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A Baler is a type of Implement in Farming Simulator 17. This implement collects loose Grass, Hay or Straw from the field, and compacts the material into a Bale.

A Baler picks up loose material from the ground using a built-in pickup header. It accumulates the materials in an internal holding tank until it reaches 4,000 Liters, at which point the Baler will produce one bale of that material. The baler may then eject the bale automatically, or hold it until ordered to drop the bale manually.

A given Baler model can only create bales of one specific shape - either Round or Square. There is no baler model in the base game (nor in the current DLCs) that can create both types of bales. However, Balers can normally work with any of the three materials listed above.

Farming Simulator 17 offers two different models of Balers - one for each bale shape. Since they produce bales of different shapes, these Balers are not interchangeable and do not directly compete with one another. The Kuhn Pack DLC adds two more models of Balers to the game, one of which is a hybrid Baler/Bale Wrapper.

List of Balers[]

Below are both Baler models available in Farming Simulator 17. They can both be found in the "Baling Technology" category at the store.

Name Price Maint. Cost
per Day
Bale
Shape
Power
Consumption
Wrapping Hitch
FS17 NewHolland-RollBelt150
New Holland Roll-Belt 150
58,000 110 FS17 Icon RoundBale Black Small

51 kW / 70 hp

No Drawbar (Bolt)
FS17 NewHolland-BigBaler1290
New Holland BigBaler 1290
102,000 190 FS17 Icon SquareBale Black Small 136 kW / 185 hp No Drawbar (Ball)
FS17 Kuhn-LSB1290D
Kuhn LSB 1290 D
(Kuhn DLC only)
105,000 140 FS17 Icon SquareBale Black Small 136 kW / 185 hp No Drawbar (Ball)
FS17-Kuhn-FBP3135
Kuhn FBP 3135
(Kuhn DLC only)
135,000 210 FS17 Icon RoundBale Black Small 103 kW / 140 hp Yes Drawbar (Bolt)


Notes for Table[]

  • All Balers in the base game and DLCs impose a Maximum Working Speed of 20 km/h / 12 mph.

Picking Up Materials[]

To create Bales, a Baler must pick up loose material from the ground. It can only collect Grass, Hay, or Straw. While Silage bales also exist in the game, these cannot be created by a Baler (see Bale Wrapper).

A Baler picks up these materials from the ground in the same way that a Loading Wagon or Pickup Header does. While the Baler is lowered FS17 KeyboardButtonBaler: Lower PickupDefault Buttons: 30?cb=20170827234847 V30?cb=20170827234910 ??30?cb=20170828002413 ?? and activated FS17 KeyboardButtonBaler: Turn OnDefault Buttons: 30?cb=20170827234847 B30?cb=20170827234910 ??30?cb=20170828002413 ??, a pickup device at the front of the machine will automatically collect any Pile of valid material it encounters.

The materials are collected into an internal holding tank, with a capacity of exactly 4,000 Liters. This is the same across all models of Balers, as it is the amount of materials required to create one Bale. Once this limit is reached, the Baler will immediately create a new Bale from this material, and the holding tank becomes empty.

At that point, different models of balers behave differently, based on the method they use to unload the bale once it's been created (see next section). If the bale is automatically unloaded from the Baler, it may immediately continue to collect more material to create another bale. If the baler must be unloaded manually, it will stop collecting materials until the bale is unloaded; It will simply not interact with any additional Piles until then.

Switching Materials[]

Unlike most other machines that can collect materials from the ground, a Baler can collect any material at any given time, even if it is carrying a different type of material.

If the Baler contains any amount of material A, and then tries picking up a pile of material B, all of the materials already inside the Baler will instantly transform into material B.

For example, if your baler is 99% full of Straw, and you try to pick up some Hay, all of the straw inside the baler will be turned into Hay.

This feature makes sure that you are never stuck with the wrong kind of materials inside your baler, rendering it unusable for other materials.

