Agricultural equipment is on the leading edge of technological development, and when the best of the best are compared, the competition is fierce.  Many have tried, but after four years Krone Comprima still wears the world record crown in baling with an astonishing 149 round bales in one hour.

This world record was established with a Comprima F125 XC model on a 35 ha wheat field in East Germany on 1 August 2012. The operator was Ewald Vehring who lectures Agricultural Machinery at the North German DEULA Institute for Practical Industrial Training. The event was covered by the German agricultural magazines DLZ and Agragheute. In the attempt to break the world record, Ewald started the tractor at exactly 12:05 and worked for precisely 60 minutes. Set to the highest density and wrapping three layers of netting on each of the 1,25 m diameter bales, the machine was stopped at 1:05 sharp. At that time, the bale count was 149. This count translates into an average of 2,5 bales per minute. It took the machine only 60 minutes to bale 28 tonnes of wheat straw.

Ewald said: “These 60 minutes were sheer stress for me, even though I am quite a seasoned baler operator. When I first looked at the bale counter after half an hour, the count was already seven bales ahead of the existing record. This was when I knew that we were going to set a new world record today.

This is how it works

The Comprima did not only set up the world record in number of bales made, but also established the benchmark in baling technology. Comprima is the first round bale machine to offer the EasyFlow pick-up without a cam track. EasyFlow operates at a higher speed for cleaner, quicker gathering and higher productivity.

The new EasyFlow pick-up runs very quietly and boasts a straightforward design as well as a significantly reduced number of moving parts. Less wear, in turn, means lower maintenance and service costs. EasyFlow works 30% faster than traditional systems to pick up more material more cleanly.

The highlight of this pick-up unit is the special design of stationary galvanised scrapers to remove material from the pick-up fingers, which ensures a continuous flow of material into the baler. The pick-up unit is driven by an automatically tensioned drive chain, which has a star ratchet clutch for reliable overload protection when the system picks up a foreign object. Massive augers feed the crop from the sides to the middle of the machine to ensure a smooth flow of material from the wide pickup unit into the narrower bale chamber.

Comprima round balers are equipped with either a feed rotor or a rotor cutter. Either system ensures an extremely smooth flow of material from the pick-up into the bale chamber. The XCut rotor cutters are specialist systems when it comes to achieving even higher bale densities and producing bales that break up easily in the feed mixing process. The rotor smoothly pulls the crop through a maximum number of 17 or 26 blades, which are all mounted on one plane.

All blades are individually protected by coil springs to break back when hitting a foreign object. Once the object has passed, they automatically return to their previous position. The Comprima also boasts new NovoGrip technology, which combines the bale feed benefits of chain and slat elevators with the quiet running of belt systems. To form highdensity and well-shaped bales, NovoGrip relies on an endless elevator, with slats mounted in rubber/fabric belts.

The net wrapping system of the Krone also works faster than the traditional twine system, adding to the Comprima’s record-breaking speeds. A net role can be 3 600 metres long, which means less stopping time. Farmers are offered a choice between fixed or semi-variable bale chambers. The 1,25 m series is suitable for use with tractors ranging in power from 36 to 40 kW. The F125 / F125 XC / F155 / F155 XC are supplied in Southern Africa by Rovic Leers and distributed in Zambia by AFGRI.

You can also benefit from world record equipment on your farm or as a baling contractor in Zambia. Phone Victor van der Berg at +260 96-385-3388 for more information. Look at a video of the world record on www.krone.ed.

This is how the world record of 149 bales in one hour was set up.