BALER REVIEWS
non-stop action Tom Dickson tracked down the Krone Ultima CF 155 XC in South Australia’s Barossa Valley back in 2016
Above: The Ultima is a huge step forward with a fairly simple design. The baler can keep moving while a completed bale is being tied off – as incoming crop is held in a prechamber before being forced into the main chamber when the bale offloads
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fter a decorated motorcycle racing career, Regari Contracting principal Craig Hage now spends his time running an agricultural contracting operation at Tanunda in the beautiful Barossa Valley. Regari Contracting offers services in broadacre spraying, seeding and all things relating to hay and silage production. It comes as no surprise, then, that he jumped at the opportunity to own the first non-stop round baler-wrapper combination in Australia, Krone’s Ultima CF 155 XC. Producing bales of between 1.25 and 1.5 metres, it features an improved camless pick-up with rotor feeder and knife assembly. He estimates it has boosted his hourly production of wrapped silage from 45 to 50 bales per hour to around 80 to 85 bales.
NEW BREED
Krone Ultima CF 155 XC round Bale size Width
1,200mm
Diameter
1,250-1,500mm
Baler Length
9,000mm
Width
3,000mm
Height
3,900mm
Weight
11,400kg
Camless pick-up width
2,150mm
Extra power kW (hp)
30 (43)
Tine rows
5
The fact that it never has to stop propels the Ultima into a class of its own.
The fact that it never has to stop propels the Ultima into a class of its own and solves the age-old issue everyone who has ever operated a round baler has suffered. While the completed bale is being tied off with net, the incoming crop is fed into and held in the pre-chamber. When the finished bale is ejected from the baler, the rear door closes, which triggers the pre-chamber delivery belts to re-engage and force the pre-compressed hay or silage into the main chamber where the process begins again. Naturally, the thickness of the windrow will regulate the speed at which you can travel – Hage estimates his speed in normal conditions is around 10–12km/h but says in really heavy crops he slows a little while tying off a bale so he doesn’t overfill the pre-chamber. The camless pick-up operates extremely quietly due to minimal moving parts, and maintenance is virtually zero. It has a working width of 2,150mm and the side augers that feed the crop into the middle seem larger than on preceding models. Double tines are staggered in a helical pattern, which Krone claims provide a more even feed of crop into the baler, while the pneumatic guide-wheels operate like casters, dealing with direction change well and causing no scuffing when turning across the windrow.
CUTTING EDGE There’s one obvious improvement you can pick up simply by looking at the rotor-feeder – it’s massive. It has been upsized to boast a 750mm diameter and the increase in size allows it to pump a much larger volume of crop through. The Ultima can be operated with no knives engaged, all 26 knives working or just half the knives engaged. When the one set of 13 knives lose their edge, they can be retracted and the other 13 engaged to ensure a good cut and double the time between sharpening intervals. All 26 knives engaged provide a 42mm chop, while operating with 13 produces an 86mm chop. The knife tray slides all the way out at the side of the baler in minutes and each knife is individually sprung to protect against solid objects. If a blockage occurs, the floor of the rotor feed drops down to allow the blockage to be easily drawn into the baler. The NovoGrip elevator consists of metal slats connected at the ends by an endless rubber fabric belt. The slats handle the slippery dry straw comfortably and Hage says it performs just as well with moist silage. He also comments that he doesn’t get the clover or sap buildup you sometimes have with belts. The baling chamber is semi-variable, with two manual adjustment bars on either side of the baler. There are six bale diameter options, ranging from 1.25m to 1.5m in 5cm increments.
WRAPPED UP Once the bale is formed and has been net wrapped, it’s dumped onto a silage-wrapping table, triggering sensors that automatically close the rear door. It’s a good theory but Hage found that straw sticking out from a bale or an uneven bale could trigger the sensor prematurely, so he reverted to the mechanical system on the floor of the wrapping table. During the test we grind to a halt as the Ultima starts to have problems net-wrapping the bales – Hage says it’s the first time it’s let him down all season. The problem begins as we switch to baling wheat straw and,
Looking for a baler? Search for ‘baler’ on TradeFarmMachinery.com.au or type the TA or DIY code shown here into the keyword search field
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FFM2011_390 editorial temp for press.indd 46
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23/09/2020 10:52:31 AM
