XtraBlatt Issue 02-2020

2
2020
XtraBlatt
QUALITY
FROM NEARBY
Regional marketing
THE BALING CHAMPION
Straw harvesting in Great Britain
LUCKY SWINE
Pastured pigs in
East Friesland

Maschinenfabrik Krone has remained true to its customary
marketing concept of presenting new ideas and developments
in the “inter Agritechnica years”. However, the 2020
corona pandemic brought one break from tradition in that
the international press conference premiered as a purely
virtual event. Catering for this, the Krone Training Centre
rapidly metamorphosed into a professional TV studio.
EDITORIAL
DEAR READERS,
There are moments when I’m left speechless, although these
are admittedly very unusual occasions. But it was certainly
the case this autumn when a former Minister of Agriculture
aired her opinions on the link between the corona pandemic
and agriculture. She inferred that behind the pandemic were
poor food production practices, bad farming and environmental
neglect. What really made me speechless in this
respect was not the well-worn accusation that, once again,
it’s all the farmers’ fault. Just as disgraceful in this respect, I
still find, is the way in which hygiene conditions in Chinese
meat markets, or questionable contracts for workers in
German slaughterhouses, are misused to support political
dogma on all things agricultural. This is unacceptable in a
countryside where farming features standards of quality
output and environmental care that are unique worldwide,
whether under “bio” or conventional management.
However, I recognise as fundamentally very positive the
present social and political discussions on what agriculture
might look like in the future. Especially encouraging here is
that science and food supply chain players now join with
politics and agriculture in these discussions: a cooperation
that carries with it the opportunity for everyone involved
to at last recognise the high value of the food we produce.
The way I look at it, misusing our meat and milk products as
cut-price bargains in supermarkets borders on immorality.
Everyone – policy makers as well as consumers – wanting
high standards of environment protection and farm animal
welfare must remain resolute in this respect and accept that
added value has its price.
Regionality is the title theme thoughtfully chosen for
this XtraBlatt issue. Food supplied with shortest journeys
between producers, processors and consumers represents
the ideal solution. On the other hand, direct marketing or
regional slaughter facilities cannot represent the golden rule
for everyone. Each and every family business has to find its
own solution. My wish is that everyone be encouraged to
discover for themselves the best possible option. After all,
without a diverse agriculture peopled by viable family farms,
our countryside would be all the poorer. Perhaps you’ll get
the chance for a few quiet hours of conversation on this
subject sometime during the holiday period. And while
you’re relaxing, I wish all of you a very happy Christmas and
good fortune in 2021!
Sincerely yours, Bernard Krone
3

