SimplEbale brings large square baler functions to small balers

Oct 17, 2024

This new kit is designed to improve bale consistency on the Massey Ferguson 1800 Series small square balers.

Alex joined the Successful Farming team in December 2021 as the New Products Editor. Alex has been with Dotdash Meredith since 2021, starting in the imaging department and working on magazines across the company's entire portfolio before moving to Successful Farming.

Massey Ferguson has revealed SimplEbale, an electronic aftermarket monitoring and control system that can be retrofitted to the 1800 Series small square balers.

“SimplEbale delivers better hay with less work,” says Dane Mosel, tactical marketing manager for Massey Ferguson. “By retrofitting onto new and existing 1800 Series small square balers, SimplEbale is an affordable solution that demonstrates AGCO’s and Massey Ferguson’s farmer-first commitment to our customers and their operations.”

Alex Gray

The retrofit kit is intended to simplify the work required for consistent hay baling. The kit is modular, allowing farmers to select the options they need for their operations, with minimal modifications required to their baler.

“We're taking the information we provide to operators on our large square balers and moving it down to our small square baler frames,” says Karl Hofstetter, engineer for AGCO. “We're trying to improve efficiency, give you good bale formation, and keep uptime on our balers.”

The interface will provide guidance to simplify operation and maintenance, such as a flake-by-flake indicator that provides immediate feedback so operators can adjust ground speed without waiting on a bale to tie. Operators can set optimal bale length and target a flake count per bale.

The kit includes sensors, components, and harnessing to complete the updates to the baler’s operating system. The base package is compatible with select aftermarket moisture systems and consists of the user interface, electronic fan control, flake counter, bale length monitoring, and cab-based hydraulic pressure readout. These components provide increased visibility of the machine while in operation, and real-time updates of the bale being produced.

Optional upgrades include an automatic knotter lubrication pump, LED lighting, and hydraulic density control. A scale system can be added to provide a bale weight read out of each bale, and the average from the last five bales produced.

“In conjunction with the hydraulic system, you can set a bale weight target and the system will adjust automatically to that bail weight target,” says Hofstetter.

The SimplEbale kit will not require proprietary hardware or software to equip, and it will be compatible with future features. The kits are currently compatible with the Massey Ferguson 1840 two-tie and 1844S three-tie small square balers, and are available to order now through your local Massey Ferguson dealer.

Massey Ferguson 1840

Massey Ferguson 1844S

The Premium kit has the same functions as the Economy kit, with the automatic knotter lubrication pump and the hydraulic density control. For an additional $7,200, farmers can add a bale scale chute for ¼ turn drop, or bale scale chute for strings-up drop.

The kit will also be available to order for the 1842S two-tie baler this fall.

For more information about SimplEbale, visit MasseyFerguson.com.