Based not far from Lismore, Co Waterford, the Byrne family operate a small agricultural contracting service. Baling is the main proportion of the business throughout the summer months. According to Shane, the aim of the business is to run one fresh baler and provide a good reliable service to their customers, rather than expanding the business.

The Byrnes have a long history of operating Welger balers and in more recent times, the newer Lely branded machines. This season, Shane and his father John Joe they decided to buy a Fendt Rotana 130F to replace their Lely 245, as they wanted to stick with what had previously worked well for them, giving that the Fendt is essentially a Lely machine under those green branded Agco panels.

Pickup

The Rotana 130F sees a 2.25m five tine bar camless pickup reel. Camless reels have rigid tine bars where traditional pickup systems are fitted with cams and a cam track, which is where the name “camless” originated from. As result, less moving parts are involved in the makeup of the pickup reel. The pickup is what Shane likes about the baler, as he did with his previous Lely 245, saying he would not go back to a traditional cam type pickup having operated both types.

Each side of the pickup sees a 25cm diameter feeding auger, which directs crops to the centre of the main feed rotor. Having looked at the baler’s pickup, it is clear that there is a short distance from where crop first touches the pickup tines to where it feeds through the rotor, eliminating what’s known as a “dead spot” where short grass can often sit and slow crop flow.

Rotor, Knives and Rollers

Shane’s Rotana 130F is fitted with Fendt’s XtraCut 25 rotor. Its V shaped four star makeup is designed to fill the bale chamber more evenly than standard rotors. Knife combinations of 0, 12, 13 or 25 can be selected, with the latter having a theoretical chop length of 45mm. Shane explained how having two selectable knife banks is a good addition, as he typically operates the baler with one bank engaged at a time. This means there are always 12 or 13 sharp knives in place, and that he can switch banks ahead of the next day’s baling without having to remove knives for sharpening as frequently.

As standard on all XtraCut 25 models, Shane’s baler is fitted with Hydroflexcontrol, which has a spring-type design to allow movement within the floor for fluctuating crop flow into the chamber. If a major blockage occurs that cannot be handled by the moving floor, the baler’s floor can be raised or lowered by up to 500mm, to allow the blockage to feed in. This is all done from the tractor cab.

Inside the chamber are 18 Powergrip rollers, manufactured from seamless solid steel tube, each having 10 ribs to improve performance and durability. All rollers have a wall thickness of 3.2mm. The chamber has one roller at the bottom, which helps prevent bales of dry crops, such as straw, sticking inside the chamber once opened. The baler is fitted with an automatic chain lubrication system and automatic greasing, which supplies grease to each of the rollers’ bearings and other lubrication points throughout the baler.

Fendt balers, just like their Lely Welger forefathers, are still fitted with the mechanically locking bale chamber. Sensors on both sides of the chamber door accurately measure the hook position and the density of the bale, while indicating to the operator to drive left or right to form a consistent bale. The locking door is what Shane believes makes for consistent high density, well-formed bales, something he has always liked from the beginning with the Welger machines.

Terminal

Fitted on Shane’s baler is the standard E-Link control terminal. There is an option to upgrade to the larger E-link Pro, which has a larger touch screen interface. Although the baler is ISOBUS ready, none of the tractors in the yard are. Shane believes it’s nice to have the option there for the future. He finds the simple, straight forward control terminal is easy to use. Selecting crop types and setting bale density is easy, with almost all functions being the same as his previous machines. Ten different density settings are available, with optional knife bank selection and net binding adjustments controlled using the E-Link control terminal. When baling grass silage, Shane typically tends to leave the density setting between eight and nine, while baling straw, density is set between seven and eight.