KRONE SmartBale app optimises bale logistics

With the KRONE SmartBale app, information about baled crops including the location of the bales can be read easily by smartphone, thereby greatly simplifying work processes in the hay and stray harvest.

Spelle, September 2023: Experience of recent years has demonstrated the need to make even more efficient use of small harvest windows due to weather conditions. To simplify work processes for harvesting hay and straw, KRONE now offers the SmartBale app. This not only makes it easier to find bales when collecting them from the field, it also makes it possible to sort bales by their moisture to prevent storage of crops that are too moist.

Easy to Find without Looking

A bale map represented in the SmartBale app shows all round and square bales of the machines linked with the corresponding myKRONE.green account as well as the actual location of the app user. The user then automatically sees the information about the closest bale. For better clarity, the time (1 to 7 days) from when the bales were provided can be defined. In this way both the driver of a collecting vehicle and someone else responsible for scheduling can quickly find the next area and coordinate the transport vehicles optimally. This ensures that even bales hidden on winding fields or bales that are difficult or impossible to spot in the dark can be found and recovered reliably without a long search.

Important Data for Every Bale

In addition to the exact position of the bales, the SmartBale app also provides information, depending on how the baler is equipped, about moisture, weight, dimensions and whether the crop was cut. Thanks to an adjustable threshold value, moist bales are also marked in colour on the map so they can be reliably recognised and stored separately. The BaleTag can be used to link data about the time when the bale was collected in the field so this information remains with the bale. As long as the bale in the same place where it was set down, the link via the SmartBale app works. As soon as the bale is moved, the BaleTagger is needed.

When the bale is sold, for example, the weight and moisture as well as the harvesting conditions, the age of the bale and its origin can be accurately tracked. This provides certainty for both the buyer and the seller.

A simple tablet or smartphone is all that is needed to read the QR code on the BaleTags in the SmartBale app. A special reader that emits the required radio waves is required to read the RFID transponders. This makes it possible to use the SmartBale app on any tractor, wheel loader or without a vehicle at all. The familiar functional scope of KRONE SmartTelematics in myKRONE.green is retained, which means that it is still easy to evaluate machines and data.

Holistic Consideration

KRONE generally approaches the topic of baling from a holistic perspective. The moisture and weighing device can be used together with the tractor-independent SmartConnect telemetry unit to document and evaluate the data automatically via SmartTelematics in myKRONE.green and Farm Management systems connected via the agrirouter. For more efficient recovery on the field, KRONE BaleCollect can be used to set down bales along virtual lines controlled by GPS. An optionally available dosing system for silage additives and preservatives ensures forage quality. With the new SmartBale app, the process of collecting bales can now be designed even more efficiently and bales can be tracked with BaleTags.

Press Contact:

Markus Steinwendner
Head of Marketing KRONE Agriculture
+49 5977 935 188 20
markus.steinwendner@krone.de
www.krone-agriculture.com