New Holland Celebrates 50 Years of Round Balers | Farm Equipment Vehicles & Ag Tech News | lancasterfarming.com

New Holland is celebrating 50 years of round baler production this year. Since 1974, the company has produced more than 50 round baler models.

By today’s standards, the New Holland 850 round baler looks like an industrial relic, with an imposing chain and bars devoid of sheet metal.

While the baler may be considered obsolete compared to the technology of today, the 850 claims an important milestone in the history of New Holland’s hay machinery.

New Holland is celebrating its 50th anniversary of round baler production, and it all began with the 850 in 1974.

Since then, New Holland has produced more than 50 round baler models, each bringing advancements resulting from changes in hay production and the needs of farmers.

“The 850 was an evolution of where New Holland came from in promoting hay production. At the time, the market was changing and farmers wanted to have options to the labor-intensive demand of square baling and storage,” said Mike Sevick, the commercial marketing manager for New Holland’s livestock and dairy segment.

The 850 had lugs in the floor chains that helped roll the bale, and density was set by adjusting tension on pairs of large springs on the sides.

The model 848 round baler featured air bags to adjust bale density, replacing tension springs used on older balers.

Fifty years ago it was innovative, but advancements appeared quickly and often in subsequent New Holland models.

In 1978, the 850 was replaced with the 851 round baler, and other models appeared at the same time, including the 845 and 846.

In 1982, the model 855 was the first New Holland round baler to use net wrap, called the “Fastnet” option, instead of twine.

Also in the 1980s, the 848 round baler came out, featuring air bags to adjust bale density, along with the capability to produce a smaller bale.

Perhaps the most significant change in New Holland round balers occurred in 1989 when the first Roll-Belt baler was produced.

The New Holland 630 was the first baler to use belts instead of chains to form a bale. It made 4-foot bales and required just 35 horsepower to operate.

“It was designed to give smaller hay makers the option to make their own hay,” Sevick said. “And the belts were a new advantage because you controlled density without springs and had longer service life compared to the chains.”

In the late 1980s New Holland began to switch from chains to belts on round balers, which improved density and speed in the field.

Belts offered another advantage when a change in hay production began in the early 1990s.

With the onset of bale wrappers and inline tubers, the focus on high-moisture hay production increased.

Sevick said belt balers helped make the change possible with improved capability to start a core and durability that could handle the heavier weight of a silage bale.

“In the chain baler era, high-moisture crops weren’t much of a focus,” he said. “Belts gave you the density, durability and the ability to bale fast.”

Another milestone appeared in 1992 with the introduction of the 640 round baler, which was the first model built for high-moisture hay.

Three years later, New Holland offered the Bale-Slice option on its balers.

Bale-Slice, which is still used today, consists of a row of sickle knives in the starter roll that extend into the chamber, slicing the hay as the bale is formed.

When the outer part of the bale is formed, the knives retract. Sevick said Bale-Slice makes a denser bale in the middle that’s easier to pull apart and more palatable for livestock.

Many of the changes to New Holland round balers were made with speed in mind, he said.

Net wrap capability, belts and even the wide pickup heads on today’s models allow producers to bale faster than before while making a clean, uniform bale.

But broad appeal has also been a focus over the last 50 years as New Holland produced round baler models for a variety of uses, from small-scale production to commercial operations.

“A round baler for any need,” Sevick said. “That’s always been important to us with our heritage in haymaking equipment.”

Today’s round balers range from the RF 440 Utility, which is a fixed chamber model, to the larger Pro-Belt series, which features heavier chains, belts and steel along with a drop floor.

And the adaptations on round balers will continue into the future, Sevick added.

He sees a focus on precision and automation, such as IntelliBale technology that automates tractor stop, bale wrap, and raising and lowering of the tailgate.

“I grew up on the 848 round baler, and I remember taking a wrench to fix a bent bar. Now you have touchscreen technology and precision, all done to meet the demand to make bales faster,” Sevick said. “But the changes today are done the same way they’ve been implemented over the last 50 years — by listening to farmers.”

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Staff Reporter

Tom Venesky is a staff reporter for Lancaster Farming. You canreach him at [email protected].

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