Making quality hay in the summer rainfall areas of South Africa during January to March means one thing – whilst we need rain desperately for the fodder to grow, we experience great losses due to an unexpected thunderstorm just after the hay has been cut.

The rate of baling, which equates to tonnes per hour baled, is thus an extremely important consideration when determining your baler setup or even your next baler purchase.

At the same time, bale densities are an important consideration to keep cost down when bales must be transported.

The baling process is a mechanical compression process, which in generalised terms means that the material is compressed layer by layer as it enters the bale chamber. The thinner the layer per compression rotation, the more compaction becomes possible. In short, slower intake of material should result in potentially higher bale densities, which means that slower baling speeds should favour higher bale densities.

Naturally, making use of a cutting system will also benefit bale density, but also potentially at the cost of baling speed.

Lastly, it has become the norm for balers to be equipped with net binding mechanisms for two main reasons:

• Speed of the binding process – it takes about 10 seconds to bind with net compared to more than 50 seconds with twine.
• Bales with net are better protected against water infiltration caused by subsequent rain, either on the field or during transport and storage.

It is therefore important to understand that, when setting up your baler, or considering your next baler purchase, you make sure of your required bale weight for optimum payload, and then setting your baler up for the maximum baling rate (tonnes/h) that the system can offer to achieve the required bale weight.

In the recent Baler Challenge, KRONE has shown clearly what can be done. The COMPRIMA V180 was prepared and set up for maximum tonnes/h baling on the day, to demonstrate what could be done if the crop is at risk because of imminent rain – which was experienced during the day.

Whilst other machines and different setups were chewing and clogging through the windrow of 400 m length, the KRONE COMPRIMA sailed through the crop, set up to bale at 18 km/h, making perfect bales of more than 450 kg at a rate of 42 tonnes/h and finishing 18 seconds before the second competitor!

KRONE is the undisputed winner to make your hay while the conditions are optimal!