4 5
IMPRINT
Publisher:
Maschinenfabrik
Bernard Krone GmbH & Co. KG
Heinrich-Krone-Straße 10
48480 Spelle
Tel.: +49(0)5977/935-0
info.ldm@krone.de
www.krone.de
Responsible according to Press Law:
Henrik Feldmann
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www.beckmann-verlag.de
Layout:
Beckmann Verlag GmbH & Co. KG
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Photographic material:
Unless specified differently:
Maschinenfabrik
Bernard Krone GmbH & Co. KG
and editorial staff respectivelyS. 6–9:
Metzgerei Ammon
S. 24–25: arturdidyk/Depositphotos.com
S. 28–31: Feuerborn/agrarheute
S. 34–37: Kneer (3)
S. 46–49: Meusel (4)
S. 51: Graphic: LandBauTechnik-Bundesverband
S. 60: Graphic: vska/Depositphotos.com
Print run:
38,000 copies
XtraBlatt appears biannually for Krone
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CONTENTS
CONTENTS
5
3 Editorial
Editorial
6 Metzgerschlachthof Fürth: Regional from conviction
Metzgerschlachthof Fürth: Regional from conviction
10
10 Biohof Kinkelbur: Ice and eggs sell well
Biohof Kinkelbur: Ice and eggs sell well
14
14 Quality forage harvesting series: Ease off speed
Quality forage harvesting series: Ease off speed
20
20 Pasture pigs: Swine in the open air
Pasture pigs: Swine in the open air
24
24 Maschinenfabrik Bernard Krone: Sailing on
Maschinenfabrik Bernard Krone: Sailing on
28
28 Farm contractor Will Murphy (GB): Big business big bales
Farm contractor Will Murphy (GB): Big business big bales
32
32 Behind the scenes
Behind the scenes
34
34 Kneer family: Real professionals
Kneer family: Real professionals
38
38 News-Ticker
News-Ticker
40
40 Agrimec/Abemec (NL): The specialists
Agrimec/Abemec (NL): The specialists
43
43 Krone museum: “Now it’s really good.”
Krone museum: “Now it’s really good.”
46
46 Hay Heinrich: Farming – conservation – adding value
Hay Heinrich: Farming – conservation – adding value
50
50 LandBauTechnik-Bundesverband: Performance providers
LandBauTechnik-Bundesverband: Performance providers
54
54 GreenNight-Tour: Meadow movies
GreenNight-Tour: Meadow movies
56
56 Dortmund Parks Department: Nature-near city parkland
Dortmund Parks Department: Nature-near city parkland
59
59 EU Education Ministers: A look into learning
EU Education Ministers: A look into learning
60
60 Future Lab: Testing heart and soul
Future Lab: Testing heart and soul
14
INFORM
QUALITY FORAGE HARVESTING SERIES – PART 2
TEDDING AND SWATHING
FOR BETTER FEED
EASE OFF SPEED
15
QUALITY FORAGE HARVESTING SERIES – PART 2
TEDDING AND SWATHING
Those seeking good results in tedding and swathing
should tend towards slower operation speeds. And
if higher work rates are wanted, go for bigger machines
with more working width.
FOR BETTER FEED
EASE OFF SPEED
FARM CONTRACTOR WILL MURPHY, GREAT BRITAIN
BIG BUSINESS
BIG BALES
Will Murphy runs a classic new business up in the county of
Suffolk, Great Britain. His concept is baling straw with two
Krone HDP machines packing a good 30,000 bales per season.
A great reason for a visit from Bernd Feuerborn, journalist with
agrarheute magazine.
The business base is hard to find, nestling somewhere
way out in the British countryside. Narrow lanes lead
to the farm – fields as far as the eye can see. In the yard
stands a corrugated iron barn with an office container
settled in front. Alongside the barn await two Krone large
square balers, ready for action. One, a BiG Pack 1290 HDP
High Speed and the other a BiG Pack HDP II. The HDP High
Speed was a season old, the HDP almost new, when we
visited contractor WRM Agri Ltd in summer.
Will Murphy founded his contractor firm in 2016 as 27-yearold
seeking the independence of self-employment. Beforehand,
he’d worked a couple of years in the straw trade for a
firm that bought straw as power station fuel. In the electricity
plant straw was mixed with wood chips before firing the
boilers to produce 44 MW, enough for 82,000 households.
Each year, 240,000 t straw were needed for this purpose,
with the plant now in its fourth year of full operation. This
is where Will saw his chance as a self-employed supplier of
straw. In fact, there are four such biomass electricity works
in the region with a total straw requirement of 1 m t.
28
INTERNATIONAL
season’s business should go. The most important machines
in this respect are the balers, a reason why the Krone balers
are new or almost new.
The only bale size he wanted was 120 x 90 cm and he likes
density as high as possible, which in turn minimises straw
transport costs. This is why the 1290 HDP High Speed joined
the fleet in 2018. With this machine the contractor takes a
further precautionary step and has the baler serviced by
the local Krone dealership and has bought an extended
guarantee for the machine. “The capacity for enormous
straw density in the bales, but also the good service supplied
by the Krone dealership, were decisive factors for my purchase”,
says Will Murphy. The baler is powered by a Massey
Ferguson (MF 8670) 2012 model with 3,300 hours on the
clock. “With the tractors I’m always on the lookout for good
used machines, older but with low hours.” With its 320 HP,
the present MF has the required power for the HDP baler.
Things were different in the beginning with a Xenon 3800,
already 12 years old, running in front of the HDP II. It came
into the business with 2,500 h. This baler needs more than
380 HP on-hand in order to achieve full output, reckons Will
Murphy. For this reason, he’s added another 40 HP with chip
tuning. It seems there’s no problem in this respect with the
road authorities in Britain or road vehicle insurance.
Both tractors are fitted up-front with Agriweld swath rollers.
In this region the combines are working with 6 to 12 m
cutterbars and with the roll pressure on the big swaths, it’s
reckoned that the baler can work at up to 4 km/h faster. We
would have liked to have seen this proved in action.
Will Murphy started off small scale. He asked the manager of
a 2,400 ha farm if he could buy and bale 80 ha straw. Because
the manager was at the time not so happy with his present
contractor, he ended up being offered 400 ha for baling.
He grabbed the opportunity and impressed everyone with
prompt service and clean baling work. Nowadays, he bales
straw on the whole farm and has secured baling contracts
for a further 1,600 ha in the region.
The business with the straw is quite a simple one in this area.
The farmers sell their straw from the field to the contractor.
Thereby barley, wheat and – amazingly – rapeseed straw are
all baled. As soon as the combine is finished, Will enters the
field with his baling team. Because he’s expected to clear
the stubble quickly, work capacity is important. After all, the
complete risk lies with the contractor. Payment is by weight.
All bales are recorded and traceable to field of origin. The
contractor gets his cash on delivery of straw to the power
station storage barns. Here, every bale is weighed.
TWO HDP BALERS
Three years into the business, Will Murphy’s labour force
had reached six seasonal workers employed for up to 10
weeks from July to September. However, the main work
is completed – weather and harvest permitting – usually
within six weeks. The contractor has a clear vision of how the
The two Krone balers run by
Will Murphy together manage
to produce up to 30,000 bales
per season.
29
40
PARTNER
GRÜNLAND-MANAGEMENT: NIEDERLANDE
NUR QUALITÄT
Leading machinery makes in the product
range and benchmark status in service have
helped the Abemec Group establish a powerful
presence in the southern half of the
Netherlands. Interesting thereby: sales and
service facilities now exist as separate subsidiaries.
The aim is clear: “Optimally, none of
our customers should have to drive
further than 30 km (18 miles) to reach one
of our sales or service locations”, emphasises
Hans Quint. He’s managing director
of Abemec b.v. which has its head office in
Veghel, around 25 km north of Eindhoven
and therefore in the heart of Noord-Brabant,
one of the Netherlands’ three southernmost
provinces. But the operative area of this
company specialising in sales and service of
farm machinery stretches far further afield.
14 of the now existing 21 branch depots
run by this 70-year-old organisation lie in
the “home ground” of Noord-Brabant and
Zeeland. As part of a carefully planned expansion
strategy, a further seven locations
have been added in the centre and north
of the country.
NEW STRUCTURE
But why did Abemec open, in February 2020,
a further, completely new-built, facility
in 10,000-soul Beek en Donk, just 12 km
from Veghel? After all, purely from business
logic this close positioning of specialised
facilities makes little sense. In this case,
though, there’s a logical explanation, says
Hans Quint. Between 2014 and 2019, the
Munich-based agricultural supplier BayWa
AG gradually took over Abemec.
This led to the challenge of retaining the
Fendt exclusive sales strategy, as carried out
by the business for the preceding 55 years
in Veghel. “The concept we’d so far successfully
followed, as far as our customers were
concerned, involved always listing strong
brands from specialised manufacturers in
the individual product sectors”, explains
Hans Quint. “We had worked with most
of these firms for decades. For example,
with Krone since 1995. To relinquish this
policy would have set us back enormously
in the market. So we made up our minds to
continue this strategy, and to unite it with
that of our new owner for best possible
synergy effect.”
This has resulted since 2019 in a trio of
self-contained companies under the roof
of a single holding: Agrimec. One of the
daughters, Agromec, focusses exclusively
on customer-advice and sales for the complete
Fendt range. Abemec Machines, on
the other hand, is responsible for sales of
the other core brands – except for tractors.
And the third part of the trio is responsible
only for technical customer services, as
emphasised by the company name Abemec
Service. The highlight here is that the
service division supports all products from
both sales companies. And so the question
on locational nearness of the Veghel and
Beek en Donk facilities is explained. “In
Veghel, we concentrate on Fendt sales and
presentation of new Fendt machinery. In
Beek en Donk, the head office of Abemec
Machines, our interest is centred on Krone,
Dewulf, Agrifac and other specialists”,
explains the managing director.
Separate sales structures will continue
to exist for individual main makes. But
servicing in Abemec’s 21 locations will be
carried out in the same way for all makes.
AGRIMEC/ABEMEC
THE
SPECIALISTS
41
50
INTERVIEW
Farm machinery dealerships represent
the key interface between
manufacturer and end customers.
Why interactions at this point are
not always stress-free, and what
solutions to improve the situation
might look like, is discussed here
in an interview with Ulf Kopplin,
president of the LandBauTechnik-
Bundesverband (National
Agricultural Machinery and
Equipment Dealers and
Repairers Association).
51
LANDBAUTECHNIK­BUNDESVERBAND
PERFORMANCE
PROVIDERS
XtraBlatt: Herr Kopplin, machinery which has become
increasingly complex over the years ensures that the importance
of the supplying, servicing and repairing dealership
increases. Isn’t this development actually a very welcome
one?
Ulf Kopplin: You’re correct in the assumption that highly
qualified personnel are needed more than ever in dealership
workshops to ensure reliable servicing of machinery that can
include the very latest technological developments. This gives
our member companies a central and growing importance in
the relationship between manufacturers and end customers.
However, there are definitely no grounds here for unrestrained
jubilation. The investment needed to support this level of
performance, and to encourage further the appropriate
technical development, is gigantic. For instance, the cost
item ‘vocational education and training’ alone represents
tens of thousands of euros each year for every dealership,
even when simply considering calculated training costs and
related downtime through the days when the trainees are
not at their workplaces. On top of this comes the required
workshop equipment, joining another cost block that’s just as
serious: the area of guarantee costs. All this is hardly possible
any longer at the rates commonly charged. The dealerships
are the performance providers of the branch. Their input must
be justly rewarded!
XtraBlatt: Aren’t you complaining here from an already
excellent position? After all, standard rates of 90 €/h for
a skilled mechanic with a master certificate, or 65 €/h for
one who has completed all basic training, cannot be called
chickenfeed - at least from the point of view of the bill-paying
customer. And not every dealership workshop provides
highest standards in work quality and performance.
Kopplin: As far as hourly rates are concerned, those charged
by our farm machinery dealerships remain well below those
of other technical sectors, e.g. for road going vehicles, or IT.
And do not forget that the standard of knowledge and qualifications
represented in a farm and construction machinery
mechatronics engineer compared with colleagues in the
other areas just mentioned is – in all modesty - substantially
greater. I am absolutely convinced of that. In practice, there
may well be differences in quality. But the future-oriented
companies are all in a very good position in this context.
And what I do not like is the current tendency, at least in
some customer circles, to expect us as service providers to
consider reducing our bills. What we charge now represents
income that’s crucial for our businesses. That the economic
situation in farming and therefore in agricultural contracting
too, may be unfavourable is not an acceptable reason. Just
think about it: Would you make a similar demand of your
In particular, the
so-called internal
workshop hours
drive costs upwards
substantially for many
dealerships.
Distribution of workshop hours 2019
Paid-for time in workshops
in agricultural machinery dealerships 2019
Internal time in workshops
in agricultural machinery dealerships 2019
Absent
24.0%
External
hours 36.9%
Internal
hours 33.8%
Assistance
hours 5.3%
New machinery
28.5%
Used
machinery
10.9%
Guarantee/
goodwill 23.3%
Depot/delivery/
demonstrations
etc 14.9%
Rest
22.4%
60
INFORM
FUTURE LAB
TESTING
HEART AND
SOUL
The more thorough the testing of
material and machinery, the better the
outlook for subsequent breakdownfree
customer operation. With this in mind, Krone opens
a new chapter in quality assurance with its “Future Lab”.
61
start such a test laboratory valued at over 20 m €. And to get
it working with a team and the very latest test technology,
representing a once-in-a- lifetime chance in a professional
career. “On top of this, the Krone Group puts its complete
know-how into the validation from both its divisions:
commercial vehicles and agricultural machinery. This produces
very many synergy effects, boosting our work results
enormously. A situation not to be found anywhere else in
the manufacturing landscape”, he states with noticeable
enthusiasm.
SIMULATING STRESS
And how or, indeed, what is to be tested in each case? There’s
an enormous variety of possible subjects. Too long to list
here, says Jürgen Graumann. But he mentions a couple of
the available facilities such as often very large test stands.
There’s also a test track and an outdoor area for trials. The
main work includes functional and long-term load tests
with the aim of literally discovering the limits of what is
possible with the material involved. Such tests take place
under an enormous number of simulated scenarios. “Krone
products must function reliably and continually under all
climatic conditions and weather zones around the globe. So
we test, among other things, electronic modules in a climate
chamber to ensure that influences such as temperature or
moisture content levels do not impact functionality”, he
explains.
As a further highlight, he names the road simulator, called
X-Poster in specialist speak. With this, among other things,
working life cycles of the drive train and
bodywork of truck trailers are reproduced.
The aim here is to simulate one million km
roadwork within a three-week trial - over
as many different types of road surface as
possible. “The collected data allows realistic
usage results to be fed into a computer
model for reliable information on lifetime
stress. The development steps, up to prototypes
and the later test phases of the
machinery, can in this way be substantially
more effective. This helps efficiency, because
prototype construction and the further steps up until
readiness for serial production are extremely cost intensive.
“Thus, the better we carry out our work in the Future Lab,
the less teething troubles to take care of later. Or, to stay in
health simile mode: prevention is better than cure. What
we have tested heart and soul is therefore very fit for the
future.” «
The best machinery manufacturers have always tried
to put their money on safeguarding respective reputations
for tractor and implement reliability. And increasingly,
as machinery becomes more sophisticated and complex, as
the pressures to get a quality crop in are ever-greater in line
with larger farms, bigger herds and the demand for optimal
crop quality, downtime for expensive equipment out in
the field is a very expensive experience. So the pressure
continues to test every idea, design and material involved
the best way possible. Particularly in vehicle technology, the
effort invested in such testing is enormous - for example
by Krone.
“After all, our products represent investments of substantial
value, that in practice are subject to considerable wear
and tear. The more comprehensively testing is carried out
during even first development steps on the computer and
then right through to the final inspection before customer
delivery of a completed machine, the better its resultant
assurance and operational quality. In other words, value
retention for the customer remains acceptable”, explains
Jürgen Graumann. He’s manager of the “Future Lab” created
by Krone in 2019, although in official Krone formulation, it’s
called the “Validation Centre”.
BUNDLED KNOW-HOW
The term validation indicates the focal point of the operations
taking place in the Future Lab, located at Lingen in
German Emsland. “Our task is, above all, to utilise complex
modern measurement and testing technology, as well as
appropriate analysis procedures, to test the
functionality and robustness of components,
component groups and complete vehicles and
machinery. The data and information thus
collected flow finally as basic information into
product development and the production process”,
explains Jürgen Graumann. “This has,
however, little to do with the quality control
carried out by our colleagues, for instance
on goods coming into the factory or during
checks at the end of the assembly line before
delivery. The knowledge collected by our work
is applied much earlier. One can say the information we
secure ensures the constructive success of future products
– so that the name Future Lab fits very well.”
This materials engineer is fascinated, not only by the daily
work in the lab - which alone is enthralling enough, he
reckons. But mainly by the opportunity to plan from the
“KRONE PRODUCTS
MUST FUNCTION
RELIABLY AND
CONTINUALLY
UNDER ALL CLIMATIC
CONDITIONS.”
JÜRGEN GRAUMANN,
FUTURE LAB MANAGER
54
INFORM
THE GREENNIGHT­TOUR
MEADOW
MOVIES
This year, the corona crisis stopped the
famous Krone Grassland Evenings. This
left us with the question: How can we still
manage to combine information on our
latest machinery with personal distancing
and not forgetting the traditional
conviviality? The Krone management
team’s answer: Tractor cinema on 14
locations throughout Germany.
White nights, blue hours...Summer
offers many magical moments.
This year, green nights joined the spectrum.
More precisely: the GreenNight-Tour from
Krone. Behind this lay a Germany-wide
series of tractor cinema events staged on
grassland over a period of almost three
weeks. “The idea came to us as the development
of the corona pandemic encouraged
a renaissance of traditional drive-in movies
in many places, a cinematic experience
permitting distancing and hygiene rules.
This could also function with tractors, we
thought”, relates Ingo Schoppe from the
Krone marketing team.
MOBILE CINEMA
Conceived, achieved: a total 14 such events
were planned between 18th June and 12th
July, with venues right across the republic
between Wurster near Cuxhaven on the
North Sea coast and Dentingen, southwest
55
of Ulm. At each event there was strong
support from the respective regional Krone
dealerships. “This was a great help for us
because an awful lot of work was involved.
After all, it wasn’t just that invitations were
to be sent off to customers from the region
and available areas of grassland found and
booked for the cinema evening with room
for a large number of tractors. Among the
most imposing challenges were the safety
and hygiene aspects, as well as securing
permission from the local authorities. In
fact, though, everyone involved worked
together superbly with us”, he smiles.
On-site, procedure was always the same. In
the forenoon the GreenNight team arrived
with sack and pack to get the site ready.
Stand areas were measured and parking
spaces marked out with lawn mowers,
boundary tapes were staked out and an
entry control hut positioned, the 18 x 9 m
screen was inflated, film and audio equipment
assembled – just some of the many
jobs necessary before all was set to go. And
although the procedure became almost
routine after the first event, every date and
location needed small extra adjustments.
Evenings just before 8.30 the first guests
rolled in with their tractors. Mostly, it took
an hour before everyone had arrived and
the machines lined up in neat rows. Clear
instructions were given on what everyone
had to watch out for. “For us, the obeying
of hygiene and distancing regulations was
obviously very important, and instructions
were handed out to every participant on
arrival because in this respect we could
afford no compromise”, emphasises Ingo
Schoppe.
PLENTY APPLAUSE
Our marketing team member found the
resonance from customers impressive. On
average, between 120 and 150 vehicles
found themselves on each grassland site,
up to 95% being tractors. A few cars also
turned up and they were naturally let in too,
so that their occupants could also follow
the exciting programme. Included in the
introduction was “Performance-Bingo”
a very competitive game devised by the
marketing team. This featured contestants
drawing numbers and then having to rush
over to a bingo board at the entrance and
hook up on the matching number there.
Part of the excitement was the lighting up
of the screen as sunset approached. First,
came a number of “action films” featuring
the latest Krone machinery at work. The
main attraction without a doubt, however,
was the film “Farm mechanisation worldwide”
produced in cooperation with “profi”
magazine and “landtechnikvideos”. At the
end there was plenty applause, contented
faces and, during the exit of the visitors in
their tractors, an absolutely sensational
light show staged by the tractors. “One
thing was always clear to us as each evening
event finished”, concludes Ingo Schoppe.
“Our guests were delighted to experience
an open-air event again, after weeks and
months of the corona limitations.” «
Ingo Schoppe: very
happy about the
great success of the
GreenNight-Tour
2020.
10
TITLE THEME
BIOHOF KINKELBUR
ICE AND EGGS
SELL WELL
Milk, ices, eggs, potatoes – and beef too. These are the
main products sold in the Kinkelbur family’s farm shop.
The Kinkelburs have been dedicated to organic production
for almost 40 years now, and have a farm business
to be proud of.
The Kinkelbur organic farm started
direct marketing in spring 2020 with the
establishment of its first “henmobile”.
A crowing cockerel on a dung heap surrounded by deep,
muddy puddles? Perhaps partly due to old-fashioned
images in children’s books this, or something like it, is what
springs to mind for many as the typical organic farmyard.
But does “bio” farming really have to look like this? Not at
all!
Quite the opposite, in fact, is to be seen on the Kinkelbur
family’s Bioland farm at Minden-Haddenhausen in the
German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. A large herd of
black and white dairy cows loose housed in a cubicle barn,
and 350 laying hens in mobile accommodation (the “henmobile”)
are all kept in a neat and tidy farm business that’s
grown steadily over the years. It’s beautiful there. In fact,
very beautiful! Nestling idyllically under the Kaiser Wilhelm
Memorial at Porta Westfalica near Schloss Haddenhausen,
the Kinkelbur farm attracts crowds of customers to its
seven-days-a-week farm shop.
On our visit, we joined a busy throng in the yard. Farm
workers, potato buyers, shoppers with questions to ask,
a vet and someone delivering animal feed. All vied for
attention – and always in the centre of the turmoil, farmer
Friedrich Kinkelbur, energetically helping and organising.
The 51-year-old is organic farmer through and through.
He’s convinced that the bio way is the right way. His father
changed to organic management as early as 1981, so that
much of the land has been organically farmed for almost 40
years now, with not a single drop of plant protection spray
or spot of mineral N fertiliser applied in that time. The farm
has grown steadily. Fields are continually added, there’s been
renovation and rebuilding. A neighbouring farm has been
rented and this is where the herd followers are kept. “When
a farm expands, new colleagues are needed that can think
for themselves, work well and be self-reliant, ever ready to
inject their ideas into the business. And this is the kind of
staff we have”, emphasises the farmer.
FARM-MADE ICE CREAMS
The farm shop has been open since spring 2020. Available
there are home-grown potatoes as well as eggs, milk and
beef. Friedrich Kinkelbur explains that regionality is a major
aim with the food he sells. “Our cattle are slaughtered
nearby by a family firm.” There, the carcasses are jointed
by skilled butchers. The proportion of saleable cuts per
carcass is high. Each customer can order a box. And the
box is delivered with everything that’s available: filet and
roastbeef, roasting cuts, ready-cut beef casserole slices, soup
meat, ossobuco, bones, goulash and mince.
XtraBlatt: We already reported in XtraBlatt issue 1-2020
the precautionary measures undertaken by Krone in spring
to combat the effects of the corona virus. How should we
summarise the results of all efforts following nearly nine
months in pandemic mode?
Martin Eying: As far as company-internal measures are
concerned, we can be very positive. Certainly, such measures
sometimes entailed enormous changes for all employees.
Reorganisation of all processes was also a huge undertaking,
but one that was carried out with great commitment and
energy by everyone concerned. An example is the way in
MASCHINENFABRIK BERNARD KRONE
SAILING ON
The Krone farm machinery division thankfully
sailed free and fair through the corona
squalls of 2020. But what lessons were
learnt from this period? And what
might the long-term consequences
be? XtraBlatt discusses some
results of the crisis with Martin
Eying, managing director sales/
marketing, and marketing
manager Henrik Feldmann.
24
INTERVIEW
which our IT department established at such short notice
the necessary technology for home office work wherever required.
Many other departments mastered similar challenges.
Today, we can recognise that the limitations and regulations
imposed by the situation, although not always easy, have
become part of normality. All, and this means every single
person involved in our complete team, have excelled in terms
of responsibility and commitment during this time, and for
this deserve heartfelt appreciation!
Henrik Feldmann: Our internal pandemic working group not
only succeeded in developing the initial protection concepts
and then applying the measures decided upon; the group
also continually optimised and redirected the measures. For
instance, in summer at the end of the holiday season. The
result is that, since March, we’ve maintained continuous
production and deliveries without quarantine restrictions
and any significant downtime losses. We’ve been able
to fulfil completely the orders of our customers, and
this makes us very happy indeed!
XtraBlatt: And the delivery chains of suppliers?
Weren’t these interrupted?
Eying: Naturally there were shortterm
disruptions initially, but no
definite stoppages. Through
a number of our European
suppliers being quickly
registered in spring as
system relevant, overall production continued smoothly with
no significant bottlenecks.
XtraBlatt: In other words, a good basis for a satisfactory
gross turnover in the farm machinery division of 732 million
€ and 4.8% growth.....
Feldmann: Please don’t forget, though, that our business year
begins 1st August and ends 31st July. In other words, into
the 2019/2020 results have flowed the earnings from seven
months without corona. Still, by the time the pandemic was
underway in spring, we didn’t dare hope for the respectable
results we in fact achieved by July although, as mentioned,
we did after all fulfilled all our orders.
Eying: Naturally, demand developed very differently in
individual markets. But on the whole, it was acceptable in
all countries: not only in terms of gross turnover but still
more concerning market share. Our estimates indicate an
additional 1% for all our machinery categories worldwide.
Looking back though, we can see this is typical. Especially in
so-called crisis years, Krone has always profited above the
average reported by competition.
XtraBlatt: Why is this?
Eying: The reasons are to be found in the core values of the
family and the Krone company. For generations, these entail
absolute orientation on customers and service, on flexibility
as well as intensive personal contact with practicing farmers
and the markets. Nowadays, of course, the steady growth of
the company means this concept has other characteristics
than those of 20 or even 40 years ago. But the basic principle
remains. And it’s clear that customers really appreciate such
values, especially during difficult years.
XtraBlatt: But this personal “connection” to customers is
increasingly difficult under corona conditions.....
Feldmann: That’s true. But it’s still possible. Certainly, what
we’ve had to accept from the pandemic situation is that, in
the near future anyway, large-scale trade fairs will not be
25
34
ON-FARM
KNEER FAMILY, BAD DITZENBACH, GERMANY
REAL PROFESSIONALS
35
KNEER FAMILY, BAD DITZENBACH, GERMANY
REAL PROFESSIONALS
Some words are often misunderstood.
The word “amateur”, for instance. In the
correct sense, an amateur is someone who
does something for the love of it. This is
an entirely fitting term for brothers Moritz
and Florian Kneer. But they easily earn the
title of farming professionals too ... even
although their main business is building
windows.
Oberberghof is a well-kept horse farm
on the outskirts of Bad Ditzenbach,
nestling amid the Swabian Alb foothills.
Enthusiasts of rural architecture would
recognise right away some of the farm
buildings originally fulfilled another purpose.
This is confirmed by Florian Kneer
who runs the farm with brother Moritz.
“From our mother’s side we come from a
family which, as was earlier quite common,
ran a hostelry and butcher’s business along
with the farm. By 1962, our grandfather had
established a beef herd as main enterprise
on Oberberghof. Later, horses were brought
into the business and, after his successful
graduation in horse husbandry at the
Baden-Württemberg State Stud Farm in
Marbach, he specialised completely in this.”
Florian and Moritz took over in 2004, with
Florian manager of the non-agricultural
side and Moritz the person usually found
around the farm.
“We farm around 75 ha here”, explains
Moritz Kneer. “Most is pasture, mainly on
steep slopes. We only have about a hectare
of arable land, along with some woodland.
We have 25 horseboxes with 16 of these
rented out to private horse owners. Riding
is a hobby for most of our customers and
the same applies to us. We’re open minded
about breeds. We keep mainly warmbloods.
A rare breed is represented here by
our Altwürttemberg horse. Additionally,
Florian (l) and Moritz Kneer together manage Oberberghof farm in Bad Ditzenbach.
HAY HEINRICH
FARMING – CONSERVATION –
ADDING VALUE
It’s generally accepted that the content
in small packages is often substantially
dearer than that in larger containers.
This applies to hay too. By text deadline
for this issue of XtraBlatt, first-cut hay in
large square bales averaged just under
160 €/t. On his website, “Hay Heinrich”
sells his organic mountain meadow
hay for 1.50 to 3.00 €. Per kilogramme!
Safe to say, this represents a more than
respectable margin. But the business isn’t
as straightforward as it seems. Until the
hay lies ready for sale in the shop shelves,
a lot of work has to be done. And a fair
portion of know-how is needed, too.
ECONOMIC
CONCEPT
Heinrich Meusel doesn’t come from a
farming background. His grandfather was
botany professor and while his father is, in
fact, an agricultural engineer, his main activity
for a long time has revolved around
landscape conservation, his full-time post
being managing director of the Naturpark
Thüringer Wald e. V. (Thuringia Forest
Nature Park). He is also honorary member
of the board for the German Landscape
Conservation Association and the Foundation
for German Landscapes. So, a family
connection is definitely present. “I’ve
always been happy working with hay”,
reports Heinrich Meusel. “Even as a kid,
I improved my pocket money by cutting
mountainside meadows with a single-axle
mower and then making hay. This fired my
ambition to be a farmer. The appropriate
education I underwent in the Austrian
uplands. Hereby, it became increasingly
clear to me that my interests lay not only
in nature conservation, but also strongly
in the machinery aspects. And I aimed to
apply this through an economically viable
business concept. Even then, I didn’t want
to rely on just farm subsidies. This is how
I arrived at the production of hay for pets
as an enterprise.”
Heinrich Meusel registered his first company
at 17 years of age. The beginnings
were modest. Initial mechanisation was a
single-axle mower, later joined by a small
tractor, then a tractor of Russian origin.
Finally, a “real” tractor could be bought in.
The first specialised machine was a Metrac
bought second-hand in Switzerland. “I
started without any land and no capital
either”, Heinrich Meusel remembers. “It
wasn’t easy to get credit and was quite
normal to sell off machinery at the end of
the season so that starter capital would be
available for at least part of next season’s
purchases.” In the meantime, the implement
fleet has substantially expanded
46
ON-FARM
HAY HEINRICH
FARMING – CONSERVATION –
ADDING VALUE
Heinrich Meusel worked with hay even
as a child, then as teenager. And he was
brought back to hay later during his search
for a viable farm business model. He sells
his production as pet feed through grocery
retailer chains.
47
DORTMUND PARKS DEPARTMENT
NATURE-
NEAR CITY
PARKLAND
56
AT WORK
1
More usually, round balers are to be seen on
farms or in an agricultural contractor’s fleet.
There’re seldom used on municipal green
areas. But the city of Dortmund proves the
exception.
W estfalenpark in Dortmund. While
the morning commuters join the
traffic jams on the adjacent B 54, a team
from the city parks department get to work.
A sizeable patch of meadow landscaped
around a road junction must be mowed. But
not, as in earlier years, using a cost-efficient
and speedy mulcher. Instead, a tractor and
cutterbar mower go into action. Admittedly,
the equipment is not as simple as a mulcher.
But substantially less insects fall victim to
the mowing operation. “A few years ago,
we changed the way we look after our
grassland areas and started extensive
methods”, says Jürgen Hundorf, planner
in the Dortmund Parks Department, responsible
for a total 400 ha within the city
precincts. Nowadays, around half of this
is managed extensively. “These areas are
cut twice yearly with cutterbar mower”,
says Soenke Janssen, agricultural master
craftsman and responsible within the parks
department for the Technical Service West.
The changeover from mulching to cutterbar
mowing is, however, not the only adjustment
in machinery used. Whereas the
mulched vegetation is left lying on the surface,
the cut grass has to be removed after
a few days. Firstly, it’s swathed by a tractor
mounted band rake, then round baled.
Especially for this, the Park Department in
early 2020 bought a Krone Bellima F130. The
investment in the machinery needed for an
organically managed parkland system is not
insignificant, but is necessary”, emphasises
Soenke Janssen. There was no resistance to
the required investment.
THE RIGHT KIT
The Bellima F130 represented the baler
Soenke Janssen really wanted when the
tenders were submitted. “The round baler
is comparably light, very compact and suits
very well our communal tractor, which is
smaller than the tractors used on farms”,
he explains.
The new Dortmund biodiversity is especially
impressive taking the example of wildlife
on the meadows around a housing district
in the southwest of the city. The meadow
flowers in widely varied colours were in the
1 As part of the grassland ecological management, the Dortmund
Parks Department has invested in new machinery including a
round baler from Krone.
2 In favour of extensive grassland management: Jürgen Hundorf,
planner in the Dortmund Parks Department.
3 Nature-friendly and insect saving cutterbar mowing.
57
2
3
6
TITLE THEME
Konrad Ammon jn is a self-employed
master butcher and managing director
of the Metzger Schlachthof Betriebs
GmbH in Fürth.
7
METZGERSCHLACHTHOF FÜRTH
REGIONAL FROM
CONVICTION
Planning the shortest possible transport distance for meat
is no mere passing fad for this Fürth butchery business. It’s a
deliberate strategy. Here we meet Konrad Ammon jn, master
butcher and managing director of the family business, to discuss
his interesting concept.
The meat sector stands – as so often – under criticism.
But this time the subject is neither animal welfare
nor hygiene. Instead, it’s the massively increased COV-
ID-19 infection rate amongst workers in a number of large
slaughter companies. Main causes were unsuitable working
conditions and crowded employee accommodation. Both
factors arise directly from the predominating structure of
the industry where workers are mainly subcontracted.
Behind the change in the meat branch that brought today’s
huge company facilities was an originally very commendable
idea: improvement of hygiene in slaughter, jointing and
further processing. However, the EU certification procedure
involved meant hurdles that proved too high for many
smaller businesses. Often, existing buildings made meeting
the regulations impossible and unviable financially. The
result: many butchers gave-up slaughtering, buying their
meat as carcass halves or in other portions from the bigger
slaughter businesses. The municipal slaughterhouses, that
in the past were to be found in nearly every town or city as
part of the fundamental regional facilities, were gradually
closed down for the same reasons.
VACCINE PRODUCTION
This was the fate also faced by the slaughterhouse in Fürth: a
facility, the opening of which way back in 1881, represented
an important milestone in the community’s history, bringing
substantial relief to the citizens of Fürth. Up until then, there
were numerous smaller slaughter facilities that brought with
them problems of noise and odours, not to mention suspect
hygiene. The town butchers were initially sceptical of the
new municipal slaughterhouse. After all, it left them with
just one supply point for their meat. They even boycotted
the opening ceremony and instead, the meat workers’ guild
rather provocatively arranged a day trip to nearby Würzburg.
Gradually, however, butchers came to see the advantages
and the Fürth town slaughterhouse began to flourish. As its
throughput approached full capacity a fusion with nearby
Nürnberg and the building of new facilities were briefly
considered, although nothing transpired. In 1918, before the
end of WW I, the slaughterhouse was extended. In WW II
facilities were partly destroyed with makeshift adjustments
keeping production going. Following the country’s monetary
reform, the town council found it couldn’t finance a new
building. But hope for better production conditions arose
through a partnership with pharmaceutical manufacturer
Behring that was producing a foot-and-mouth vaccine from
deliberately infected cattle in a purpose-built isolation
station, a station which also featured a slaughterhouse. A
cooperation with this slaughterhouse proved very profitable
and incidentally attracted support from state subsidies,
cash that was also invested in the facilities so that by the
1960s Fürth had one of the most modern slaughterhouses
in Germany.
20
PASTURE PIGS
SWINE IN THE
OPEN AIR
hen Johannes Erchinger comes
with the feed bucket nothing
else matters. Even out on the meadows
where boar and sows produce piglets
the natural way, all is forgotten when
the farmer appears with the feed bucket.
Only seconds after he steps into the
field he’s surrounded. He makes sure
that every pig gets some of the pellets.
There’s no fighting and even the boar
that can weigh-in at up to 350 kg seems
easy-going and doesn’t push the others
aside. “Pigs kept outdoors are simply
more relaxed”, says the farmer from
Logabirum near Leer in East Friesland.
This is classic dairy farming land and pig
producers are scarce. Johannes Erchinger
also runs a dairy herd with 80 cows, and
he represents the fifth generation on this
family farm. The farmyard is right in the
middle of the village so there’s no way
of expansion and simply moving out to
build on a greenfield site never attracted
him and his family. “In the second half
of the 1990s I thought very hard about
starting a second enterprise and finally
somehow landed on the idea of pig production
outdoors on pasture,” recalls the
farmer. The pig breeding company PIC
at that time invited him to visit a farm
near Schleswig (Schleswig-Holstein) that
specialised in outdoor pig production. In
just a few weeks, he had completed a
practical training course there for a
deeper insight into this type of enterprise.
Even before he’d completed the
course, Johannes Erchinger had first
calculations ready so that he could
convince his family to start off the
adventure “pasture pigs”.
INITIAL
RESISTANCE
At first, there was some resistance in
the village when his plans became
known. “Pigs are associated with unpleasant
odours, although this is con-
ON-FARM
21
Contended pigs:
These high-welfare piglets are
grouped after weaning and then
bedded daily with plentiful straw.
Keeping pigs on grassland? East Friesland farmer Johannes
Erchinger found this an interesting business
idea. Some 25 years ago he sought a new agricultural
enterprise and found it with his Berkshire swine.
nected with housed animals”, explains
Johannes Erchinger, adding that pigs
kept outdoors don’t smell. This is partly
because of nature’s own ventilation, but
mainly because the animals eat mostly
grass and straw that leads to markedly
less smell from the dung, one reason
being that the dietary fibre binds odour
compounds. The initial unrest therefore
soon settled down. In fact, the pig pastures
have meantime become something
of an attraction in the neighbourhood.
The pigs are visited often by primary
school classes and Johannes Erchinger
takes the opportunity to inform the kids
more about farming.
Starting the enterprise was investment-intensive,
even without the cost
of animal housing, which is of course
not required. Firstly, the equipment
including water troughs, arks, feeding
tackle, as well as a “pig taxi” for livestock
transport, all had to be bought-in - and
the pastures suitably prepared. In De-
32
INFORM
BEHIND THE
SCENES
A smoothly running online conference
with the professional touch
needs loads of preparation and
practice beforehand. Here, a selection
of impressions snapped “behind
the scenes”.
33
After some two years’ work, the Krone Museum is now
completely redesigned. For Walter Krone, as manager of the
working group involved, the project has been something very
dear to his heart – and its completion the crowning culmination
of his activities within the company.
KRONE MUSEUM
“NOW IT’S
REALLY GOOD.”
43

