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

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.

After 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

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,

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1. Craig Hage demonstrates how the hydraulically assisted lifter helps place a new net roll into the cradle 2. CCI terminal serves as a master control unit for ISOBUS-controlled machines of many different brands 3. The rotor-cutter has been increased in size, up to a 750mm diameter, to boost the feed rate into the pre-chamber area 4. The knife drawer slides out at a convenient height to work on the knives.

Rather than a knife, this is one of the supplied blanks that are installed to prevent residue build-up in the tray when the knives aren’t in use

Pluses

Non-stop Camless pick-up Knife tray Steer assist Self-lubricating Emergency stop buttons at rear of baler JOST Australia ball hitch Camera and light package

Minuses

Roller knife adjustment Bale sensing sonar on wrapping table after consulting the operator’s manual, we learn there is too big a gap between the cleaning blade and roller, which is allowing net to be drawn down and wrap around the roller. Once we loosen the blade and repositioned it to within a whisker of the roller, the issue is solved and we are back on our way. But we note that the bolts to reposition the blade are hard to get at, which makes what should be an easy job a little tricky and takes longer than it should. Our guess is that the coarse wheat stalks were poking the net down through the gap. But this is the only issue that appears and as far as I can tell, it’s generally a stress-free machine to operate. Greasing and oiling are automatic, taken care of via the cabin-mounted CCI Terminal, which has Tractor Implement Management (TIM). When fully implemented, TIM takes control of all of the activities of the baler and can even control the speed of the tractor in uneven windrows. The only jobs left to the operator are steering, greasing the power take-off (PTO) and filling the grease and oil canisters every 1,000 bales or so.

ZERO SHUDDER

A fantastic feature on the silage wrapper is that if one of the two film wraps fails, the baler’s computer will maintain total coverage by doubling the wrap of the operating roll of film. The net wrap needs no heavy lifting either as a cradle with hydraulic struts lifts the net to the top of the baler and into position. The baler is designed to carry up to 18 rolls of silage film, three rolls of net plus one in the dispenser. By my count, the Ultima is completing a bale every 45 seconds and feels as if it’s operating well below what it could be doing, since the crop is disappearing into the front without any sign of build-up. The unit is operating quietly and even on tight turns there is zero PTO shaft shudder, which Hage puts down to a K 80 ball hitch he installed, from transport componentry manufacturer JOST Australia. This provides zero slop at the hitch point and places the pivot point between the tractor and baler directly below that of the PTO shaft universal joint. LED light bars and on-board cameras allow the operator to see exactly what’s going on in hidden areas, both day and night, though Hage says he might install another camera directed toward the pre-chamber, so he can monitor whether it is only partially filling while the finished bale is being net-wrapped and judge whether to travel a bit faster.

FAST AND STRONG

I predict contractors are going to love this machine for the speed at which it can get the job done. Equipped to bale and wrap, it allows one man, one tractor and one baler to perform two operations, saving time and money in an already labourstarved industry. Hage says he has also successfully trialled the addition of a frontmount mower to the package, allowing him to cut, bale and wrap silage all in one pass. Impressive stuff. The caster-steer tandem axles feature extra-heavy-duty parabolic springs to provide generous up/down cushioned travel while carrying the same load as the rigid design, and are approved for 60km/h. Big flotation 620/40R22.5 tyres are base specification. A strong and sturdy foundation is essential to the quality and longevity of any structure and I’m convinced the Ultima’s chassis is as good as I’ve seen.

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