If you had a straight choice between a Welger RP200 and a Krone 125 Classic – both fixed chamber balers what would you decide?   Its for a small farm baling up to 100 acres per year.  Just to add a little bit of complication to the choice - the Welger is 1993 and the Krone is 2003 (and has only done c. 8000 bales apparently) however the Welger is £1k cheaper at £3k. Thanks very much in advance for your opinions! Martyn

 

hi martyn, i cant say anything about the krone bailer as i have never used one, but for the last 21 years we have had the same rp200 baler, we bail around 2500 straw, hay, and silage of our own with it and about 1000 for a neighbor and sometimes a few more hear or their that cant get their usual contractors in, it will follow and pretty much keep up with a 30 foot combine in fairly long straw, on the occasion it breaks a bail i have roughly pushed the broken bail out with the loader and bailed it back up without to much hassle, it seem to eat anything!, I'm not saying it never blocks it has sometimes but the handy spanner that, if it is still with the one your buying on the tow frame, to reverse the reel on the bolt under the flap on the right hand side where you put the reel wheel onto, Usually loosening this back then turning the pto back on it pulls most blockages through, ...As for mechanical faults, touch wood, as we still have this one!, we have had the odd problem that the knife that cuts the net hasn't come fully back, after releasing a bail out the back so when you go to wrap the next bail the net wont start, (this needed a new spring, £12 and easy to fit), another occasion it started slipping the odd bail(not wrapping it)this was due to the rollers having warn off all its paint and the straw couldn't grip, some paint from the local dealer and this was fixed. we hope to renew it this year and would stay with a welger, we have had a few different models over the years and none have been a patch on this machine. hope this helps in some way

 As Baa says the Welger would be first choice.

But we never ran a Krone, and there are none in this area to compare against.

They all give a bit of trouble, regardless.

 

 I'm on my 2nd Krone but both have been the 1250. A good solidly built baler but sometimes a bit reluctant to take the net although a lot depends on the quality of the net. The main thing to watch for being a chain & slat baler is that the main chains if not well maintained can wear & if they need replacing will probably be into 4 figures. As important as the baler is the dealer back up, our dealer is the best you will get & will turn out any time of day or night but can in a lot of cases "fix it" over the phone. We're also very lucky living less than half an hour away from Krone UK & with an order number you can go there & pick parts up direct.

I know it's going off the original question but i had one of the new Krone belt & slat ones for a couple of days last year & my opinion of it is that it's as good as it gets. Any problems that the earlier Krones had have all been sorted & i couldn't find a fault with it. They will probably never sell the numbers that they deserve cos it dunt say John Deere or welger on it & Krone has always been known as a simple no frills baler that will eat owt but they have my vote.

I've never really heard anyone say owt wrong about welgers either & most of those who have them swear by them 

Welger RP200, tried and tested for a few years under Romanian conditions.

Many thanks for your inputs to this, very helpful information.