TITLE THEME
METZGERSCHLACHTHOF FÜRTH
REGIONAL FROM
CONVICTION
Planning the shortest possible transport distance for meat
is no mere passing fad for this Fürth butchery business. It’s a
deliberate strategy. Here we meet Konrad Ammon jn, master
butcher and managing director of the family business, to discuss
his interesting concept.
Konrad Ammon jn is a self-employed
master butcher and managing director
of the Metzger Schlachthof Betriebs
GmbH in Fürth.
The meat sector stands – as so often – under criticism.
But this time the subject is neither animal welfare
nor hygiene. Instead, it’s the massively increased COV-
ID-19 infection rate amongst workers in a number of large
slaughter companies. Main causes were unsuitable working
conditions and crowded employee accommodation. Both
factors arise directly from the predominating structure of
the industry where workers are mainly subcontracted.
Behind the change in the meat branch that brought today’s
huge company facilities was an originally very commendable
idea: improvement of hygiene in slaughter, jointing and
further processing. However, the EU certification procedure
involved meant hurdles that proved too high for many
smaller businesses. Often, existing buildings made meeting
the regulations impossible and unviable financially. The
result: many butchers gave-up slaughtering, buying their
meat as carcass halves or in other portions from the bigger
slaughter businesses. The municipal slaughterhouses, that
in the past were to be found in nearly every town or city as
part of the fundamental regional facilities, were gradually
closed down for the same reasons.
VACCINE PRODUCTION
This was the fate also faced by the slaughterhouse in Fürth: a
facility, the opening of which way back in 1881, represented
an important milestone in the community’s history, bringing
substantial relief to the citizens of Fürth. Up until then, there
were numerous smaller slaughter facilities that brought with
them problems of noise and odours, not to mention suspect
hygiene. The town butchers were initially sceptical of the
new municipal slaughterhouse. After all, it left them with
just one supply point for their meat. They even boycotted
the opening ceremony and instead, the meat workers’ guild
rather provocatively arranged a day trip to nearby Würzburg.
Gradually, however, butchers came to see the advantages
and the Fürth town slaughterhouse began to flourish. As its
throughput approached full capacity a fusion with nearby
Nürnberg and the building of new facilities were briefly
considered, although nothing transpired. In 1918, before the
end of WW I, the slaughterhouse was extended. In WW II
facilities were partly destroyed with makeshift adjustments
keeping production going. Following the country’s monetary
reform, the town council found it couldn’t finance a new
building. But hope for better production conditions arose
through a partnership with pharmaceutical manufacturer
Behring that was producing a foot-and-mouth vaccine from
deliberately infected cattle in a purpose-built isolation
station, a station which also featured a slaughterhouse. A
cooperation with this slaughterhouse proved very profitable
and incidentally attracted support from state subsidies,
cash that was also invested in the facilities so that by the
1960s Fürth had one of the most modern slaughterhouses
in Germany.
6 7

