From Idaho to Reno and back to Germany

Hi followers, 

the first round of the “Meet the BiG MAN-Tour” is officially finished. All the hay, wheatlage and triticale in the western US is chopped and we can get the machines ready for corn. Right now I am back in Germany already. First maybe something about my last days in the US. 

The weather in Idaho was finally good for chopping so I was very busy the last days. I could run some more very successful demonstrations in alfalfa. Beside the performance, the customers really liked the blowing of the BiG X compared to their choppers. Especially when the hay has the right moisture, alfalfa can get very sticky. Here are some impressions about the demos from last week. Like everywhere, the interest in the chopper is very big…

Last Wednesday I packed my stuff and went back to Reno, where the headquarter for the western US is located and where we are going to park the trailer for the next weeks. It’s amazing how quick the landscape can change, when the water is missing. The last picture shows a dried out lake. 

In Reno I got the trailer ready to go for corn, get it washed  and had some time for some calculating. Here are some facts of my first “hay-round”:

From the 4^th of April till the 15^th of June I made 52 demonstrations for customers from 7 different states of the US. I had over 100 drivers in the seat of the new BiG X. 

In total I chopped about 190 hours with all the choppers. I was chopping oats, wheat, triticale, grass and alfalfa. The best performance with the BiG X 1100 was  420 US Tons/h in Triticale. I could chop 8,6 Tons per gallon of fuel.

At the end of my tour I had 10.900 miles on the counter. About the fuel milage of the truck I better don’t talk.

So what’s the plan for the next weeks? I will have a few days off and will be back in the german headquarter in Spelle next week. But I won’t stay long. Depending on the weather and crop progress I will fly back to the US in the middle of July. Destination: Arizona for corn.

For the next weeks some more events with the BiG X and other Krone Equipment are planned. I will keep you up to date about that. So please check back later…

All the best from Germany

Benedikt  

Finally sun..

Hi followers,

finally the spring arrived in Idaho. It’s heating up and the rain quit. Like you know, I am staying in Twin Falls right now. The first days I couldn’t demo because of rain and cold. Finally I ran my first demo 65 miles east of Twin Falls on last Sunday. The customer was chopping triticale for a 75.000 head feed lot. Here are some impressions…

Beside the chopping I did some sightseeing. Twin Falls is famous for the big waterfalls north of town. Here are some pictures of the falls, the Snake River and the canyon. If you have seen the DVD about the BiG Pack Roadshow “10.000 miles through the USA” from last year, you will recognize the bridge, where that crazy base-jumper jumped off. 

The last days I have been busy. Beginning of the week we have demoed two Krone machines to a customer. First we swathed with our 42 ft rotary rake Swadro 1400 and followed it with the BiG X 1100. The customer liked the nice swath of the Swadro compared to his wheel rake. He was impressed about the performance of the BiG X and very liked the possibility to switch to EcoMode, when the full power is not needed. Here are some pictures of the demo. The sun is fighting with the clouds.

On Thursday I had some of the heaviest swath during my time in Idaho in front of my PickUp. I was chopping alfalfa hay and they were merging 80 ft together. But no problem for the BiG X 1100: With 9 miles an hour, I was filling the trucks in less than three minutes. The customer and especially the truck drivers were impressed: “I have never chopped in 5^th gear. That chopper is hauling ass!” When you see the last pictures, you understand why it is dusty already again. Pure sand!

For the next days, we have some demos lined up around Twin Falls. I will stay here till Wednesday, before I move back to Reno and the first round of the “Meet the BiG MAN-Tour” is finished. Then we are getting ready for corn. More about that in a few days.

Regards from Twin Falls,ID

Benedikt

Rain and more rain in Idaho..

Hi followers,

this week I don’t have much news for you. Because of the weather I could only run one demo last week. The weather is crazy. Normally we should have temperatures in the upper eighties right now. Last week it was raining and cold with temperatures down to fifties. I had to wear my jacket again. The one demo I did went very well. The customer really liked the changes on the chopper like the new cab, the new feeder cabinet, the spring loaded crop flow Vari Stream and for sure the engine. The performance was impressive: In EcoMode with 850 hp I was running at about 9 miles an hour. My fuel meaturing device was telling me 2,7 gallons to fill a semi truck. That results in 8,4 Tons/gallon of fuel.

Here are some impressions about the demo last week. Very nice background with the mountains!

The rest of the week we were stopped by the weather. Finally it was drying up on Sunday, so that I could run another two demos last Monday. Right after we have chopped the triticale, the trucks came to spread slurry. By now, the corn should be in the ground already. 

 

Yesterday we hauled the chopper from Caldwell to Twin Falls. Tomorrow we will start demoing around here, if the weather won’t change again. 

Regards from Idaho,

Benedikt