Releasing the Bales[]

Different models of Balers have different methods to unload their bales once they've been created. This can have a very profound impact on how the Baler is used.

The two methods for base-game and DLC Balers are "Manual" and "Automatic". Generally speaking, automatic bale release is far superior to manual release.

Manual Release[]

A "Manual Release" Baler will not drop the new bale it has created until manually instructed to do so. Once it reaches 4,000 Liters of material, the baler will simply stop collecting any more materials.

To release the bale, press the corresponding button FS17 KeyboardButtonBaler: UnloadDefault Buttons: 30?cb=20170827234847 Y30?cb=20170827234910 ??30?cb=20170828002413 ??. This will cause the machine to open, and the bale will simply drop out. To resume collecting materials, the machine needs to be closed again by pressing the same button FS17 KeyboardButtonBaler: UnloadDefault Buttons: 30?cb=20170827234847 Y30?cb=20170827234910 ??30?cb=20170828002413 ??.

A Manual Release Baler will begin to beep when it reaches ~65% of its capacity, and will not stop beeping until 100% capacity. Once it has stopped beeping, it will not collect or interact with any material on the ground.

Automatic Release[]

An "Automatic Release" Baler is capable of releasing each new bale automatically, while also continuing to collect more materials without any interruptions.

Every time the Automatic Release Baler reaches 4,000 Liters, a new bale is created - but it is immediately pushed out of the machine to make room for a new bale. Therefore, the capacity counter is immediately reset to 0 Liters, and the Baler continues to collect more materials to create another bale. There is no "down-time", and no need to stop and empty the baler.

The Automatic Release Baler does not drop each bale onto the ground immediately. Instead, the bale is dropped onto a short conveyor belt at the back of the machine. Each additional bale created will push the previous bale(s) further down the belt. A bale that reaches the end of the belt will fall out on its own. It is technically possible for a bale to drop out of the conveyor belt without being pushed out, e.g. during a sharp turn that puts intense physical force on the bale. However, this is normally a very rare occurrence.

It is possible to force an Automatic Release Baler to push all of the bales it is carrying out onto the ground, by turning off the Baler FS17 KeyboardButtonBaler: Turn OffDefault Buttons: 30?cb=20170827234847 B30?cb=20170827234910 ??30?cb=20170828002413 ?? and pressing the "Unload" button FS17 KeyboardButtonBaler: UnloadDefault Buttons: 30?cb=20170827234847 Y30?cb=20170827234910 ??30?cb=20170828002413 ??. This will only unload existing bales - not the materials currently accumulating towards the next bale.

Working behind a Harvester[]

FS17 Harvester-Baling

A New Holland TC5.90 collecting its own straw using a BigBaler 1290.

Smaller Harvester models like the Sampo Rosenlew Comia C6 and New Holland TC5.90 can tow and operate a Baler behind them, during the Wheat or Barley harvest. As the harvester leaves a Straw swath behind, the Baler can immediately pick it up and compact it into bale form.

In the base game, this is only possible with the two harvester models mentioned above, as they are the only Harvesters capable of providing power to a towed trailer. Other harvesters can tow a Baler, but cannot activate it.

The New Holland BigBaler 1290 is significantly better for this job, because of its Automatic Release feature. It will continuously collect more and more Straw, dropping bales automatically behind the harvester. Note, however, that the Harvester may not be able to use a very large Harvesting Header when doing this, otherwise it may not have enough Horsepower to feed both the Header and Baler and still have enough to move itself.

In contrast, with the New Holland Roll-Belt 150, the Harvester will need to stop every time the Baler is full, to allow the baler time to unload its bale. Hired Workers will actually stop and wait for you to enter the Harvester, dismiss the worker, unload the bale, and re-hire the worker again. This can become very tedious, as a single hectare of land will produce a total of 17 Bales - requiring you to manually interrupt the harvest 17 times.

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