Vermeer introduces concept autonomous bale mover

The entire haymaking process is all about time. It’s not only important to cut, dry and bale hay at the right time and moisture level, but producers also need to haul and store bales in a timely fashion to help the next crop start right. That’s exactly what a new concept at Vermeer aims to do. Nicknamed “Bale Hawk,” this autonomous bale mover is designed to help producers reduce the need for labor by moving bales from where they are dropped in the field to the field’s edge or a storage area.

*Concept machine only. Currently not available for sale.

[farmequip]

Always great to see the innovation coming from shortline equipment manufacturers.

[Adam-mnvc]

Pretty neat. If it works as good as their balers, you probably go to field and find it parked under a shade tree with error and all the bales still in the field.

[rbnhd]

The baling machine should plot every bail, that data should tell the auto where they are, thus allowing max efficiency for the auto mover,

[gbear]

Any video of this in mild terrain? If it can handle small gullies, dips, etc. it could change the game...

[bobcrone]

“Hey Tom, that new contraption of urs is over in my feedlot chasing heifers bruh”

[AntonyMB]

If I was a farmer and I bought one of these, I would call it Wall-E 😁

[mrbojangles]

These kinds of machines are what will make large corporations more efficient and keep small farmers small cause they can't afford this stuff.

[America-First]

Nice concept, at one end of the spectrum. But, will it put the hay out for the cows during the winter?

[scarface-]

That’s bad ass!!! If it actually works all the time👍🇺🇸

[buikpluis]

Seems a cool invention to me, possible to add a wrapper?

[dtbellamy]

That dog was a bad dog runnin out in front of that truck!!

[kegwf]

It's the new Farmer's Roomba!

[CATGVO]

This would be a good idea for square bales, if only they were stacked 3 high and placed near a tramline it saves a lot of time. Maybe Claas or Krone can build something like that, it saves a lot of time and soil compaction compared to the usual teleloader.

[deanpahl]

I wonder if can detect a suck hole in the field, plus turning on a dime in a alfalfa field can do a lot of damage.

[Hassle]

This i need, does it stop when it starts raining though

[liamjerkins]

And what happens with a 5 acre field on the side of a mountain that can really only be gotten to with a 4x4 tractor?

[------.-]

Not that it happen but what happens then it gets stuck or move them in snow Just wondering

[subwarpspeed]

It's very interesting and I've been thinking of (just in my head) some autonomous machine to pick up bales. But for hay or straw where the bales are quite low weight I wonder if the solution this is solving a problem that should be tackled earlier? Using bale accumulators, something like JD's Plus2 accumulator that drop things off in a line and then have any type of baler mower/trailer that loads them in from the side seems to be efficient.
But here in Sweden, if a dairy farm is using round bales it's wrapped bales with silage, not hay bales. Fields aren't as flat always but since they put down the bales on their sides they don't roll off. I would also think a bale accumulator for wrapped heavy bales will be quite heavy and it might get a bit too much to pull along. So an autonomous bale mower for wrapped bales that are tipped on their side could be something. If the bales aren't moved directly they should sit for a few weeks until the pressure drops inside them. So either the machine has to be very quick (unlikely) or it may have a lot more time on its hands later to collect them (with minimal energy input).

[crzyjck]

dude the music is so loud I can barely hear the speaker. Your company needs to learn that just because you want epic sounding music for your advert, doesn't mean it should completely dominate the ad.

[GermanShepherd]

But it has to be trailered from field to field. I'll just use a loader, it's easier.