Press releases

Two new CLAAS high capacity balers will be making their working debut at this year’s FTMTA Grass & Muck event in Ireland and Grassland UK at the Bath & West Showground.

Available for the first time this spring the two new balers, the QUADRANT 3300 and ROLLANT 375/374, received considerable praise from the farmers and contractors who ran pre-series machines last year on account of the their output and bale quality.

Quadrant 3300

The new QUADRANT 3300 produces a 120cmx90cm bale, making it ideal for transport and ensures that merchants and hauliers can achieve maximise load size, thanks to its size and bale density.

Like the QUADRANT 3400 and 3200, the new 3300 uses a pre-chamber to compress material before entering the main chamber. Ahead of this chamber, the crop is quickly and efficiently cleared from the 2.35m wide pick-up by a 500mm ROTO FEED star rotor that revolves at 160rpm.

The new design of pre-chamber on the QUADRANT 3300 can be controlled either manually or automatically. In automatic mode, the feeder rakes, which are controlled by a cam on the main transmission, make two feeder cycles prior to each full stroke when material is passed into the main chamber. In manual mode, using the COMMUNICATOR control terminal, the operator has the option of three settings, so ensuring that the pre-chamber is evenly filled for perfect, high density bales in all conditions.

In the main chamber, the bale is further compressed by the main plunger that operates at 46 strokes/minute with a maximum chamber pressure of 200 bar, and the bale is tied by six knotters using just a single knot, making the strings easy to remove.

In Wiltshire, baling contractor Sheridan Huntley ran a pre-series QUADRANT 3300 alongside his four other QUADRANT balers. “Bale weights across all crops baled averaged 460kg, but we were getting to know the baler so reckon we should be able to get bale weights up to 500kg,” he says.

“Having sensors in both the top and bottom of the pre-chamber worked really well and the feed into the chamber is extremely positive. It’s a very fast baler and would easily cover 100ha a day in good crops, mainly working behind 9.0m cutterbars. We have certainly not had any negatives from either our farmer customers or hauliers, who have been very impressed. In addition to maximising loads, the larger bale size means there are fewer bales, so loading time is reduced.”

ROLLANT 375 & 374

The new ROLLANT 375/374 fixed chamber round baler is designed to cope with the heavy crop conditions typically found in the UK and Ireland.

Based on the well proven ROLLANT 355/354, this new addition to the ROLLANT range features heavier duty drives and stronger, long life chains. To ensure that optimum outputs can be maintained in heavy crops, the ROLLANT 375/374 also features a hydraulic drop-floor below the chamber that enables the operator to push the baler to its limit without the risk of blocking it.

From the 2.10m wide pick-up, material is fed into the chamber either via a ROTO FEED (RF) star rotor or the 16-blade ROTO CUT (RC) chopping cylinder. For increased density, the ROLLANT 375 also features the new MPS II pressure system, whereby three rollers in the chamber swing down to exert pressure on the bale in the early stages of formation.

The new hydraulic drop-floor is operated via a double-acting valve that allows the floor to open slightly allowing smaller lumps to pass through without causing a blockage. At the same time the operator is notified via a buzzer, so they know that they are working at maximum throughput. In the event of a blockage, all the operator has to do to clear it is lower the floor at the press of a button, then re-engage the drive to allow the blockage to pass into the main chamber, after which the floor will automatically rise again. 

In last year’s difficult baling conditions, it was this feature that pre-series users found invaluable and enabled them to operate at maximum output. “The new drop floor in the chamber is the biggest improvement CLAAS could have made and has helped save so much time and stress when baling,” says Richard Thornber, who recorded 100 inches of rain on his Pennine farm last year. “It’s always at night or when it’s due to turn wet that you want to push the baler, and the drop-floor gives you the confidence to push-on without being worried about blockages.”

Both the QUADRANT 3300 and the ROLLANT 375/374 are fully available for this coming season.