New Holland Big Baler 1290/Farming Simulator 15
The New Holland Big Baler 1290 is a Baler available in Farming Simulator 15. It is designed to create Square Bales of Hay or Straw. It cannot create Round Bales. The Big Baler 1290 is the only Square Baler in the base game.
Physical Properties
The machine itself consists of a foraging device at the front, which can suck in loose Straw or Dried Grass that's been left on the ground by a Harvester or Mower (respectively). Once a sufficient amount of the material has been sucked in, the Big Baler 1290 will compress it into a solid rectangular shape, and push it out onto a metal rail at the back of the machine. The bales are eventually pushed off that rail, and are left on the field to be collected by other machines.
The Big Baler 1290 has a Drawbar (Ball) hitch at the front, which can be attached to any tractor in the game, as well as the Lizard PiQup and most Harvesters. Note, however, that many vehicles that can tow the Big Baler cannot actually operate it.
The Big Baler 1290 has a working area of about 3.0 meters. The number is not stated in the store. This working width is very narrow, which is why Windrowing is very much recommended prior to collecting Dried Grass. Straw Swaths are already the correct width when they are created.
While the store states that this vehicle requires 90 kW / 122 hp to operate, it actually requires much more than that. The Big Baler 1290 can be towed by most vehicles without any issue, but it cannot be turned on unless connected to a vehicle with at least 140 hp. Even then, a towing vehicle with only 140 hp will struggle to move while the Big Baler is turned on. Therefore, it is recommended that you use a vehicle with at least 200 hp, or more!
While operating, the Big Baler 1290 enforces a speed limit of 25 km/h.
Operation
Once attached and towed to the field, the Big Baler 1290 must be lowered, unfolded, and activated. As it passes over any patch of Straw or Dried Grass lying on the ground, it will pick it up automatically. You can pick up either Straw or Dried Grass regardless of what the Big Baler is currently holding. The Big Baler 1290 will not pick up regular mowed Grass (green, non-dried) under any circumstances.
As soon as at least 1 liter of any substance has been collected, the Big Baler will begin producing a square bale, which will be visible inside the machine. As more and more material accumulates, the bale will slowly be pushed out of the machine onto the metal rail at the back. Once the amount of material hits 4,000 liters, the bale is completed, and the holding tank will be reset to 0 liters.
Completed bales are not ejected onto the field immediately. Instead, while creating the next bale, the previous bale will be pushed further out onto the metal rail. After making about 2.5 bales (approx. 10,000 liters of material processed), the first bale will have been pushed so far down the metal rail that it will drop off the back of the machine on its own.
It is also possible to command the machine to unload any completed bales it is currently carrying. You will need to turn off the Big Baler for this option to appear. There is no way to unload partially-completed bales.
Mixing Straw and Hay
The Big Baler 1290 can create Square Bales of either Straw or Hay. These two types of materials have very different uses in the game. The type of bale created by the Big Baler depends on what material it picks up from the field. Dried Grass will create green-colored Hay bales, while Straw will create yellow-colored Straw Bales.
As mentioned above, it is possible to pick up either Straw or Dried Grass regardless of what substance is already inside the machine. This means that you can mix up Straw and Dried Grass in the machine at will. However, there is no such thing as a "mixed bale" of Straw and Hay together - the resulting bale will be made entirely of either Straw or Hay, even if you picked up two different substances while creating that bale.
The type of bale created depends only on the last material you picked up when the amount of material in the machine hit 4,000 liters. The exact quantities of either material inside the machine are entirely irrelevant. For example, you can pick up 3,999 liters of Dried Grass, and then pick up only 1 liter of Straw, to get a full Straw bale of 4,000 liters, simply because the Straw was picked up last.
This allows for a potential exploit, in case you have an abundance of one material and a shortage of the other. Simply use one material as "filler", and when the machine is nearly full simply pick up a bit of the other material.
Specifications
- Price: $128,000
- Maintenance: $120 / day
- Capacity: 4,000 L
- Working width: 3.0m
- Required power: 90 kW / 122 hp
- Max speed (work mode): 25 km/h / 16 mph
- Selling price: $64,000 ($76,800 at shop)
- Front Hitch: Drawbar (Ball)