TITLE THEME
SOLD TO BUTCHERS
However, the vaccine production came to an end in the
mid-70s by which time the substance could be synthesised.
The slaughter facilities remained and continued to be used,
although less by the regional butchers and instead almost
exclusively by a large slaughter company. Slaughter headage
increased continuously. In 1981, the centenary of the original
slaughterhouse, throughput numbered some 28,000
cattle, 36,500 pigs and 2,000 calves. Investment was also
a continuous process. Despite ongoing progress, doubts
were being voiced about the future. The slaughter company
profited, but Fürth had to keep paying upkeep.
“The showdown came in 1984”, explains Konrad Ammon
jn, independent master butcher and managing director
of the Metzger Slachthof Betriebs GmbH. “Although Fürth
showed willingness to be very generous in financial terms,
the large concern at that time shut down operations. Our
slaughterhouse was threatened with the same fate as that
of nearly all other earlier slaughter facilities in the region:
Schwabach, Weißenburg, Gunzenhausen, Ansbach, Lauf
and Nürnberg. The last remaining municipal facility, in
Erlangen, had not long before been sold
to a private concern. But even before
this, we regional butchers felt as if we
were the “fifth wheel on the wagon”
as far as the Fürth slaughterhouse was
concerned. Despite this, it became very
important for us to retain a regional
supply source, as well as keeping the
This picture of the
slaughterhouse cutting line
with its modern equipment
was taken before the
corona crisis. Nowadays the
workers naturally wear face
masks.
“AS SELF-EMPLOYED
MASTER BUTCHER THIS
REGIONAL SLAUGHTER-
HOUSE IS ENORMOUSLY
IMPORTANT FOR ME.”
KONRAD AMMON JN.
facility’s work and training opportunities. On the initiative
of my father, 55 professional colleagues joined forces and
took over the municipal facilities with a deposit of 2000
DM per person.”
NEW CONSTRUCTION
Thankfully, things went well for the butchers’ slaughterhouse.
But there were always new hygiene requirements to be
met and, soon, thoughts turned towards the construction
of new premises. Fürth supported this ambition, offering a
leasehold building site and financial aid. In January 1989,
60 shareholders (50 butchers 10 livestock dealers, farmers
and tripers) arranged construction of new facilities costing
almost 5 m DM in the suburb of Burgfarnbach. No subsidies
were available from the EU, federal government or state. By
November 1993, the first test slaughter had been carried out.
“We built a compact 7,500 m 2 floor area plant and stocked
it with modern equipment”, recalls Konrad Ammon. In
2019 we slaughtered almost 61,000 pigs, 3,800 cattle and
1,600 sheep with throughput being slightly increased
every year, a performance that strengthened our resolve to
make what turned out to be the right
strategic decisions. We re-organised into
two businesses: the Betriebs GmbH that
takes care of the entire infrastructure,
and the Fürther Lohnschlächter GmbH,
a company contracted for the actual
slaughter work with 15 specialists from
the region, all butchers with master
All three with master butcher certificates (l – r): son Maximilian, daughterin-law
Geli and Konrad Ammon jn. Together they manage the family
butchery in Fürth-Burgfarnbach.
certificates. Current shareholders total 105. In our customer
files we have 330 addresses: butchers, livestock dealers,
farmers with direct marketing, catering facilities and also
associations that perhaps buy just a single suckling pig each
year for their annual company dinner. Naturally, we are EU
certified, fulfil the QS (national quality programme for farm
produce) requirements and are also licensed to slaughter organically
raised animals. Four specially appointed inspectors
are responsible for the welfare of all animals.”
Fulfilling the highest meat quality requirements means
continuous investment to meet welfare, hygiene and environment
protection requirements, as well as improving
resource and energy efficiency in our operations, explains
Konrad Ammon, adding: “For the current year we’ve budgeted
5.5 m € for investments. For instance, we’re enlarging
lairage area for pigs and improving intake facilities for cattle
and pigs. On top of this, cooling capacity is being increased,
the conveying system for carcasses automated so that
cooling is accelerated. In total we are modernising the entire
cooling plant to the latest technical and energy-efficiency
standards. Another development: a stand-alone tripery
for processing inner organs and intestines. Finally, we are
restructuring product input and output facilities”.
REGIONAL QUALITY
“This regional slaughterhouse is extremely important for
me as self-employed master butcher”, emphasises Konrad
Ammon. He is the fourth generation to manage the family
business in Burgfarnbach. And the next generation is already
in-place too: both his sons are master butchers and a daughter-in-law
a certified butchery salesperson as well as master
butcher. The young ones have already taken responsibility
and management of the butchery business into the fifth
generation. The product range is wide. Alongside shop sales
and party and delivery services, there’s a cook on the payroll
to produce regular meals with daily menu changes for the
staff. “We slaughter around eight to twelve pigs and one
cattle beast per week”, calculates Konrad Ammon, adding
that these slaughter animals have been ordered from the
same farmers in the surrounding regions for years now,
forming an unofficial partnership between firm and farmers.
Thereby, the butcher has an influence on management and
feeding of the livestock earmarked for delivery and therefore
knows what he gets and gets what he wants in terms of
quality for his customers. “For instance, I like to have slightly
heavier than standard pigs with a slaughter weight of from
105 to 110 kg. With cattle I put a lot of value in producing
from beef breeds. Young bulls we do not slaughter at all.
Getting our animals from large-scale farming operations
wouldn’t work for us. The low numbers we slaughter weekly
mean small operations are best suppliers. Here, the in and
out system is mostly followed. I arrange the transport
myself. In the slaughterhouse, there’s a lairage area with
straw bedding and with feed and water available so that,
as far as possible, any stress is avoided with the animals.
After slaughter, carcass quarters or halves are transported
to us for further work.”
“The requirements of our customers have changed”, continues
Konrad Ammon. “Nowadays, sausage is no longer sold
in 100 g portions but instead in single slices of different
sausage. This is more complicated for us, but I realise that
our customers put a lot of thought into what they buy.
There are others that simply go by price – although these
are not necessarily our usual customers. But even those
clients have to be somehow serviced too. This is why there’s
also a place in the market for the large slaughter concerns
and discounters. However, we choose another route – a
way that’s luckily appreciated by our customers. Hereby
the regionally reared animals we slaughter ourselves are
an important component in the comprehensive range of
quality ware we present to our customers.” «
8 9

