The BiG Pack Roadshow 2010 is done!

Hi Followers,

The Roadshow is done. At the 15th of October I finished the Tour after 90 Demos and 10400 Miles in Garden City, Kansas. The Baler has now 150 hours and 5795 Bales on the counter. That is nearly 2 miles per bale!

In the last six and a half month I traveled through 10 States - California, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas and Oklahoma and I showed the Krone BiG Pack 1290 HDP to round about 160 interested persons.

In Colorado and Kansas we baled some Sorghum and of course corn stalks. But here some pictures of the sorghum. It was the second cut (3-4 ft. tall) and we made some 1700 lbs bales. We never baled stuff like that before, but without any problems I made every 50 seconds a bale with 26-30 flakes. The customer who runs a round baler was very impressed - not only because of the weight, but also because of the speed and the easy handling of square bales.

Also the bales looked pretty nice, and the "little brother" had no problems to load and move them.

In corn stalks we used both balers - the BiG Pack 1290 HDP Roadshow baler and a BiG Pack 12130. With the HDP we could reach in shredded material 1750 lbs, and in only raked stalks 1520 lbs. Everybody told me, that corn stalks make a big mass especially at the knotters, but I didn't had much trouble with that.

At the 4x4 we didn't lost a single knot because of knotter issues. With the 4x4 we baled in Fort Morgan, Colorado again shredded material, and the heaviest bale hat 1980 lbs - also 8 ft long. After some adjustments at the prechamber we could reach 8 mph, and the bales looked pretty well too.

The third crop we baled in Colorado and Kansas was Alfalfa - but I think you have seen enough pictures with a BiG Pack in Alfalfa. If not, go back to California Times.





So, the Roadshow is done - but what comes next?

I'm already back in Reno - after three days of traveling through the rain - and I will go back to Germany at the end of this week. It was a great time here in the USA. I've seen so much of the country and I've met only nice and friendly people. It was a great job for me and I liked it very much. Also the whole team of Krone North America did a really good job, and I got great support from everybody. Thanks a lot that I was able to run this great successful tour!

Back in Germany I will continue working at the sales promotion / Marketing and it would be a pleasure to meet somebody of you one day in Spelle or somewhere else. Also my email-address niklas.beindorf [at] krone.de is still the same, so if you have any more questions - please let me know.

That's it from my side here at this place.

Thanks a lot for following my Blog and have fun!

Regards

Niklas

Idaho good bye - Utah here we are!

Hi followers,

it's only one more month of the BiG Pack Roadshow left. At the 15th of October I'm done, and todays plan says, that I finish up in Garden City Kansas - so I have to hurry. After some more days in Idaho - I went to Rupert and Idaho Falls - I came last Sunday to Tremonton, Utah. But now I'm already in Roosevelt. 

But step by step:

After my last stop in Twin Falls I went to Rupert, and I had a really good demonstration together with our dealer Pioneer Equipment and our salesman Mike Child.

I made some bales in wheat and barley straw, and I could reach bale weights between 1190 lbs (wheat in the afternoon) and 1433 lbs (barley in the morning with 10-12% moisture). It was really impressive to see so heavy straw bales (3x4x8 ft.) Also the customer was very impressed about so heavy 3x4 bales, and of course about the great performance of the HDP. He liked the baler so much, that it was hard to stop him again.

At the pictures you can see a Case, because our dealer sells beside Krone also Case Equipment. It was a rougher ride than in the JCB, and it took us a little bit longer to go out to the field, but we are flexible, and we run what ever our dealer wants us to run.

We also got a small tractor for the scale - 275 hp only for the scale! Looked a little bit funny but it worked pretty well.

After Rupert we went up to Idaho Falls, and we did a few demos together with the Pioneer store over there.

We baled mostly wheat straw, and I could make some nice looking and heavy bales while I baled against a MF 2190. It was so cool to see, that both baler did exactly the same weight. 1170 lbs.

