FILM BINDING ADDS VALUE FOR CONTRACTOR AND CUSTOMER
When Shropshire-based contractor A.R. Richards was upgrading its baler fleet, it was Kuhn’s revolutionary film binding system that clinched the decision to go with their first FBP 3135 combination.
Two full seasons later, the technology has proven its value, firstly for the baler operators, but more importantly for the end users of the forage being produced.
According to current operator Dan Edwards, who is part of a sizeable team within A.R. Richards’ agricultural division, the FBP 3135 is now the favoured baler, for its reliability, speed, and user-friendliness. It has also been praised for routinely producing regular-shaped bales that result in well-conserved silage or haylage, whatever the crop conditions.
“It’s a very easy machine to operate,” he says. “We can either use it with the Kuhn CCI 800 control panel, or through the tractor’s Isobus, with the display being identical in each case. The symbols used on the CCI screen are easy to follow and the machine is designed to be largely fool proof.”
Film binding benefits
The film binding system uses the same 750mm stretch-film rolls as the machine’s bale wrapper, simplifying the workload for the operator. It’s also proving to be a big hit with A.R. Richards’ farmer customers, who are reporting improved forage quality as well as greater convenience in waste disposal.
“Although using net is an option on this machine, film binding has pretty much taken over for silage and haylage,” adds Dan. “It’s creating an extra layer of seal, significantly reducing the risk of spoilage, and then there’s the added benefit of only having one waste material to deal with once the bale has been used.”
The FBP 3135 run by A.R. Richards also uses Kuhn’s 3D wrapping system, which ensures optimum coverage of bales, and has the Intelliwrap feature that gives the operator ultimate flexibility in selecting the number of film layers to apply. The result is consistent square-edged bales, without weak points where air ingress might become a problem, and an overall saving in the amount of film being used.
A.R. Richards covers Shropshire, Staffordshire, Cheshire and beyond, so a diverse geographical spread with a variety of customers. The ability to cope well with a range of scenarios is therefore important, particularly when speed and efficiency are key considerations.
High capacity intake
The FBP 3135 incorporates Kuhn’s patented integral rotor intake system, which is the key to the machine’s throughput capability. The short distance between the pick up and the rotor helps to maintain crop flow, and the force-fed design allows high forward speeds with minimal risk of crop damage.
“With the full-width intake, it takes a very heavy crop to slow the baler down, and if you do encounter a build-up, then the hydraulic drop floor means that often you can quickly clear the problem from the tractor seat. The binding and wrapping operations are very fast, so overall the throughput is impressive.”
“As contractors, we do have to travel and negotiate a variety of conditions, but I’ve not had any problems accessing fields or operating,” adds Dan. “The twin axles certainly help with stability, but they don’t create any issues in the field, even if you’re turning tight on the headlands.
“Visibility from the cab is really good, though we do use the option of a camera to give the best view of the wrapping table.”
Practical design
The FBP 3135 has good carrying capacity for spare film rolls, accommodating ten at the rear and four at the front. The low profile of the baler makes changing the rolls for the wrapping element easy to do from ground level, whilst access to change the binding rolls is made easy by robust fold-away steps.
Bales are lowered from the wrapping table to almost ground level, minimising bounce or the risk of damage, and this can either be automated or under manual control.
“It’s very easy to switch to manual control when needed,” says Dan, “which can be important if we’re working on sloping ground, for example. It’s another example of the user-friendly features on this baler and how well thought-out the design is.”
In terms of power requirement, A. R. Richards usually run the combination behind a John Deere 6155, with this 171hp tractor being more than adequate for the job.
