Friday, 21 February 2025 10:55

Clamp to grip the bale firmly

Written by  Mark Daniel
The hydraulically operated clamp secures the bale, removing its momentum as it leaves the chamber. The hydraulically operated clamp secures the bale, removing its momentum as it leaves the chamber.

Anyone who has been round baling and released a completed bale on a slope will remember the feeling of dread as the bale gathers speed and rolls off down the hillside, hopefully to be stopped by the hedgerow or the paddock levelling out.

In some cases, that dread is shared by passing motorists as the bales clear the boundary and roll across a road. Yep, been there, done that.

German manufacturer Krone has developed a clamp for its VariPack and VariPack Plus Series balers to prevent bales from rolling down slopes.

The speed of bale ejection with the VariPack, with the rear door opening and closing in less than five seconds, allowing operators to achieve high daily outputs, is viewed as a big plus.

Unfortunately, the drawback is that bales can roll away quickly if the operator is not paying attention. The hydraulically operated clamp is designed to prevent this by securing the bale and removing its momentum as it leaves the chamber.

In operation and before the tailgate opens, the bale clamp is closed hydraulically so that the round bale is braked and fixed in place within in the clamp, before being opened in a controlled manner to set the bale down safely.

Presented as an option at the Agritechnica 2023 Event, the system has been met with great interest, especially from customers operating in the mountainous areas in southern Germany, Austria, Switzerland and France. Krone is now offering the bale clamp as an option for all Vari- Pack and VariPack Plusmachines, with a retrofit kit available on request for existing machines.

More like this

Cropsy's cutting-edge AI on the vineyard

A New Zealand startup is providing growers with vital information for daily operations and long-term vineyard management, using a unique and scalable AI vine scanner that gives a vine-specific view of disease, pruning, land productivity and yields. Forty Cropsy systems have been deployed throughout New Zealand, the United States and France, with more than 20 million vine scans conducted in the past 12 months.

Featured

Editorial: Agri's mojo is back

OPINION: Good times are coming back for the primary industries. From sentiment expressed at Fieldays to the latest rural confidence survey results, all indicate farmer confidence at a near-record high.

National

Machinery & Products

Farming smarter with technology

The National Fieldays is an annual fixture in the farming calendar: it draws in thousands of farmers, contractors, and industry…

» Latest Print Issues Online

Milking It

110,000 visitors!

OPINION: It's official, Fieldays 2025 clocked 110,000 visitors over the four days.

Sticky situation

OPINION: The Federated Farmers rural advocacy hub at Fieldays has been touted as a great success.

» Connect with Dairy News

» eNewsletter

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter