Now in its fifth generation, the Big Pack 1290 HDP is Krone’s answer to high-density, six-string baling.

It’s the frontline machine of choice for Suffolk straw merchant Will Reed of Pro Straw Systems, who also has an older Gen 4 in his armoury, as well as a 120×120 Massey Ferguson 2190.

Most of the firm’s straw is bought by the bale and sold by the tonne, with 6,000t going to Snetterton power station and the rest sold to domestic and export markets.

See also: Driver’s view: Alan Ramsay’s short-chop Krone RX 370

Will Reed © James Andrews

Why a Big Pack 1290 HDP?

We’ve had all sorts of balers over the years, but Krone’s six-stringers take a bit of beating.

They’re quick, produce dense bales without the need for a huge tractor on the front, and are easy to maintain.

I like the fact that there isn’t a single shear-bolt on the machine, so drivers don’t have to stop, wait for it to wind down and then get out and replace it.

Instead, they can let the dog clutch do its thing and then set off again. We did some sums a while ago and reckoned this setup saved us the best part of a day a season on each baler.

Krone has also moved with the times and developed a proper high-density model, rather than just updating an older design.

The Gen 5 has some nice upgrades over the Gen 4, so it was an easy decision to go for one of these.

All of our balers are teamed with Parkland five-bale accumulators, which we import and sell in the UK.

These allow us to group bales on headlands for faster loading of trailers, with the added benefit of reducing compaction in the field.

A Parkland five-bale accumulator follows behind © James Andrews

How has it performed?

The Gen 5 packs more into a bale than the older model did, so we’ve been able to increase working speeds while maintaining our target bale weights of 500 to 540kg.

The upshot is that we can achieve outputs of up to 100 bales an hour in the right conditions.

These gains are partly down to the longer chamber which achieves the density without having “cheese grater” grippers on the sides like the Gen 4 had.

The bales are more consistent as a result and there’s no softness on the top.

Krone’s new V-knotters are a big improvement, too, and we get far fewer tying problems.

They don’t produce waste tails either, which means there are no loose bits of string on the surface of the bales.

Plus, there’s now a hydraulic fan that keeps them nice and clean.

In contrast, the Gen 4 suffers quite badly from dust and chaff build-up, so this is a welcome improvement.

Reliability has been good so far, but we have had a stub shaft on the pick-up break.

This seems to be a weak spot – we had the same problem with the Gen 4 – so we now keep a spare in stock.

What could be improved?

Pick-up © James Andrews

It would be nice if the pick-up stub shaft could be strengthened and I wish it had a better pto stand.

If ever we need to move the baler without attaching the pto, the stand flops over and the shaft drops on the floor, so we end up sliding the front section off to prevent it getting damaged.

The moisture meter isn’t good either, so we use a probe instead, in addition to keeping an eye on the bale pressure.

If it starts to drop, we know the moisture level is rising as the baler doesn’t have to push as hard to achieve the target weight.

Oh, and it could do with a better tool box.

Pto stand © James Andrews

How long are you going to keep it?

We used to work on a three-year replacement cycle, but the huge inflation we’ve seen recently means we’re going to have to push this to five.

We paid about £130,000 for this machine and the price has already gone up to about £160,000.

In the past, we’ve looked into hiring instead of buying.

But the fluctuations in straw yield from year to year, and the risk of farms chopping if it turns wet, means we can’t guarantee high enough bale counts to make it pay.