TITLE THEME
BIOHOF KINKELBUR
ICE AND EGGS
SELL WELL
Milk, ices, eggs, potatoes – and beef too. These are the
main products sold in the Kinkelbur family’s farm shop.
The Kinkelburs have been dedicated to organic production
for almost 40 years now, and have a farm business
to be proud of.
A
crowing cockerel on a dung heap surrounded by deep,
muddy puddles? Perhaps partly due to old-fashioned
images in children’s books this, or something like it, is what
springs to mind for many as the typical organic farmyard.
But does “bio” farming really have to look like this? Not at
all!
Quite the opposite, in fact, is to be seen on the Kinkelbur
family’s Bioland farm at Minden-Haddenhausen in the
German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. A large herd of
black and white dairy cows loose housed in a cubicle barn,
and 350 laying hens in mobile accommodation (the “henmobile”)
are all kept in a neat and tidy farm business that’s
grown steadily over the years. It’s beautiful there. In fact,
very beautiful! Nestling idyllically under the Kaiser Wilhelm
Memorial at Porta Westfalica near Schloss Haddenhausen,
the Kinkelbur farm attracts crowds of customers to its
seven-days-a-week farm shop.
On our visit, we joined a busy throng in the yard. Farm
workers, potato buyers, shoppers with questions to ask,
a vet and someone delivering animal feed. All vied for
attention – and always in the centre of the turmoil, farmer
Friedrich Kinkelbur, energetically helping and organising.
The 51-year-old is organic farmer through and through.
He’s convinced that the bio way is the right way. His father
changed to organic management as early as 1981, so that
much of the land has been organically farmed for almost 40
years now, with not a single drop of plant protection spray
or spot of mineral N fertiliser applied in that time. The farm
has grown steadily. Fields are continually added, there’s been
renovation and rebuilding. A neighbouring farm has been
rented and this is where the herd followers are kept. “When
a farm expands, new colleagues are needed that can think
for themselves, work well and be self-reliant, ever ready to
inject their ideas into the business. And this is the kind of
staff we have”, emphasises the farmer.
FARM-MADE ICE CREAMS
The farm shop has been open since spring 2020. Available
there are home-grown potatoes as well as eggs, milk and
beef. Friedrich Kinkelbur explains that regionality is a major
aim with the food he sells. “Our cattle are slaughtered
nearby by a family firm.” There, the carcasses are jointed
by skilled butchers. The proportion of saleable cuts per
carcass is high. Each customer can order a box. And the
box is delivered with everything that’s available: filet and
roastbeef, roasting cuts, ready-cut beef casserole slices, soup
meat, ossobuco, bones, goulash and mince.
The Kinkelbur organic farm started
direct marketing in spring 2020 with the
establishment of its first “henmobile”.
10

