Earlier this year New Holland Agriculture extended its Forage Cruiser range at the top end with the flagship model, the FR920, which takes foraging to a new level. High capacity and productivity result from the powerful new engine and improved feeding, while the industry-leading HydroLoc™ technology delivers best-in-class chop quality. A choice of three ranges of crop processors, all available in different roll configurations, covers every requirement from Biogas applications to shredded silage. This big forage harvesting performance comes with outstanding operator comfort.
Mark Hansen, Product Specialist, New Holland said: “New Holland has been at the forefront of forage harvesting for more than half a century. Over the years we have introduced a host of pioneering innovations and industry firsts. With the flagship FR920, we are offering forage harvesting on the largest scale combined with excellent durability resulting from the new heavy-duty drives and processors. The FR920’s productivity and best-in-class chop quality comes with outstanding Total Cost of Ownership.”
Ultimate capacity with the new powerful FPT Industrial V20 engine and high-performance crop feeding
The FR920 flagship model features the all-new FPT Industrial V20 engine developed for forage harvesting applications. It delivers a massive 670 kW (911 hp) maximum power at 1600 to 1800 rpm, 4,095 Nm maximum torque and a productivity-boosting 44% torque rise at 2100-1600 rpm. The power curve specifically mapped to match the precise requirements of foraging applications ensures the best transient response, so that the FR reacts fast to changing load. The V20 engine delivers the most fuel-efficient performance in the 1600 to 1900 rpm working range. This, together with the low maintenance costs result in the machine’s excellent Total Cost of Operation.
The overall feeding system has been improved and now features a 12.5% bigger intake channel thanks to higher lifting potential of the intake rolls delivering ultimate capacity at any given condition.
Efficient transfer of the FR920’s high power with the new heavy-duty driveline
The in-line concept and direct driveline logic of the FR Forage Cruiser ensure that all the power from the new V20 engine is efficiently transmitted to the driven parts and, ultimately, to the ground. The entire driveline and components on the FR920 have been reinforced to manage the greatly increased engine output of the new flagship model.
Heavy-duty mechanical 4WD option able to transmit all necessary torque on the ground
The FR920 features a new heavy-duty four-wheel drive system developed to deal with the increased power and traction requirements. It increases the maximum torque transferred to the wheels by 60% compared to the standard four-wheel drive system, delivering all the traction this powerful machine may need in the toughest field conditions while ensuring field surface preservation.
It features new heavy-duty axles that are guidance ready and a reinforced steering axle support. The new system also meets the increasing customer demand for being able to mount larger footprint steering tyres.
The engagement of the new heavy-duty four-wheel drive on the FR920 is controlled by the standard Terralock™ feature, which automatically activates and deactivates the four-wheel drive axle depending on the steering angle setting, minimising damage to the field surface during headland turns and reducing operator fatigue in long harvesting days.
Ultimate processing power across the FR range with a choice of three crop processors
The FR Forage Cruiser delivers ultimate crop quality with its unparalleled processing performance, now further enhanced with a choice of three crop processors across the range. New Holland is introducing the new DuraCracker™ and DuraShredder™ heavy-duty crop processing systems, which are now available in addition to the standard crop processing rolls.
The new DuraCracker system has been designed with reinforced frames and drives to deliver uniform kernel cracking and outstanding processing performance to match the high outputs of the most powerful model. The DuraShredder adds a further element: rolls with additional spiral cuts that shred the crop and deliver more intensive processing to both kernel and stover.
This system is responding to the latest nutritional requirements demanding for more intensive processing of maize kernels and additionally stover processing when harvesting at mid-to-long cutting lengths.
These processing systems, combined with the Patented HydroLoc technology that ensures consistent chop length independently of throughput and crop type, and the ActiveLoc™ system that automatically adapts chop lengths to moisture content, deliver premium forage and biomass quality.
New Holland FR Forage Cruiser measures crop nutrients on the go with new NIR On Board sensor
New Holland will offer NIR On Board as an option on the FR Forage Cruiser: with this advanced sensor technology, customers will be able to measure and monitor the crop’s moisture and nutrient parameters with outstanding +/-2% accuracy and in real time as they harvest.
Mark Hansen said: “This solution will provide New Holland customers with extremely accurate information on the content of their crop, with precise mapping of every field. This valuable information translates into excellent traceability, a great advantage for customers when preparing feed with diet mixers for their livestock or for sale. They will be able to precisely adjust rations according to the data in order to match their nutritionists’ feeding recommendations. As a result, they will provide high quality feed every day with the consistency that is so important for livestock.”
The data provided by the NIR On Board system is also very valuable for the biogas industry, which uses the exact crop composition to fine tune the biogas production process.
Outstanding accuracy on key parameters with a wide range of calibration curves
With NIR On Board, the FR Forage Cruiser will measure all the main crop parameters, such as dry matter, crude protein, crude fat, starch, Neutral Detergent Fibre (NDF), Acid Detergent Fibre (ADF) and ash with +/- 2% accuracy.
Calibration needs to be updated every year, and with the NIR On Board system this can be done by DG remotely through an internet connection.
The data collected by the NIR On Board system is easy to transfer to the farm’s PC with a USB key or it can be transmitted through wi-fi or GPS.