The Claas Variant 485 RC Pro round baler has been awarded the ‘DLG approved’ quality mark from the German Agricultural Society (DLG). The test programme included a range of practical application checks, functional checks in grass silage and straw, hands-on assessments of operating characteristics by farmers, and performance at a reduced PTO speed. In the field, the DLG testers found a throughput, including all idling and turning times, of 40.4t of silage fresh mass per hour with a baler travel speed of 5.1km/hr (with 14 knives engaged). The crop flow reached values as high as 165.4tph. The testers were impressed with the baler’s compression performance. At a travel speed of 3.6km/hr (DLG specification) and a bale density of 100 percent with seven knives engaged, the silage bales had an average density of 449.4kg/m³ fresh mass, with 38.3 percent dry mass.
Baling at 800rpm instead of 1,000rpm during the reduced PTO speed tests, the reduced input power requirement and fuel consumption was recorded across a range of comparison variants from 12.8 to 27.9 percent in terms of fresh mass, with at least the same throughput and baling density.
In the hands-on tests of operating characteristics carried out by six farmers, the 485 was rated for hitching and unhitching, operation and settings, baling quality, quality of work, and cleaning and maintenance. The overall result assessed by the users across all these test criteria was good, and the six farmers praised the intuitive menus and problem-free operation of the ISOBUS terminal.
