New Holland Introduces New Pickup Head

Oct 24, 2024

UltraFeed unit is designed to optimize crop flow in harvesters.

Karen Jones is the machinery executive editor at Successful Farming and Agriculture.com. She joined the Successful Farming team in 2023 following a 19-year career on the communications team of an agricultural cooperative.

New Holland has introduced a new UltraFeed pickup head for FR Forage Cruiser self-propelled forage harvesters. With a 13-foot working width, the head is designed to handle larger windrows while facilitating improved crop flow through the crop channel.

The new design also optimizes horsepower and cutterhead capacity to increase operator productivity, according to the company.

“Our engineering team strategically developed the UltraFeed head to increase our FR Forage Cruiser’s productivity across diverse crop types,” says Josh Harkenrider, commercial hay and forage marketing manager for New Holland. “The ability to modulate and equalize crop flow satisfies the FR’s appetite for production.”

As part of the new design, a belt-driven driveline was incorporated into the UltraFeed head. This new element not only increases capacity and uptime but also extends service life for the head, according to the company. Its driveline, coupled with a new auger design, smoothens crop flow into the forage harvester’s feed rolls.

To further optimize crop flow, a large roller windguard has been incorporated. This compresses large swaths ahead of the pickup reel, which is also beneficial in handling light windrows. Additionally, the integration of mesh to the top of the head allows operators to monitor crop flow into the FR Forage Cruiser with optional LED lights to enhance visibility.

To streamline routine maintenance, an optional auto greasing system can be added to the UltraFeed head to reduce maintenance time alongside new tine hardware.

“Extensive testing by the New Holland product validation team confirmed significant throughput improvements across various crop conditions and cut lengths compared with past units,” says Melissa Kelly, livestock and dairy segment lead for New Holland. “With New Holland’s heritage in self-propelled forage harvesters, our customers expect optimal machine performance with minimal downtime and maintenance.”

The UltraFeed pickup head was unveiled at the 2024 World Ag Expo in Tulare, California. It will also be on display at the 2024 Farm Progress Show in Boone, Iowa.