Krone Group Earnings Drop Despite Stable Farm Machinery Sales
While turnover was back slightly at €2.3 billion in 2024/2025 (previous year €2.4 billion), the German Krone Group saw earnings fall from €107 million to €40.1 million.
The new Big Pack 1270 and 1290 balers sees the bale chambers extended by more than 20% to 3.6m and a full-width top plate.
This follows the design of the BiG Pack 1290 HDP HighSpeed, resulting in better bale shape and higher bale weights.
The new baler’s Variable Filling System uses a sensor to detect the amount of straw in the pre-compression chamber. When there is not enough material present to produce a good wad, an electric brake is triggered, meaning the packers continue to fill the pre-chamber, before material is released to the bale chamber.
Upgrades have seen a reduction in peak loads, resulting in a doubling of service life for this area of the baler. In-cab adjustment by the operator allows precise control of pre-compression, wad thickness and the number of wads created.
A completely new and unique feature is the knotter cleaning system. This not only cleans the knotter mechanism, but also other machine areas. This is done by using hydraulic turbines to generate an overpressure inside the knotter bay so no debris can collect there in the first place. The air flow is then channelled to the areas underneath the panels and downwards to the axle.
A heavier-duty drawbar with a slimmer profile, features a beefier support for the drive shaft giving more adjustment options for drive shaft alignment and increased shaft life. Hitch height is now adjusted on the hitch ring, a fast and easy solution that also made for the slimmer drawbar and improved manoeuvrability.
Big Pack runs on high-quality, yet comparatively light-weight, tandem axles from BPW. These have parabolic springs and all major grease nipples auto lubricated, so reducing maintenance. The pick-up runs on heavier gauge wheels, with auto-lubricated bearings, while the crop press roller suspension is adjusted steplessly on the left side of the machine.
Twine boxes are now integrated into the hydraulically-actuated side panels, keeping twine protected from dust and debris. The newly-designed twine box offers a clear view of the balls and has capacity for thirty, 10-15kg balls. As an option, two additional twine boxes can increase the total storage capacity to 42 balls and a total weight of 630kg.
All Big Pack models with cutting units will be equipped with the proven VariCut cutterbar (VC), available either with a maximum of 51 blades or with a blade cassette with up to 26 blades. This allows multiple configurations of blades in work to achieve the required chop length, but a simple rotating shaft adjustment to engage the required number of blades.
Krone continues to offer the roller chute for the Big Pack either with or without bale-weighing sensors.
