Bale Loaders/Farming Simulator 15
A Bale Loader is a machine designed to automate the process of collecting Bales from the field, transporting them to another location, and storing them in neat stacks. A single Bale Loader with a towing vehicle can do all of this, in a very simple and easy-to-use manner.
There are only 2 Bale Loaders available in the base game. Each of them is designed to work only with one specific shape of bales.
List of Bale Loaders
| Loader | Price (€) |
Maintenance (€ / day) |
Capacity (Bales) |
Bale Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
24,000 | 20 | 8 | Round |
 |
45,000 | 170 | 16 | Square |
Notes for Table
- Bale Loaders have no minimum or recommended power requirements.
- All Bales Loaders in the base game have a Drawbar (Ball) hitch.
Overview
Bale Loaders are meant to simplify the process of gathering Bales from the field, transporting them to other destinations, and arranging them in neat stacks for storage.
Without a Bale Loader, the above would need to be done with the help of a Front Loader or similar device, and possibly a Bale Trailer. This can be tedious, repetitive work, that requires quite a bit of skill. The Bale Loader makes the work far easier.
A Bale Loader is essentially a holding box for bales, but it is much more than that. For one, Bale Loaders have a special automated arm that can pick up bales off the field, simply by driving up to them. The arm then arranged the bales into the holding box, perfectly utilizing the box's entire capacity with no need for skillful manual manipulation. The bales can then be taken to their destination (usu. the Cow Pasture), where the Bale Loader can prop them up into a neat standing stack, again with minimal work or skill required.
Each Bale Loader in the base game can work with only one shape of bale - either Round or Square. This means that you may want to own both types of Bale Loaders, to be able to work with either bale shape as necessary. However, a Bale Loader can work just fine with Straw, Hay, or even Silage bales. It can collect a variety of these bale types at the same time, if necessary.
As a result of all the above, Bale Loaders are strongly recommended when you start working with large numbers of bales, such as when trying to operate a larger Cow industry.
Towing the Bale Loader
Bale Loaders are not self-propelled, they need to be attached to a towing vehicle.
Both Bale Loaders in the base game have a Drawbar (Ball) hitch at the front, which can be attached to a very wide variety of vehicles.
For starters, Bale Loaders can be attached to pretty much any tractor in the game, including even the smallest ones. Note however that when the Bale Loader is full of bales, it may prove a little too heavy for smaller tractors to comfortably pull around. Consult individual articles on each Bale Loader to find power recommendations.
In addition to tractors, both the Lizard PiQup and most of the Harvesters in the game can be hitched to a Bale Loader - and most of them can operate it too!
Loading Bales
The arm on the side of the Bale Loader can be extended or retracted at any time. While extended, the arm will automatically pick up any bale it encounters.
The arm automatically triggers when a bale of the correct shape is found within a meter or two from the arm itself. You only need to get the arm close enough - the particular orientation of the bale is irrelevant. Once the bale is picked up, the arm will place it into the holding box. After the first bale is picked up, a second bale can be picked up almost immediately. It will be set into the holding box next to the first bale.
Once a pair of bales have been picked up, the machine begins a "push-back" cycle. It will essentially move the pair of bales further back into the holding box, in order to make room for another pair of bales to be picked up. Each machine does this differently, but the effect is the same. While the "push-back" cycle is occurring, the machine will temporarily not pick up any additional bales. Once the cycle is complete (a few seconds), the machine is ready to continue picking up more bales.
For the arm to pick up a bale, it must be the same shape as the one the specific model of Bale Loader you are using is designed for. Bale Loaders can only pick up one bale shape, and will completely ignore bales of the other shape. It will throw up a warning notice if you drive it up to bales of the wrong shape.
Once the machine is full of bales, it will refuse to pick up any more.
Transporting Bales
Once the Bale Loader is loaded up with bales, it can be used to transport them anywhere. Usually, you'll want your bales to go to the Cow Pasture, since most bales are necessary for the Cow industry. However, Silage bales can be taken to the Biogas Plant for direct sale.
Unlike Bale Trailers, the holding box of a Bale Loader is entirely secure - the bales simply cannot fall off during transport, even when driving very roughly. They won't fall off even if the machine flips over. This gives Bale Loaders a fantastic advantage over Bale Trailers.
Unloading Bales
The final ability of Bale Loaders is to unload themselves on command when the destination is reached. Not only that, but the Bale Loader is specifically designed to unload its bales into a neat, standing stack.
The Bale Loader does this by rotating its holding box upright, so that the bales are vertical to the ground. It then releases the bales, leaving them standing exactly where you want them. If the ground is level, the stacks should stand perfectly after the Bale Loader drives away. The holding box is then returned to its horizontal state, so that it can start picking up bales immediately.
The resulting stacks take up far less space then a random pile of bales, and it is much easier to retrieve bales from the stack using a Front Loader later on.
Unloading bales is a four-step process that should require minimal skills.
Rotating Vertically
Once you've reached the location where you want to unload the bales, simply hit the "unload" button.
The holding box will slowly rotate upwards, until it is standing upright - 90 degrees perpendicular to the ground. The bottom of the holding box will be touching the ground at this point.
At this point, you can still drive with the holding box in its upright state. This allows you to back the holding box into position.
Dumping the Bales
As soon as the box with the bales inside it is in the exact position where you want the bales to stand, hit the "unload" button again.
The bales are now release from your Bale Loader. You may not notice that anything has changed, because the bales are released when they are already touching the ground. However, they are now no longer held securely into the machine - they are separate entities that are standing thanks to physical forces.
Driving Away
Now that the bales are free-standing, you'll need to carefully drive your Bale Loader forward, to disengage from the bale stacks. If this is performed correctly, on level ground, the bales should remain standing exactly where you left them.
Try not to turn at all during this maneuver. A wrong move can cause your stacks to tumble down. A simple drive forward should do the trick.
Resetting the Box
After driving a few meters forward, your holding box is now clear of the stacks of bale.
All you need to do to return the device to operational mode is to hit the same "unload" button a third time. The box will slowly rotate back to a horizontal position. When it's done, the machine has been reset, and can now collect more bales.