As New Holland marks its 50th anniversary of round baler production, the brand had several announcements to make about its hay and forage line. Most notably, expect to see the end of the familiar red paint scheme on NH equipment. The brand is standardizing its global image by adopting a yellow livery for all its hay and forage implements.
“Today if you ask what colour New Holland equipment is, where the person is in the world depends on the answer you get back,” said Jordan Milewski, NH’s conventional hay and forage manager.
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“In North America we’ve been red and yellow with blue tractors. In the rest of the world our colour scheme has been exclusively blue and yellow. For us it’s about realigning the brand globally. From a branding strategy, it’s really a big picture kind of approach.
“It’s a brighter, fresher look, and that’s the approach we’re taking, even in our product lines. We’re beginning slowly with the commercial products, transitioning to yellow. Then there’s a strategy moving forward for the remainder of the product lines.”
According to the NH announcement, the yellow transition begins with commercial hay tools for late model year 2024, then includes the Pro-Belt round balers for model year 2025.
Bale data
NH is also offering round baler owners the opportunity to collect more data with a new retrofittable system that links to a free app that can be downloaded to any smartphone.
The New Holland Bale Manager app can be used with Roll-Belt balers from model year 2016 equipped with the Bale Command II Plus electronics system. Prior model years 2014 and 2015 balers will require a software update before they can be used with the app.
On those 2016 and newer balers, it’s simply a matter of adding a plug-and-play module. The kit is available through NH parts departments for US$600.
The system offers a limited range of data capture at the moment, Milewski says, but precision data collection may be new to a lot of forage growers, and the app may give them a new perspective on what collecting hay and forage field data can offer in their operations.
“We don’t usually think about technology in hay and forage as being a primary driver,” he said. “I think as costs go up across the industry, those data points become more and more relevant from a hay and forage perspective. If you’re not getting production out of your fields, you need to be able to quantify that.
“If you can quantify things, that is a game changer. And that’s already happened in the cash crop sector. I think the Bale Management app helps people capture that. Are my yields going up or down?”
The app can record field data on an Excel spreadsheet so growers can easily make annual productivity comparisons. It will even do automatic invoicing for those who do custom baling.
The app also gives growers field information that includes bale count, bale size and moisture content.
Speed management
For large square balers, the brand is also introducing the IntelliSense automation system, which can adjust the tractor’s ground speed to meet changing field conditions.
“It’s not available on the round baler, but it is available on the large square baler,” said Milewski. “The baler can basically see what’s in front of itself, which sends a signal to the tractor to say this is how much material is in front of me. I can speed up, slow down, follow the row.
“When you look at this automation and the ability of the baler to manage its own ground speed in a more impactful way, you really get more tons per hour through that baler. That’s really where the bottom-line benefits are for the producer.”
A comparable system is also being introduced on NH’s sister brand Case IH’s large square balers.
“We have the automation system for the round baler, Intellibale,” Milewski added. “It doesn’t control ground speed, but it will automatically start and stop the tractor, wrap the bale and eject it.”
To celebrate the 50th anniversary, NH is giving away 50 prize packages to producers who are willing to share their personal stories of working with NH round balers. To enter the contest, producers can go online to the NH website — or scan the QR code in any NH dealership — and submit their story.
