Weighing bales delivers accuracy and insight

Weighing bales is where you as a contractor can make a valuable difference. Weighing gives you and your customer plenty of information and supports farmers in their forage management strategy. It also provides transparency for both stakeholders and is therefore a sound basis for accurate invoicing. This extra service also gives you an opportunity to charge more for each bale.  

There are various methods of weighing: using a weighing system on the loader tractor or telehandler or driving the vehicle loaded with bales onto a weighbridge. There are also baler-wrapper combinations (BalePacks) on the market with integrated, on-board weighing systems. The advantage of these systems is that the amount of material that has been baled is recorded immediately per client or field, without any additional actions. The information is visible in real time on the display. 

Charging per bale, a transparent system?

If the farmer and the contractor agree to pay on the basis of the number of bales baled, a conflict of interests may arise: The contractor would like to bale at a slightly lower pressure to save fuel and protect the machine, while the farmer would like to get his forage baled at a good price-performance ratio. Invoicing on the basis of bale weights can be a good alternative here. 

 Weighing and measuring the dry matter content  

In an ideal situation, when the bale is in the bale grab the farmer knows how much forage is going to be fed and its quality. The solution is to weigh the bale, combined with measuring the dry matter content of the material. Samples of forage can be used to reveal the dry matter percentage of the entire cut of grass. This value, together with the weight of the bales produced from that cut, gives an insight into the amount of dry matter per bale being fed. This information allows the farmer to feed as accurately as possible and ensure feed efficiency.