Claas Balers Turn 30
Claas built its first variable chamber round baler - the Variant 100 - in 1996, so 2026 marks 30 years and the fifth generation of the Variant name, recently complemented by the new Cerex Series introduced in 2025.
So the decision comes down to, are you happy with one-size-fits-all? Or do you need bales of varying diameter?
Well known and respected for its range of belt balers, New Holland importer CB Norwood Distributors has announced the launch of the new fixed chamber Roll Bale range comprising three options: the RB 125 Baler, the RB125 Combi, or the RB 135 Ultra (combi). The numerals indicate bale diameter -- Combi signifying the bale wrapping system, and Ultra showing that the machine is heavy duty and suits arduous conditions.
The core of the machines is a bale forming chamber comprising 18 heavy duty, wear resistant 200mm rollers with aggressive profiles to keep bales rotating at all stages of formation, or difficult crop or climatic conditions. The maker says the higher number of rollers, compared to competitors, results in a greater surface area in the bale chamber, helping spread the loadings created by high density bales and so prolonging machine operating life.
Up front a 2.1m working width pickup on the RB 125, or 2.2m version on the RB 135, use five tine bars to pick up cleanly behind even very wide swaths.
Crop is fed from the pickup to a 470mm feeder rotor made of Hardox 500 steel with 10mm thick feeder fingers. These push the crop through a chopper bank of 20 retractable knives. If overloaded a hydraulic cutout disconnects drive to the pickup and feeder rotor, allowing bale formation to carry on. On the RB 135 version, in-cab rotor reversing allows easy clearance of blockages.
Once formed, the bales can be covered by conventional net wrap or the operator can chose to use an optional film wrap system to cover the circumference of the bale. This has the benefit of excluding air and improving the fermentation process; it also helps maintain bale shape and has the potential to reduce overall wrapping costs, because fewer layers of film wrap are needed to cover the bale, or lower quality wrap options can be specified.
Control of the whole system is via an in-cab monitor with a large easily read display showing bale density, pto speed, net or film indication and the number of layers per bale; it can records bale counts in its memory for up to 50 jobs, which will help simplify invoicing at busy times.
With a low centre of gravity, gradients and slopes should not pose any problems, and a choice of tyres will allow tailoring the machine to operating conditions.
The RB 125 is available with super-wide 500-22.5 flotation tyres; the 125 and 135 Combi units can be specified with 500-50R17 items, all of which conform to 3m transport width
