One of the great things about the Agritechnica show is that every type of machine and product is represented, from a new type of hand-tool to a sugar beet harvester that’s bigger than a semi-detached house.

Inevitably, there are far too many machines for us to cover comprehensively. But this quick online whizz through the new machinery aisles will give you a flavour of what’s on offer.

One thing that is striking is the increasing size (and cost) of machinery on offer to farmers and contractors. Horsepowers, too, keep pushing upwards, as do weights, widths and price-tags.

See also: Agritechnica 2015: top new farm kit previewed

So here is some of the new big kit on show at Agritechnica 2015…

 

Dal-bo stretches its wings

We have seen plenty of 18m rolls launched in the past couple of years, but Dal-bo has upped the ante with an albatross-like wingspan of 24m.

Remarkably, the brainy designers have managed to get the nine-section frame to fold within the 3m transport limit, though the 25t train weight means air-activated anchors are probably a wise choice.

The weight is distributed hydraulically to the outermost wings so that the pressing power is the same across each section.

The size and weight of the rig means you will need a minimum of 300hp for rolling fairly flat ground, or up to 450hp over ploughed soils. The retail price is £90,000, but you’ll need some pretty big fields to make them worthwhile.

 

Gregoire Besson ploughs in

Gregoire Besson was showing off what it claims is the biggest plough in the world.

The colossal 17-furrow Voyager is 25m long, can plough up to 10m in one pass and needs more than 600hp on the front.

It is designed primarily for Australian and US markets and is pulled using a drawbar rather than a three-point linkage.

There’s no on-the-fly furrow width adjustment, but you can hop off the seat and adjust all 32 furrows independently from 12-20in – not a job you’d want to do more than once.

The monster plough runs on a set of front wheels mounted on a trolley-type pivot and a middle set of fixed wheels.

Like most large trailed ploughs, it lifts in two sections, but the driver needs to leave a 45m headland to get it back into work.

Prices start at about €80,000 (£57,000).

 

Electric drive from Joskin

Vying for the title of the show’s most high-tech trailer was Joskin’s Drakkar push-off bulker with electrically driven axles.

It’s designed to work with the electric power take-off system designed by John Deere and has one motor at the front providing the drive. This sends power to the two rear axles via prop shafts to help drag it through in sticky conditions.

To help get the 8.6m long lump round corners it also has steering front and rear axles and there’s a central tyre inflation system all round, too.

Up top there’s a 37cu m body with rubber conveyor floor and moving metal bulkhead to drag material to the tailgate.

This is powered by a pair of hydraulic motors mounted at the rear end and there’s another motor and chain system to drag it back to the front.

Buyers can also buy an alternative tailgate with built-in auger to convert it into a chaser bin.

 

Fliegl ULW chaser bin heading for Lamma next year

German maker Fliegl had this whopping 40t chaser bin dominating its stand.

The triaxle ULW sits on a set of 650/65R 30.5 Vredestein tyres and has a hydraulic steering rear axle to help it track behind the tractor.

At the bottom there’s a large-diameter auger that transfers the crop to the unloading spout at the front.

The whole system is driven by the chaser’s own pto-powered hydraulic pump and it can wind the crop out at a rate of 450t/hour.

There are also three cameras on board to help the driver with loading as well as a tracker and weighing system.

UK punters will be able to see the chaser for the first time at the Lamma show in January.

 

Grimme Rexor 630 Blackhawk sugar beet harvester gets a paint job

Grimme caught the eye with a one-off special edition of its Rexor sugar beet harvester. Dressed head-to-toe in glossy black paint, the Blackhawk version carries the same internals and 30t hopper as the existing six-row 630.

An MTU engine provides 625hp and puts power to the ground through three steering axles. The turning circle is a surprisingly manoeuvrable 7.5m, even on chunky tyres designed to minimise soil compaction.

 

I ain’t sayin’ she’s a Grave Digger

OK, so it might not be a tractor, but few exhibits were pulling in the crowds quite like the Grave Digger monster truck taking pride of place on the BKT tyres stand.

It’s normally found taking part in Monster Jam competitions in the USA, but because it’s always shod with BKT terra tyres, the Indian maker decided to ship it over.

Underneath the retro body shell – modelled on a 1950s Chevy panel van – there’s an 8.9-litre Chevy V8 with a socking great supercharger that pumps out about 1,500hp.

This sits in a custom tubular space-frame and is teamed to a heavy-duty two-speed auto ’box. To absorb the impact of launching off massive mud ramps and landing on scrap cars, it’s also got twin shocks on each corner with 26 inches of travel.

The Grave Digger is one of eight trucks built by monster truck legend Denis Anderson who built his first machine out of spare parts in the early 1980s. This latest truck is still built at his workshops in Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina, but today’s version costs more than $200,000 (£133,000) to put together.

 

Annaberger Uni Crawler hauls flat

Farmers in a fret about the compaction caused by heavy trailers might like the idea of this tracked carrier unit.

The Uni Crawler from Annaberger is basically a flat platform running on a pair of Soucy tracks that will carry a trailer in the field to help spread its weight.

All the driver has to do is drive the trailer on to it, apply the brakes and the track unit will then be dragged round under it.

Because it’s so quick to get trailers on and off, the maker says only one unit is needed for multiple trailers that can just drop it on and off at the headland.

But the clever bit is when it comes to getting it down the road. As its working width in the field is just over 5m, the maker came up with a clever hinge mechanism that folds the platform in the middle and reduces overall width to 2.55m. There’s also a handy fold down drawbar.

If the prototype were to be sold, Annaberger says it would cost about €88,000 (£63,000). But production versions will come in a little cheaper.

 

Kobzarenko’s one-man bale hauler

The political pickle in Ukraine hasn’t deterred its biggest machinery manufacturers from shipping kit far and wide.

Kobzarenko is a seasoned visitor to Agritechnica and this time around it was showing its answer to one-man, one-machine round bale haulage.

Sizes range from 12 bales to 30, and the legwork is done by an oil-powered cradle that scoops up the bales one at a time and dumps them on rollers running the length of the 12m main body. To load the sketchy-looking second row, the cradle extends on hydraulic rams to provide the extra reach.

A large frame shunts each row backwards and also helps with the unloading process. It sees the whole rig tilt back and the front frame give them a nudge in the right direction.

The €24,000 (£17,000) price for a 24m seems pretty reasonable, but at the minute Russia, Romania and the rest of Eastern Europe remain Kobzarenko’s primary markets.