TITLE THEME
1 2 4
Since the summer, the Kinkelbur farm shop has also homemade
“bio” ices on offer, processed into a wide variety of
flavours. The ices are made by Eiscafé Venezia in nearby
Minden, a business that has used milk from this organic farm
for years. Friedrich Kinkelbur says, not without some pride:
“The quality of our milk can be tasted in the ice cream.”
This product is often enjoyed by customers right away,
sitting on chairs on a terrace fronting the farm shop. The
shop itself is run on self-service lines. But there’s still a lot
of customer communication because someone from the
farm is always on hand to help with queries. Owner as well
as employees are happy to feed the hunger for knowledge
about farming. The relaxed and informative manner with
which the explanations are delivered to the public indicate
that this is something the staff have become expert at.
However, marketing all the farm-produced milk this way
would be impossible. So most production goes to the Söbbeke
dairy in Westphalian Gronau. Average lactation in the
herd is 9,300 kg at 4.1 % fat and 3.1 % protein.
85 HA FOR FORAGE
The Kinkelbur cows are fed grass and maize silage supplemented
with hay and concentrate/mineral mix. Whenever
ground conditions allow, the cows are let out for grazing on
pastures around the cubicle barn.
Some 60 ha pasture plus 25 ha clover leys are reserved for
forage harvest, although the somewhat boggy soils can
be a problem. “We have our own tine harrows that follow
the seed drill with the main aim of always establishing a
healthy, dense grass growth that in turn supresses weeds.
3 5
Nearly all the best grasses, and white clover too, don’t
like waterlogged ground, so we have always to keep our
eyes open for tolerant plants in this respect,” he explains,
adding: “Docks are our most important weed because, as
an organically managed farm, we cannot spray them. In
young growth stages, grazing keeps the pest plants down,
although naturally this is not always possible in some fields.
In this respect, it’s not unknown for us to take an 8 ha area
and manually clear it of docks.”
For grass silage, the farmer handles mowing, tedding and
swathing himself. An EasyCut 970 butterfly mower without
conditioner is used. Why no conditioner? “This can shatter
the clover leaves. Additionally, there’s also the danger of
soil contamination of forage when conditioning on our wet
soils.” A nearby contractor comes with a silage harvester or
baler when needed.
As on many other dairy farms, the Kinkelbur business had
to survive forage shortages in 2018 and 2019. Drought
conditions meant that the normal four cuts on pasture
and five on clover leys couldn’t be realised. “Contrary to my
conventionally farming colleagues, I couldn’t simply go to
my neighbours and lease a few hectares of forage maize to
make up any shortfall. My organic certification naturally
doesn’t allow this”, points out Friedrich Kinkelbur. But he has
learnt lessons from the dry years: “Producing a little more
feed than actually needed on the farm, and having feed in
reserve, is really nothing to be ashamed of.”
HAPPY HENS
A completely new enterprise supporting the Kinkelbur
business is egg production, although Friedrich Kinkelbur
says it was never actually planned. “We were more or less
forced into egg production by our customers. Time and
again, we were asked where organic eggs could be bought.
We didn’t have an answer.” For this reason, a laying flock has
been on the farm since March 2020 with a 350-bird mobile
house. This “henmobile” has a great marketing effect as
motorists can see it from the entrance to the village, also
drawing attention to the farm shop that actually came into
existence because of the egg demand. Once a week, the
henmobile, with all its inhabitants, is pulled onto a fresh
piece of pasture, so preventing bare patches developing in
the meadows.
1 Outdoor grazing is obligatory for the farm’s 110-head dairy herd.
2 Available from the farm shop are home-produced milk and
+
3 eggs as well as ice cream and farm-reared beef.
4 Friedrich Kinkelbur: a dedicated organic farmer.
5 The path from the farm shop runs across the tidy farmyard and
alongside the cows’ cubicle barn.
The investment involved was not insignificant. Because of
this, a bio egg from the Kinkelbur farm costs 50 c. “But the
organic feed we must use is double the price of conventional
hen feed”, argues the farmer. The egg business is paying off
for the family, the farm eggs being also sold by the nearest
Edeka supermarket. In the farm shop, the week’s supply is
mostly sold out by Thursday. Such success means another
henmobile has already been ordered.
In charge of the shop and the hens for most of the time is
Friedrich’s wife, Ulrike Kinkelbur, until lately fully employed
as teacher at a school for children with learning difficulties.
Now, the latest enterprise means she is needed more than
ever back home on the farm. At the same time, three
full-time staff and a number of faithful helpers ensure
everything runs smoothly, supplying relief labour when
required. Friedrich Kinkelbur: “Working together ensures a
better success than when each works alone. What we share
is our passion for organic farming, the desire to produce food
in harmony with nature.” «
12 13

INFORM
QUALITY FORAGE HARVESTING SERIES – PART 2
TEDDING AND SWATHING
EASE OFF SPEED
FOR BETTER FEED
Those seeking good results in tedding and swathing
should tend towards slower operation speeds. And
if higher work rates are wanted, go for bigger machines
with more working width.
14 15

INFORM
Often overlooked: tyre pressures should be regularly checked to ensure the
right reading for the job in-hand and ground conditions.
Swather tines should never hit the field surface. Adjust for a working
height around 1–2 cm below the mower cut.
The angle of the tedder rotors and their rpm: two factors with great influence on forage wilting efficiency.
In our quality forage harvesting series, we point out in
several articles what the operator must watch out for
during harvesting, but also when adjusting machinery,
to achieve a “cut above the average”. Here in part 2 we
concentrate on tedding/turning and swathing/windrowing,
ably supported by Alexander Esselmann, Krone product
specialist for the company’s tedders and swathers and a real
expert when it comes to the harvesting of quality forage.
TEDDING
Haymakers can’t get away from using a tedder/turner. But
for silage too, this implement makes achieving an optimal
dry matter content easier – and that’s why a good proportion
of customers nowadays wouldn’t think of harvesting
without a tedder, or else have started using one again as
component in the silage harvesting chain. “During forage
harvesting the tedding operation often still tends to be
neglected. In my opinion this is completely wrong. Tedding
correctly can have an important influence on the quality of
feed”, explains Alexander Esselmann.
One adjustment that influences this quality is tine height
above field surface. With mounted tedders, the top link
is adjusted for a raking height around 1–2 cm below
the mower cut. In other words, with forage mowed at
9 cm, the tedder should be adjusted for a height of 7
cm. This lets the tines move all forage material without
tines touching the soil surface. “Whenever you hear
stones rattling, or where clouds of dust accompany the
operation, alarm bells should be ringing: These are signs
that the tedder is set too low.”
The operating height should be checked for at least every
field, according to differing ground conditions or topography.
“Anyone wanting to be on the safe side should go for leading
gauge wheels. These are height-adjustable and ensure the
tedder working position remains the same, keeping tines
precisely at the set position. The top link can then be coupled
to a sliding slot bracket so that the tines are free to follow
field contours guided by the gauge wheel. A mid-position in
the slot allows the implement some freedom of movement
up and down. Particularly on farms where the tractor and/or
driver change often, the gauge wheel is a real help”, explains
Alexander Esselmann.
THE RIGHT RPM
Rotor speed must suit the conditions. Tedding or turning
heavy silage, for instance with an arable grass sward, needs
more rpm to get a good scatter of the forage for speedier
crop wilting. In a lighter hay crop, on the other hand, lower
speeds avoid shatter losses. For example, speed can be set
for 500 rpm and then reduced by some 50 rpm respectively
for second and third passes. If a swath starts forming behind
inward turning rotors, increasing rpm can stop the problem.
Two outward turning rotors can start swath production as
well, and here rotor speed should be eased off.
“The same applies to rotor angle setting, a factor that’s
hardly ever considered but one that has direct influence
on forage quality. The angle influences throw distance
and thus indirectly shatter losses. At the very least, when
changing between hay and silage operations it’s important
to check and adjust: the steeper the angle, the better the
conditioning effect. The plant waxy coating is rubbed off,
moisture can then escape, resulting in faster wilting”, says
our specialist. Incidentally, with Krone tedders the tine
shaft lengths differ. This compensates for the forward tilt
of the rotors, ensuring tine tips are level on contact with
forage.
DRIVING SLOWLY
Speed has direct influence on work quality. Too fast, and
the crop lands in lumps. On top of this, racing down the
rows too fast means each tine has to move a greater load
of material. The conditioning effect on stalk and leaf is lost.
If you want more area performance during tedding and
turning without losing quality, there’s no way past a bigger
machine with more working width. Depending on ground
conditions and operating speed – on even ground, higher
speeds can of course be achieved – tedder working width
should be 1.5 to 2 times greater than that of the preceding
mower. Remember, you’re cutting at between 10 and 25
km/h (6–15 mph) whilst tedding shouldn’t really be carried
out faster than 5–10 km/h (3–6 mph).
Rotor diameter influences precision of rake position above
field surface. The smaller the rotor diameter, the greater
the precision. “There’s a tendency to apply rotor speeds
that are far too high. This spoils work quality – a reason why
we’ve put stickers on our implements with the advice to
keep speeds between 350–450 rpm”, points out Alexander
Esselmann.
THROW CONTROL
With smaller tedders, spread width control is adjustable
mechanically, hydraulic adjustment being available as
special equipment. On larger models, hydraulic control is
standard. On adjustment, all rotor gauge wheels swing
parallel approx. 20° to the left or right, ensuring the complete
implement is behind the tractor. In this way, even in
spread control position, forage is spread over the entire
working width.
“On the one hand, spread control avoids losses at field
edges. But it’s also useful when working across slopes.
Here, working with the spread control on the uphill side
ensures uniform distribution over the entire working width
and prevents the forage being continually thrown further
down the slope.” Many customers in southern Germany and
Austria order tedders with a “night swathing system”. Here,
the driveshaft is put into a different gearing that effectively
slows rotor rpm, cutting speed by some 2/3. Applied for
last tedding in the evening, this produces small swaths
16 17