Later that week we got some rain, so I was not able to bale any more. I used one day to pick up a BiG Pack 12130 in Rupert, and I pulled it with the JCB to Idaho Falls. 240 miles in 6 hours. 

Last Sunday I was done with showing the baler in Idaho, and together with Blake Fuller we moved the Equipment to Tremonton, Utah.

We did some really good demonstrations together wit Golden Spike Equipment - we baled for example against a MF 2190, and we could beat it by speed and by weight. My speed in the Alfalfa field was between 12 and 14 mph, and my baleweights were between 1760 and 2005 lbs. The MF was only able to go 10,5 mph, and the bale weights were between 1980 and 1830 lbs.

Everything worked pretty well until we got some rain. The only nice thing that day was the rainbow.

On Thursday I had a long day of driving again. From Tremonton we drove through Salt Lake City and than on Highway 40 to Roosevelt.

In Roosevelt we had also up to now already two demonstrations together with our dealer Big B Equipment. On Friday I baled some gras hay with 25% Alfalfa, and we made some good looking and heavy bales, and today we were in Alfalfa again. One field was very wet, but the hay was down for more than two weeks now. So we had to bale it even with very high moisture. The bales were so heavy, that the baler came up in the front every time, when a bale was on the roller shoot. After the demo I weight a bale and it had 2550 lbs. It was the heaviest bale, I ever baled with the HDP, but with 20% moisture it was also on of the wettest.

So much up to now - and what comes next? On Monday we will go up to Wyoming, and we will have a demonstration over there. After that I have to go south to Price and to Gunnison. Then I hit at the end of the week eastwards to be at the next weekend in the Denver area.

So, see you over there!

Niklas

Twin Falls - about choppers, balers and bridges!

Hi Followers,

I was last week in Twin Falls, Idaho - the place where Evel Knievel tried to jump over the Snake River Canyon, and one of the only places, where it is allowed to jump off bridges.

But it is also the place, where many people like to see the Krone BiG Pack 1290 HDP and the BiG Pack 12130. So our salesman from Burks Tractor and me had a lot of work, and we did some really good demos.

We showed both balers in wheat and barley straw, and the 12130 XC also in Alfalfa.

But the Highlight of the last week was a field day at the Idaho State University. In the morning we learned a lot about silage quality, and after lunch every company said a few words about their products - in front of my BiG Pack RoadShow Trailer! With the "operate the best - outperform the rest" slogan in the background.

Later that afternoon we were all able to show our choppers in the field. So all operators jumped into their cabins to fold the head together, and drove to the field - Everybody? No, not everybody! Our friends from Harsewinkel didn't like to play with us!

We were with our BiG X 1000 with EasyCollect 7500 the first one at the field, so we also started to cut the corn - but the field was with 2,5 acres small, and there were also NH, JD and the repairing Claas crew, so they told us, that we can also chop some 4 ft tall Sudangras, if we like.

But here some pictures with corn:

A special present from New Holland was a free "corn shower" for all visitors!

But much better was the performance in Sudangras. We went into the field, and were able to chop with up to 12 mph. It looked really perfect. The EasyCollect did a great job, and the chopping quality was perfect. The sound of the 1000 horsepower was really great.

Claas did one slower row, and then the Orbis decided "enough!" They plugged up! After couple of returns the head was free again, but only for a few more foot. They plugged up more and more, and after two more times they were done.

New Holland made it two times - every time perhaps ten feet into the field, but nothing came out of the shoot. Then they were done too!

And John Deere did it like a Deere - they saw the mass with Claas and New Holland, and turned around and ran away. They didn't even enter the field.

So we had to do all the work, and we finished the field in a few more minutes!

All the visitors were really impressed about the good performance of the KRONE BiG X 1000 - The King of the choppers!

So far!

See you

Niklas

Idaho - A week in Caldwell with Burks Tractor!

Hi Followers,

the first week in Idaho is over now, and I had again some good Demonstrations together with our Dealer "Burks Tractor Co., Inc" - 220 Farmway Road in Caldwell. (http://www.burkstractor.com/) We baled in wheat straw and in Alfalfa hay, and we made again really nice bales.

