists of a spring loaded drum bottom and acceleration back plate to allow larger clumps of material to pass through while using less horsepower.  This helps decreases fuel consumption while maintaining a consistent chop quality and crop flow.

The BiG M 400 CV was shown with the mower conditioners.  It made quite a show with its 32’ working width. 

The KW 782T tedder was the only tedder at the demo and people were very impressed with how heavy built the tedder was and how low maintenance it is.  

The Krone SW 38T was also the only rotary rake to be demoed at the show.  Those who came over to look at the rake in the field after the demo were impressed with the maintenance free rotor gearbox and the heavy built, tubular tine arms. 

Check back to see where we will be next week!

-Martin-

Chopping and Baling in Minnesota

Last week we were in Plainview, Minnesota at Minnesota Ag Group.  We were able to conduct a BiG Pack 1290 XC HDP and a BiG X 700 demo in between the raindrops. 

The BiG Pack 1290 XC HDP demo was for a customer who is doing custom work.  He is currently working in Canada and Minnesota running a 3 x 3 large square baler. He is interested in the HDP baler because he wants heavier bales to reach the maximum weight limit a truck can haul. 

The BiG Pack 1290 HDP is the perfect baler to increase the bale weight, while still maintaining a 3 x 4 bale size.  HDP stands for High Density Press meaning a 3 x 4 HDP bale will be approximately 25% heavier than a standard 3 x 4 bale.  Another way to think about it is a BiG Pack 1290 HDP can put the weight of a 4 x 4 bale into a 3 x 4 package. To read more about the BiG Pack balers click here.

For the demo the HDP was run in wet hay at 9 to 12 mph.  Running at these speeds was not a problem for the camless pickup; the field was left very clean.  The plunger pressure was set at only 50% and the bales that were made were nice and heavy.  The customer was very satisfied with the bale weight.

The customer who was interested in seeing the BiG X 700 run was already familiar with Krone.  He has owned BiG Xs in that past and currently owns a BiG X 500.  He really likes the changes made to the new generation BiG X.  The new generation has been completely redesigned with a spacious and quite cab, a new ergonomic joystick, an efficient MAN engine, and VariStream which results in better crop flow and decreased fuel consumption.  Of course the tried and true features of the previous generation are still available on the new generation such as rock protect, crop control, and moisture measurement. The demo was conducted on terraced fields and due to the VariStream the machine ran through uneven clumps in the windrows without having to slow down much. 

To read more about VariStream and the new generation BiG X click here.

-Martin-