BiG M 500

The prime example of mowing
Big M 500 out to harvest up to 20 ha/h*

Achieving work rates of up to 20 hectares per hour, the Krone Big M 500 mower conditioner is a truly high-capacity machine. Following the presentation of a Big M 500 preview model at last Agritechnica, Krone field-tested the machine extensively during the 2008 and 2009 seasons. The test results speak for themselves," says Krone Managing Director Bernard Krone. Big M 500 impresses by its 13.20m work width, which is gained from the 5.30m front mower and two 4.40m side units, enabling work rates of indeed up to 20ha/h as user experience reveals.

The drive power to the individual mowers flows via driveshafts and gearboxes. The split front mower folds into two vertical wings to reduce transport width to 3.2m (900/60 R32 tyres). Big M 500 is powered by a 520hp longitudinal engine, which sends its power to the four hydrostat-driven wheel motors, a system that is shared with Big M 400. This design in combination with four-wheel steering makes Big M 500 extremely agile on the headland and in small fields, opening up awkward and small plots easily and quickly. As another benefit, Big M 500 features the Krone Big Swath System, which provides the flexibility of wide spreading and forming one single swath.

Each mower is controlled separately at the touch of a button, which opens (wide spreading) or closes (merging two swaths into one) the auger hoods hydraulically. At the same time, the system swathes material from two 13.20m work widths to a width of approximately 15m to avoid rapid wilting after the second or third cut, for example. Like Big M 400, Big M 500 does not allow the crop to drop to the ground before it is swathed, ensuring exemplarily clean fodder – a major benefit when cutting wet autumn crops. Besides, user experience shows that direct swathing leads to a substantial reduction of harvest costs as it eliminates the swathing pass.

At the same time, it reduces crop fragmentation significantly in leafy crops (e.g. Lucerne). "Our Big M concept has been proven thousands of times in fields around the world. Its huge efficiency combined with the outstanding quality of the forage appeals enormously to contracting businesses and machinery rings." says Bernard Krone.

* 20 ha = ca. 50 acres