INFORM
cardanic rotor suspension ensures that the front wheels of
the rotor rise first. On setting down, the rear wheels hit the
ground first so that the tines are always kept off the ground.
TYRE PRESSURE
Don’t miss out on checking tyre pressures. If these don’t
match on all tyres, perfect swathing isn’t possible. Alexander
Esselmann: “Especially when swathers are delivered, the
tyres can have a very high pressure. This stops the implements
moving around on the transport truck, for instance.
But too high pressure in the field reduces shock absorbance.
Resultant bouncing means tines can end-up kicking dirt.
Swather tyres tend to be larger now. 710 wheels can be
ordered for the frame, with up to 18” wheels available for
Here’s how the ideal swath should look.
behind the implement, so keeping forage drier during the
night. The following morning the driveshaft is put into its
original socket, the tedder works again at standard rpm and
redistributes the small swaths uniformly across working
width.
SWATHING
Swath formation also has an important role to play in producing
top forage quality. The aim is to gather all available
material into the swath, while definitely avoiding any soil
contact so that ash content is kept as low as possible. When
in doubt, it’s preferable to keep tines away from the ground
and leave some feed lying.
The swath form should be as clean-edged as possible so that
pick-ups and rotors, for instance of following loader-choppers
or silage harvesters, can be best filled across their
whole working width, a situation that always helps achieve
a good chop. We don’t want lumps or tangles in the swath
slowing down the harvest. And you must be sure about the
machinery that’s going to be collecting the swath. Swath
width must be right for the pickup system.
RAKE HEIGHT
A precisely set-up rotor
lateral angle gives
tidy swath edges.
The tips of the swather tines should operate approx. 1–2 cm
below mower cutting height and – here too – should never
touch the field surface. “If the raking result is not optimal
then there’s certainly nothing shameful in stopping and
readjusting”, advises Alexander Esselmann with a twinkle
in his eye, adding: “For simple swathers you have to climb
down from the tractor for this and adjust rake height with
a spindle. But with high-end implements life is a bit more
comfortable with tine height adjusted electrically in the
cab.” The expert recommends making first settings with the
swather prior to driving into the field. “Then any fine-tuning
can be carried out in-field with all rotors adjusted exactly
to the centimetre.”
Just as with tedding, swathing rotor speed should be kept
low for best results. For 98 % of conditions 350–420 rpm
speed is enough, reckons the expert. As for driving speed,
between 8–12 km/h (approx. 5–7 mph) should be about
right. “Naturally, it’s all down to field conditions. On a flat
and even surface, the throttle can be nudged a tick higher,
but it’s always preferable to drive 1–2 km/h slower and
so avoid forage contamination. This also helps you form a
neat swath with all the forage gathered. Too much speed
doesn’t only put soil into the silage, every tine contact with
the ground leaves scuffs where weeds can flourish. So you
lose out not only through contamination, but also by a
poorer regrowth standard for the next cuts”, adds Alexander
Esselmann.
LATERAL ANGLE
A substantial influence on rotor rake performance and swath
formation – the factors affected output of the following harvest
machine – is the angle setting of the rotor (or the front
rotor with multi-rotor machines). This should always slope
down in the direction of the swath. Tines take increasingly
more forage material with them on their way towards the
swath and the weight causes them to bend slightly, thus
altering their height above ground surface. Lateral angle
setting allows this to be compensated for, helping produce
a well-shaped swath with clearly defined edges.
Poor lateral angle setting can usually be seen right away
in the shape of the swath. Material left lying on both sides
is also a sure sign that the angle’s wrong. Adjustment is
simply and rapidly carried out directly on the rear gauge
wheels of each rotor.
All Krone Swadro swathers are equipped with “Jet Effect”
technology: on lifting the implement during operation, the
the rotors. Larger and wider wheels have a bigger contact
area and so help protect the grass sward. The wider the
tyre, the less the ground pressure – and this can make a big
difference, especially in wet ground conditions. Bigger tyres
also avoid feed contamination and protect sward quality in
aftermaths. And the number of wheels per rotor helps too in
preventing field surface damage. With us in Krone, between
four to eight wheels are possible. The more wheels mounted
under the rotor, the more precisely can ground conditions
be adjusted for.”
Rotor suspension settings are dependent on field and
ground conditions too. Not enough free play can lead to
soil compaction or sinking of the rotor support wheels in
wet ground. Here, the rotor suspension movement should
be tendentially eased. If the field surface is very hard, or
steep, suspension travel should be reduced to stop the rotor
“floating” or hopping and leaving forage lying.
Coming in your next XtraBlatt: A closer look at actual forage
harvesting. «
Alexander Esselmann:
product specialist for
Krone tedders and swathers.
18 19

ON-FARM
PASTURE PIGS
SWINE IN THE
OPEN AIR
Keeping pigs on grassland? East Friesland farmer Johannes
Erchinger found this an interesting business
idea. Some 25 years ago he sought a new agricultural
enterprise and found it with his Berkshire swine.
Contended pigs:
These high-welfare piglets are
grouped after weaning and then
bedded daily with plentiful straw.
hen Johannes Erchinger comes
with the feed bucket nothing
else matters. Even out on the meadows
where boar and sows produce piglets
the natural way, all is forgotten when
the farmer appears with the feed bucket.
Only seconds after he steps into the
field he’s surrounded. He makes sure
that every pig gets some of the pellets.
There’s no fighting and even the boar
that can weigh-in at up to 350 kg seems
easy-going and doesn’t push the others
aside. “Pigs kept outdoors are simply
more relaxed”, says the farmer from
Logabirum near Leer in East Friesland.
This is classic dairy farming land and pig
producers are scarce. Johannes Erchinger
also runs a dairy herd with 80 cows, and
he represents the fifth generation on this
family farm. The farmyard is right in the
middle of the village so there’s no way
of expansion and simply moving out to
build on a greenfield site never attracted
him and his family. “In the second half
of the 1990s I thought very hard about
starting a second enterprise and finally
somehow landed on the idea of pig production
outdoors on pasture,” recalls the
farmer. The pig breeding company PIC
at that time invited him to visit a farm
near Schleswig (Schleswig-Holstein) that
specialised in outdoor pig production. In
just a few weeks, he had completed a
practical training course there for a
deeper insight into this type of enterprise.
Even before he’d completed the
course, Johannes Erchinger had first
calculations ready so that he could
convince his family to start off the
adventure “pasture pigs”.
INITIAL
RESISTANCE
At first, there was some resistance in
the village when his plans became
known. “Pigs are associated with unpleasant
odours, although this is con-
nected with housed animals”, explains
Johannes Erchinger, adding that pigs
kept outdoors don’t smell. This is partly
because of nature’s own ventilation, but
mainly because the animals eat mostly
grass and straw that leads to markedly
less smell from the dung, one reason
being that the dietary fibre binds odour
compounds. The initial unrest therefore
soon settled down. In fact, the pig pastures
have meantime become something
of an attraction in the neighbourhood.
The pigs are visited often by primary
school classes and Johannes Erchinger
takes the opportunity to inform the kids
more about farming.
Starting the enterprise was investment-intensive,
even without the cost
of animal housing, which is of course
not required. Firstly, the equipment
including water troughs, arks, feeding
tackle, as well as a “pig taxi” for livestock
transport, all had to be bought-in – and
the pastures suitably prepared. In De-
20 21

ON-FARM
Alongside his
dairy enterprise,
farmer Johannes
Erchinger from
Logabirum in East
Friesland breeds
pigs outdoors.
means it has been in demand for centuries.
“The reason is – as with Kobe cattle – the
notably well-marbled flesh”, explains Johannes
Erchinger. The genotype of the
Berkshire boar is so dominant that its meat
characteristics are almost entirely passed
on to the offspring. They produce a quality
carcass even although the sows are from
the (much leaner) Deutsche Edelschwein
breed. In an ongoing trial, some Duroc sows
have been served by the Berkshire boars to
check if the crosses produce an even better
meat quality than that for which Durocs are
already well known.
cember 1996, Johannes Erchinger started
with 105 breeding sows and four boars.
“In the first year only cash and a lot of
labour were invested”, he recalls. While the
animals arrived in winter, the sows weren’t
served until spring, the first litters born 115
days later in summer. A 3-week rhythm
was established with batches of 30 sows
farrowing, a batch every three weeks. After
litters are weaned, the sows are served
again, and the cycle begins anew.
Now, around 200 sows and their offspring
appear to be extremely contented out on
the East Friesian grassland. One of the
sows, just before her farrowing, is busy carrying
mouthfuls of grass into her farrowing
ark, natural behaviour for sows at this
stage. “A few hours before farrowing the
sows begin to build a nest of fresh grass”,
explains the farmer. In a neighbouring ark
lie piglets born only a few hours before and
they don’t yet venture outside. But by next
day, at the latest, they’ll start discovering
their new playground out in the fresh air.
The piglets stay with mother for four to
five weeks and then they’re weaned and
spend another seven or so weeks in the
Erchinger farmyard before being shipped
off for a further 16 weeks in a feeding
enterprise. “There too, a lot of attention
is given to ensuring high welfare for the
animals”, says the pig breeder. Altogether,
the Berkshire pigs he produces take six
to eight weeks longer than pigs run on
conventional indoor systems before being
ready for slaughter.
CONTENTED
ANIMALS
Notable with these pigs is not only their
general relaxation, but also their curly
tails. “These represent a central assessment
factor for management quality”,
relates Johannes Erchinger, not without
pride. On many farms with conventional
pig production systems the tails are often
docked to stop animals injuring each
other through tail biting. This behaviour
can severely impact animal health. Biting
is often through boredom. “It’s extremely
important for us that our pigs always have
something to busy themselves with. When
they’re grouped together for the second
phase of rearing, plenty of fresh straw is
supplied daily. The animals sport around
in the bedding and also naturally chew
the straw, exercising their biting reflexes
without having to resort to biting their pen
mates.
SPECIAL QUALITY
The pig meat produced in this way is marketed
by the outlet “Handelshof” under the
label “Duke of Berkshire”, the title based on
the breed of boar used. In fact, Berkshire
pigs are claimed to be the oldest English pig
breed. The quality of meat from this breed
What exactly ensures the meat quality of a
Berkshire pig? “It’s the intramuscular fat”,
answers Johannes Erchinger. “Fat is not only
the central taste-carrier in the meat, the fat
layering within the muscle fibres also leads
to a firmer consistency. And the meat from
the Berkshire pigs gets markedly more time
in which to grow, a fact definitely reflected
in its excellent cooking characteristics. “The
meat from Berkshires does not shrink in the
pan or roasting tray”, points out the breeder.
He’s served his sows with Berkshire boars
for a few years now. Since 2015, in fact,
when the retail chain Handelshof approached
him after noticing his outdoor
management system. Handelshof offered
to market his complete output. The retailer
had a request, however: that the boar breed
be always Berkshire. However not every
slaughter pig is marketed through the retail
chain. Around 2 % of output goes to a neighbouring
slaughter facility in the village of
Weener. There too, the meat from the sow
herd on pasture is greatly appreciated.
Johannes Erchinger certainly doesn’t regret
his decision to start producing from outdoor
pigs. From the financial point of view, the
pigs provide a dependable second income
for the farm. On top of this, working with
the animals gives this East Friesian farmer
great pleasure. There’s no mistaking this
when watching him step into the sow
pasture with his feed bucket. «
1
1 Lots of room for pigs on pasture: This
bird’s eye view emphasises the wide-open
spaces available.
2 A very welcome visit: When Johannes
Erchinger comes with the feed bucket,
he’s immediately surrounded by his sows.
3 Grassland farming in East Friesland:
Johannes Erchinger runs his dairy farm in
the 5th generation.
4 Active preparation for farrowing: Pastured
sows collect grass for nest-building.
2
3 4
22 23

