New Holland puts safety at top of agenda

Safety is a priority with the New Holland BigBaler range of large square balers.

Designed and built in Belgium, the BigBaler recently won the SIMA Silver Innovation Award for industry-leading safety design.

New Holland product manager Tony Peters said the BigBaler series was designed to achieve up to 20 per cent capacity increase and up to 5 per cent denser bales, while at the same time using work class safety techniques.

"We are not only committed to enhancing agribusinesses' profits, but also to improving the lives of the people who work with our machines every day. Safety is right at the top of our agenda," he said.

Mr Peters said when operators were under pressure, short cuts could be fatal.

"A unique safety system has been developed so that the front shield can only be opened when the baler is completely stationary, when the PTO has been deactivated and when the flywheel brake has been engaged," he said.

"Only when these conditions have been met can the operator unlatch the front shield, using a dedicated lever.

"Side doors are opened in absolute safety and operator strain is reduced, since opening is assisted by powerful gas struts, which also support the side shields when they are open."

Mr Peters said there was no access to any moving components through the twine boxes, and the super flat service platform on top of the baler ensured working at height was even safer, especially when combined with the grab rails.

A dedicated needle-locking device is situated near the rear-access ladder and prevents access to the knotting system unless the lock has been engaged.

The MaxiSweep pickup ensures constant, smooth feeding of a greater volume of crop, and has contributed to up to a 20 per cent capacity increases.

Bale density has been improved by up to 5 per cent, courtesy of the enhanced pre-compression chamber that benefits from advanced SmartFill technology, using a network of sensors to guide the operator to maintain even flake formation for uniformly dense bales.

Advanced PLM solutions, including the optional ActiveWeigh on-the-go bale weighing technology, can be recorded together with moisture content, date, time and the bale's GPS location to create precise yield and field mapping data.

This means that inputs can be fine-tuned to increase productivity and profitability for future seasons.