Straw baling to the point of no return

By „classic straw baling“ we mean baling in the field. We have plenty of experience with that. Before we increasingly specialised in chopping and refining straw from 2008, alongside our classic farming, we baled more and more straw in the field year after year.

The fleet in the field

At peak times we were out in the field with more than a dozen vehicles at once. The heart of our fleet during our peak straw-baling times (early 2000s) was four „Claas Quadrant 2200“ balers combined with „Case Magnum“ tractors. For hauling away we relied mainly on MB-Tracs and Unimogs, of which we were – and, honestly, still are – real fans. When we look at old photos today, our hearts beat faster.

We stacked the straw stacks with Manitou telehandlers and Volvo wheel loaders, two brands we still rely on in our loader fleet today. Later, two Massey Ferguson 8480s and a „Krone 4x4 HighSpeed“ baler were added to our fleet in the field. Another highlight of that time: our self-designed bale collection trailer, which made picking up the bales significantly easier. The fleet was completed by sun-wheel and rotary rakes, a tanker for refuelling the vehicles and the odd car.

Across three countries

No distance was hardly too far for us: we pressed straw right across eastern Austria, Hungary and Slovakia. With our admittedly very long tractor convoy, we certainly drove the odd motorist up the wall – a belated „sorry“ at this point ;)

Stress, film and a farm full of straw

In total we pressed several thousand hectares a year this way. That came with a great deal of stress – even so, we wouldn't want to miss the experience. Our farm was packed full of straw back then, which we wrapped in film so that we could offer it as dry as possible all year round and protected from rain.

The change from 2008

From 2008 on we baled less and less straw in the field and focused instead on refining it. But we still run our farm today – partly even with the machines of back then. Because we were and are farmers, and that won't change!