Advanced control and automated features currently found only on Krone’s two biggest four-rotor grass rakes are now available on the smaller Swadro TC 1250 with the introduction of the new “Pro” version.

Despite grass capture widths from 9.8m to 12.5m to build swaths appropriate for the appetite of harvesting machine that follows, an overall length of 8.25m means the centre-delivery TC 1250 is reckoned to be the most compact machine of its type.

That, says Krone, gives it an advantage in terms of in-field, through-gateway and around-the-yard manoeuvrability, while the newly added features minimise the operator’s workload and help protect grass quality and the machine’s structure.

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Like others in the Swadro range, the 3.3m-diameter front rotors run a little faster than the 2.96m units at the back, the idea being to spread the grass a bit so the rear rakes can form a regular square-shouldered swath for efficient pick-up intake.

Compared with the existing base and “Plus” versions, however, the new “Pro” handles load-sensing hydraulics and has isobus control with a terminal as standard.

It also gets the active hydraulic rotor “float” system from the larger Swadro TC 1370 Pro (13.7m) and TC 1570 Pro (15.7m), and a damper installation designed to protect the rotors and chassis frame from fluctuating loads when lowering on to uneven ground – such as at a headland or on top of swaths of heavy grass.

In addition, the rotors have the adjustable Soft-Down system that slows the hydraulic cylinders just as the rotors are about to touch the ground for a gentle landing.

Isobus control brings new automatic and driver-assistance features, including single- and paired-rotor lift, rear rotor lift after a time and/or distance delay, and automatic all-rotor lift when the rake is backed up.

Guidance-based section control can be added as an option to reduce the operator’s workload by automatically lifting and lowering the rotors.

A press of a button is all that is needed to fold in the rake and to fold it back out again to its previous configuration; and, as with the “Plus” model, electric actuators adjust the working height, complete with two memorised settings.