The average bale weight in straw (harvested with a Case rotary combine) was 1050 - 1100 lbs in really dry conditions (3% moisture and less) The baler could do more - I was running only at 35 - 50% capacity) but the twine was not able to hold these strong and hard compressed bales together. Later that evening I baled again with more due, and the bale weight went up to 1150 -1200 lbs. That's nearly the same weight the 4x4 ft. competitor balers were able to make.

In the Alfalfa Hay I baled against a Hesston / MF 2170 baler, and we baled in not so high quality hay side by side with the exactly same speed. We couldn't compare the number of flakes, because the sensor at the MF baler was broken, but normally it should also be the same. We do 38 stokes per minute, and I think, the MF does the same. (Dear Hesston Specialists - correct me if I'm wrong!)

Our speed was between 5,5 and 6 mph, and we made 38 - 40 flakes per bale (8ft.)

Our weight was in average 1554 lbs and the MF weight was in average 1303 lbs.

Later we moved to another field with higher quality hay with much more leaf and smaller windrows. There I could bale 1-2 mph faster, and I did 45-50 flakes. My bale weights were between 1808 and 2035 lbs (average 1893 lbs). The slower MF baler reached bale weights between 1480 and 1565 lbs (average 1536 lbs). For our customer it was amazing to see such a heavy bale. He couldn't believe it. Now he wants to take same samples of each baler to do a nutrition test. He promised me to send me the results. Let's see, if there are any differences.

This week we had some trouble with the weather. A huge thunderstorm Monday night was the reason why we couldn't bale on Tuesday morning, and today we had also some rain in the morning. Hopefully the rest of the week becomes better again.

So far for the moment!

Niklas

Washington - Good Bye!

Hi followers,

After some really good demonstrations in Washington it's time to say "Good Bye"!

I also want to say "Thank You" to Kirk Oswalt, our salesman at Farmers Equipment Company in Sunnyside. He made some good arrangements for Demonstrations in the Sunnyside area, and because of his good work we were able to show our baler to many prospective. We baled oats, alfalfa and wheat straw.

It was the first time, that I baled straw, but ist was also very successful. We also had an Krone BiG Pack 1290 XC and a Case LB433 in the field - so it was also for me interesting to see, how much more weight the HDP can make.

And the result was not so bad - The bales of the HDP had weights of 1164 / 1115 / 1140 lbs. The normal BiG Pack 1290 XC (but without knifes) made some bales round about 905 lbs, and the Case baler was only able to make 850 lbs bales. All bales were 97 inch long.

Also the speed was interesting - The Krone balers were much faster then the red competitor.

The bale shape was the best of the HDP baler with the new 2010 top door (The top door of the 2010 models has a additional rail on each side)

But how said Forrest Gump? "..it happens". I was a little bit too fast (I baled with 13,5 mph) on the headland, and a bale ran exactly at the moment off the bale shoot. It hit the ground, jumped a little bit further, and fell directly into the nearby creek. But we were able to get it out with the bale scale and a strap.

The straw demo was also the last demo in Washington. Later that day we hit the road to Baker City, Oregon, and Friday morning we made it to Caldwell, Idaho. That's also the place, where I stay the next week. Togehter with Burks Tractor we have hopefully the same success like in Washington.

See you in Idaho!

Niklas

High Speed with the JCB

Hi followers,

a few days ago I talked to some Cops, and they told me, that I'm not allowed to go faster in a speedlimit zone as the white signs with the big black number on told me. The only vehicles that are allowed to go faster are vehicles going under blue and red flashlights. First I thought, "That sucks!" but than I had a really good idea. And I did only what they told me - because I don't want to do any illegal things like driving too fast!

It's also pretty nice for baling - with the flashlights came also some additional working lights. And the LED Quality is amazing. So, the next baling night can come - and the next speedlimit, of course!

I'm well prepared!

Regards Niklas