John Deere rolls out hay baler as season gears up across WA

As hay season rolls around again machinery manufacturers are upping the tempo on their product promotions.

While the State was distracted with the field days fever, John Deere launched its new 1 Series Round Balers into the Australian and New Zealand market spruiking its Innovative Bale Doc technology, to document bale moisture and weight in “near real-time”.

John Deere production systems manager Stephanie Gersekowski said the Bale Doc sends data into John Deere Operations Center for post-harvest analysis, to help operators make informed decisions about key production factors such as nutrient management, and reduce input costs.

Ms Gersekowski said the 1 Series would deliver consistent, high-quality bales for hay operations of all sizes.

“Bale Doc introduces precision ag technology previously only available in broadacre applications to hay and forage production, providing near real-time moisture and weight data, in addition to bale count and other agronomic information,” she said.

When Bale Doc is used in conjunction with John Deere Operations Center, it can support post-season analysis of yield and productivity via the harvest layer, and fleet management and planning through hours and fuel usage via JDLink.

“Every bale recorded through Bale Doc is like a mini-income statement for your entire production cycle,” Ms Gersekowski said.

John Deere 1 Series Round Balers also reduce operator fatigue using integrated technology that automates gate cycle functions, eliminating repetitive tasks, reducing operator error and minimising downtime.

New Holland national hay and forage product manager Sune Nielsen was at the Dowerin Machinery Field Days on August 30-31 supporting McIntosh and Son’s display.

Mr Nielsen said he had been travelling the country undertaking customer and New Holland staff and dealership training on the company’s range of balers, as well as some “market intelligence”.

“It is good to get around to better understand what is going on in the industry,” he said.

“I’m optimistic about the hay season — things are heading in a good direction.”

He said five round New Holland Pro-belt 165 balers were recently sold into the Waroona area, where he said customers were looking for a “strong, durable and versatile baler” to meet their needs.

“We introduced the large square high density baler about three years ago because that was what the market was looking for,” Mr Nielsen said.

“We’ve had excellent sales and sold a few for this season, with 3-4 people interested during the field days.”