Claas Balers Turn 30
Claas built its first variable chamber round baler - the Variant 100 - in 1996, so 2026 marks 30 years and the fifth generation of the Variant name, recently complemented by the new Cerex Series introduced in 2025.
Available in 10.8, 12.3 and 13.8m cutting widths, the Convio and Convio Flex draper cutter-bars are said to improve performance, particularly in difficult conditions.
While the Convio unit is ideal for conventionally threshed crops like cereals or canola, the Convio Flex offers a flexible knife bar for increased performance in crops such as soya beans, peas or grass seeds.
Convio Flex offers a flexible knife, table and side-belt design, allowing excellent ground adaptation to harvest low-fruiting stalks with minimal losses. Also suitable for use in erect growing crops, the Convio Flex can be used as a conventional cutter-bar with the bar and knife ‘locked-out’ before switching to ‘flex’ at the touch of a button.
Both units are suitable for canola, particularly if the option of 425mm left and right feeder augers are fitted to the rear wall area of the cutter-bar and the central trough is protected against leakage with rubber in-fill strips.
Fully operational integration with the CEBIS control system sees belt speed being adjusted automatically to match forward speed.
Meanwhile, belt slippage and ‘belt-stopped’ warnings alert the driver to potential blockages so should prove useful in dusty conditions or at night.
In operation, four Auto Contour functions offer the best cutting performance and the ability to deal with changing crop conditions.
In cereal mode, the bar and knife are rigid, but if isolated areas of laid crop are encountered the operator can switch to flex-mode with a range of movement of 225mm.
In auto contour flex mode the cutter-bar uses sensor data to continuously determine the best position for optimal crop flow and ground following, as well as the lowest cutting heights.
Looking at the reel in more detail, a newly developed, innovative and adjustable cam track ensures optimal crop flow. The flip-over design is said to prevent wrapping of the crop within the reel.
The reel assembly is hydraulically driven and has an automatic torque control to prevent tines from digging into the ground.
