Kubota was first out of the traps with a working Tractor Implement Management (TIM) system for balers in 2020, it has now added further functionality in its TIM Pack 2 update.
The original TIM package was claimed to have reduced the number of operations undertaken by the driver during the baling cycle from 10 to two.
A further task has now been automated, and that is the need to weave the tractor as it passes over the swath.
TIM controlled drawbar
Ensuring that the baler was loaded equally across its whole width usually required the tractor driver to steer from side-to-side, creating the risk of swath contamination as the tractor wheels smeared soil on the top of the forage.
Kubota has eliminated this possibility by installing a swinging drawbar on the baler which moves the pic- up reel to either side while the tractor continues in a straight line, keeping the cut grass to the centre.
Controlling the movement is by the hydraulic swinging drawbar on the baler receiving an oil flow from a TIM controlled spool valve on the tractor.
This allows allows the baler to be switched from left to right as the tractor moves forward.
The process is fully autonomous, and takes signals from both the left and right-hand side indicators of the baler, resulting, the company has claimed, in well formed bale shape with universally dense forage packed across its width.
All the driver is required to do is keep the tractor centralised over the swath preventing crop contamination as the tractor wheels will stay away from the forage.
An additional function is Auto Blockage Control system which causes an immediate reaction in case of crop accumulation in the baler intake.
The system is said to have a faster response time for stopping the tractor and power take-off (PTO) than a human, which makes it much safer.
It also prevents crop blockages by stopping the crop flow immediately and automatically releasing the parallelogram drop floor.
Mr. Yamada moves on
In other news the company has announced a shuffle in the management of its European division with Yasukazu Yamada, the current president and CEO of Kverneland Group and Kubota Holdings Europe, transitioning from his role at Kverneland Group to focus on his position within Kubota Holdings Europe.
His place will be taken by Arild Gjerde, who has been with Kverneland since 2010.
He has a background in sales and marketing with Kverneland and graduated from the Stockholm School of Economics.
