The BiG Pack Road Show - Krone North America

The BiG Pack Road ShowThe Krone BiG Pack1290 HDP Large Square Baleris a unique baler. It can produce a3’ x 4’ bale that weighs as much as a 4’x 4’ bale. This means at the end of theday you have 25% less bales on yourfield, on the truck and in your stock, butthe same amount of tons. This results infewer bales to handle, truck and storesaving operators a significant amount ofmoney.Saying that a 3x4 bale can weighas much as a 4x4 is a BiG claim. Toprove it, Krone set out on a seven-monthtour to show producers that the BiG Pack1290 HDP really can out bale the competition.The BiG Pack Road Show beganin early April with Niklas Beindorf, aKrone Germany employee, doing thedemonstrations. The goal of the RoadShow was to do as many demonstrationsas possible while traveling throughCalifornia, Oregon, Washington, Idaho,Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, Coloradoand Kansas. With a JCB 8250 Fastrac,equipped with a bale scale on the front,and a BiG Pack 1290 HDP, Niklasstarted off his adventure in early Aprilwith many miles ahead of him.The first stop was El Centro,Calif. in the Imperial Valley with the localdealer, Central Implement, and KroneProduct Manager, Blake Fuller. Thedemos were a great success and the BiGPack showed that it is the heavy weightchampion. Customers at the demoswere impressed with the bale shape andweights. At one demo the BP 1290 HDP6 - KroNewswas making 7’ bales of Alfalfa at 12%-13% moisture that weighed in at 1,800pounds. With the bale scale on the frontof the tractor, it was possible to show thecustomers the bale weights right in thefield. This bale size and weight allowsthe customer to move them directly intocontainers for export and make full containerweights. A great cost savings forthe exporter.After finishing up the demos inthe Imperial Valley, the BiG Pack RoadShow moved on to Bakersfield,Calif. to meet up with Pioneer Equipmentand Brent Raines, Western RegionProduct Manager. Niklas got to enjoythe sights of southern California as hedrove the JCB tractor for the 360 mile,10 hour trip from El Centro to Bakersfield.He found that the tractor movesvery nicely and surprised several truckdrivers on steep grades as he passedthem with ease. It’s nice to have a tractorwith a 44 mph top speed!Once in Bakersfield, the BigPack Road Show was put on hold as therains came. Once the show resumed itwas one great performance after another.At one demo, the BiG Pack reallyshowed what it could do. Niklas wasDemo in California for a customer whoexports bales overseas in containers.able to go 16 mph and produce anaverage bale weight of 1,844 pounds. Acompetitive baler in the same field couldonly travel 9 mph and the average baleweight was 1,523 pounds. This customerwas not only impressed with the heavierbales, but also the smooth running of themachine and the camless pickup, whichprovides a nice, constant flow of cropinto the machine without leaving any haybehind.The JCB tractor is equipped with abale scale on the front hitch for weighingbales in the field.Finishing the month of May inCalifornia, it was over to a neighboringstate for a whirlwind tour to prove theBP 1290 HDP can conquer the conditionsin Nevada. Having great dealersupport from Dan Smith of Smith ValleyGarage, the BiG Pack Road Show performedat least one demo per day for twoweeks. One demo was in a really roughfield, but the steered tandem axle of theBiG Pack helped provide a smootherride. At this demo Niklas was able to go12 mph, twice as fast as the competitivebaler, and he dropped 53 bales in lessthan an hour, including stops. Needlessto say, the customer was extremelyimpressed.