INTERVIEW
MASCHINENFABRIK BERNARD KRONE
SAILING ON
The Krone farm machinery division thankfully
sailed free and fair through the corona
squalls of 2020. But what lessons were
learnt from this period? And what
might the long-term consequences
be? XtraBlatt discusses some
results of the crisis with Martin
Eying, managing director sales/
marketing, and marketing
manager Henrik Feldmann.
XtraBlatt: We already reported in XtraBlatt issue 1-2020
the precautionary measures undertaken by Krone in spring
to combat the effects of the corona virus. How should we
summarise the results of all efforts following nearly nine
months in pandemic mode?
Martin Eying: As far as company-internal measures are
concerned, we can be very positive. Certainly, such measures
sometimes entailed enormous changes for all employees.
Reorganisation of all processes was also a huge undertaking,
but one that was carried out with great commitment and
energy by everyone concerned. An example is the way in
which our IT department established at such short notice
the necessary technology for home office work wherever required.
Many other departments mastered similar challenges.
Today, we can recognise that the limitations and regulations
imposed by the situation, although not always easy, have
become part of normality. All, and this means every single
person involved in our complete team, have excelled in terms
of responsibility and commitment during this time, and for
this deserve heartfelt appreciation!
Henrik Feldmann: Our internal pandemic working group not
only succeeded in developing the initial protection concepts
and then applying the measures decided upon; the group
also continually optimised and redirected the measures. For
instance, in summer at the end of the holiday season. The
result is that, since March, we’ve maintained continuous
production and deliveries without quarantine restrictions
and any significant downtime losses. We’ve been able
to fulfil completely the orders of our customers, and
this makes us very happy indeed!
XtraBlatt: And the delivery chains of suppliers?
Weren’t these interrupted?
Eying: Naturally there were shortterm
disruptions initially, but no
definite stoppages. Through
a number of our European
suppliers being quickly
registered in spring as
system relevant, overall production continued smoothly with
no significant bottlenecks.
XtraBlatt: In other words, a good basis for a satisfactory
gross turnover in the farm machinery division of 732 million
€ and 4.8 % growth.....
Feldmann: Please don’t forget, though, that our business year
begins 1st August and ends 31st July. In other words, into
the 2019/2020 results have flowed the earnings from seven
months without corona. Still, by the time the pandemic was
underway in spring, we didn’t dare hope for the respectable
results we in fact achieved by July although, as mentioned,
we did, after all, fulfill all our orders.
Eying: Naturally, demand developed very differently in
individual markets. But on the whole, it was acceptable in
all countries: not only in terms of gross turnover but still
more concerning market share. Our estimates indicate an
additional 1 % for all our machinery categories worldwide.
Looking back though, we can see this is typical. Especially in
so-called crisis years, Krone has always profited above the
average reported by competition.
XtraBlatt: Why is this?
Eying: The reasons are to be found in the core values of the
family and the Krone company. For generations, these entail
absolute orientation on customers and service, on flexibility
as well as intensive personal contact with practicing farmers
and the markets. Nowadays, of course, the steady growth of
the company means this concept has other characteristics
than those of 20 or even 40 years ago. But the basic principle
remains. And it’s clear that customers really appreciate such
values, especially during difficult years.
XtraBlatt: But this personal “connection” to customers is
increasingly difficult under corona conditions.....
Feldmann: That’s true. But it’s still possible. Certainly, what
we’ve had to accept from the pandemic situation is that, in
the near future anyway, large-scale trade fairs will not be
24 25

INTERVIEW
staged, or only with tremendous difficulty. Interaction with
customers at such events, and the emotions that we all know
when seeing, and laying hands on, solid technology can be
forgotten for the moment. Communication with customers
will have to be substantially changed and this means that
digitalisation clearly wins in importance.
XtraBlatt: ...and replaces direct contact?
Eying: Not really. Nothing can replace direct contact and
personal conversations! But new, complementary concepts
will be developed for communication. Let me take a moment
here to mention our internal processes. There, digitalisation
has succeeded in freeing up time in some areas, time which
could be used for increasing direct customer contact. For
example, events with live contact will tend to be relocated
in the regions. This can mean direct interaction between customers
and our dealerships, or our own field service personnel.
On the other hand, acceptance of digital procedures in this
respect is increasing substantially. In Scandinavia it’s already
part of daily life and socially accepted in substantially larger
measure compared with here in Germany, for example. Still,
I’m convinced that sooner or later the trend will be similar
here and in other countries.
XtraBlatt: A general social
trend is the increasing
ordering of products in
Internet, bringing substantial
problems to the retail
branch. Is this feasible with
farm machinery?
“COMMUNICATION WITH
THE CUSTOMER WILL CHANGE
SUBSTANTIALLY.”
HENRICK FELDMANN,
MARKETING MANAGER MACHINENFABRIK KRONE
Feldmann: Not in the same form and scale as, for instance,
the purchase of clothing in Internet. But already replacement
parts are increasingly traced and
ordered online by end customers. An
example here with farm machinery is
our XtraPower online offering, whereby
a flexible power boost is transferred
into an appropriately preconfigured
machine, e.g. silage harvester, for
a limited period of time. But even
online auctions for used machinery
are experiencing a boom. If, perhaps in the medium-term,
rather less complex new farm machinery such as tedders or
swathers should be marketed online is difficult to assess so
far. But this isn’t our aim. And with more complex machinery
it is not really feasible, I would think.
Eying: More promising than in sales is, I find, the concept of
digitalisation in customer service and maintenance. More
than ever, technically increasingly complex machinery requires
rapid help in the field so that stoppages or downtime
are avoided. If a service mechanic is in a position to login
online straight from the workshop and diagnose a fault, this
could avoid the necessity of driving out to the field or customer.
Instead, there’s the possibility of helping the driver per
telephone or even adjusting the machinery software online.
And if the mechanic still has to
drive out, in the ideal case he or
she will be able to take along the
correct replacement parts.
XtraBlatt: Is every Krone dealership
then qualified for such
technically complex diagnoses,
especially when they might concern
software and electronics?
Martin Eying (l.) managing
director sales/marketing, and
Henrik Feldmann discuss the
consequences of the corona crisis
including the rapid expansion of
digitalisation.
Eying: In principle, yes. Hereby, all our dealership partners
regularly complete the necessary schooling. Certainly, there
are differences in individual cases. For instance with our
BiG product line: BiG X, BiG M and the large square balers.
Not every dealership has responsibility for particular types
of machinery in any significant number and therefore
individuals may not be able to immediately answer every
problem from own experience. What applies in this case is
close cooperation between dealership and factory. Here too,
digital tools offer a key to finding solutions. On top of this,
our customer support specialists are always directly available
per telephone for service partners – also in this aspect we
differ significantly from other machinery makes, a fact we
are continually reminded of by our dealerships.
“FOR GENERATIONS, THE CORE
VALUES OF THE KRONE COMPANY
INCLUDE ABSOLUTE ORIENTATION
ON CUSTOMERS AND SERVICE.”
MARTIN EYING,
MANAGING DIRECTOR SALES/MARKETING MASCHINENFABRIK KRONE
XtraBlatt: Do the efforts of the big long-liners to tailor their
dealership networks towards offering exclusivity mean
there may no longer be room in the market for specialist
dealerships such as those with Krone? Or must manufacturers
increasingly take dealership tasks into their own hands?
Eying: All those responsible within Krone have not changed
their minds on this question. As a manufacturer, taking
over sales and customer services in general would be neither
feasible from a personnel standpoint nor financially
supportable. Our aim is therefore to support our dealership
partners as much as we can in all respects where this support
is required and/or expected. When, in this respect, there arises
the requirement for a company support facility in a particular
region, we would do this. However, there’s also the feasible
solution of dealerships themselves able to offer a strong support
point function. We will react flexibly and undogmatically
to changes in structure and market. Always, two maxims
stand fast for us: First of all, the operational reliability of the
machinery in every case must be ensured, no matter what.
And secondly, that our competent and committed specialised
dealerships remain on their respective locations as first choice
for sales and service. «
26 27

INTERNATIONAL
FARM CONTRACTOR WILL MURPHY, GREAT BRITAIN
BIG BUSINESS
BIG BALES
Will Murphy runs a classic business up in the county of Suffolk,
Great Britain. His concept is baling straw with two Krone HDP
machines packing a good 30,000 bales per season. A great
reason for a visit from Bernd Feuerborn, journalist with
agrarheute magazine.
The business base is hard to find, nestling somewhere
way out in the British countryside. Narrow lanes lead
to the farm – fields as far as the eye can see. In the yard
stands a corrugated iron barn with an office container
settled in front. Alongside the barn await two Krone large
square balers, ready for action. One, a BiG Pack 1290 HDP
High Speed and the other a BiG Pack HDP II. The HDP High
Speed was a season old, the HDP almost new, when we
visited contractor WRM Agri Ltd in summer.
firm that bought straw as power station fuel. In the electricity
plant straw was mixed with wood chips before firing the
boilers to produce 44 MW, enough for 82,000 households.
Each year, 240,000 t straw were needed for this purpose,
with the plant now in its fourth year of full operation. This
is where Will saw his chance as a self-employed supplier of
straw. In fact, there are four such biomass electricity works
in the region with a total straw requirement of 1 m t.
Will Murphy started off small scale. He asked the manager of
a 2,400 ha farm if he could buy and bale 80 ha straw. Because
the manager was at the time not so happy with his present
contractor, he ended up being offered 400 ha for baling.
He grabbed the opportunity and impressed everyone with
prompt service and clean baling work. Nowadays, he bales
straw on the whole farm and has secured baling contracts
for a further 1,600 ha in the region.
The business with the straw is quite a simple one in this area.
The farmers sell their straw from the field to the contractor.
Thereby barley, wheat and – amazingly – rapeseed straw are
all baled. As soon as the combine is finished, Will enters the
field with his baling team. Because he’s expected to clear
the stubble quickly, work capacity is important. After all, the
complete risk lies with the contractor. Payment is by weight.
All bales are recorded and traceable to field of origin. The
contractor gets his cash on delivery of straw to the power
station storage barns. Here, every bale is weighed.
TWO HDP BALERS
Three years into the business, Will Murphy’s labour force
had reached six seasonal workers employed for up to 10
weeks from July to September. However, the main work
is completed – weather and harvest permitting – usually
within six weeks. The contractor has a clear vision of how the
season’s business should go. The most important machines
in this respect are the balers, a reason why the Krone balers
are new or almost new.
The only bale size he wanted was 120 x 90 cm and he likes
density as high as possible, which in turn minimises straw
transport costs. This is why the 1290 HDP High Speed joined
the fleet in 2018. With this machine the contractor takes a
further precautionary step and has the baler serviced by
the local Krone dealership and has bought an extended
guarantee for the machine. “The capacity for enormous
straw density in the bales, but also the good service supplied
by the Krone dealership, were decisive factors for my purchase”,
says Will Murphy. The baler is powered by a Massey
Ferguson (MF 8670) 2012 model with 3,300 hours on the
clock. “With the tractors I’m always on the lookout for good
used machines, older but with low hours.” With its 320 HP,
the present MF has the required power for the HDP baler.
Things were different in the beginning with a Xenon 3800,
already 12 years old, running in front of the HDP II. It came
into the business with 2,500 h. This baler needs more than
380 HP on-hand in order to achieve full output, reckons Will
Murphy. For this reason, he’s added another 40 HP with chip
tuning. It seems there’s no problem in this respect with the
road authorities in Britain or road vehicle insurance.
Both tractors are fitted up-front with Agriweld swath rollers.
In this region the combines are working with 6 to 12 m
cutterbars and with the roll pressure on the big swaths, it’s
reckoned that the baler can work at up to 4 km/h faster. We
would have liked to have seen this proved in action.
Will Murphy founded his contractor firm in 2016 as 27-yearold
seeking the independence of self-employment. Beforehand,
he’d worked a couple of years in the straw trade for a
The two Krone balers run by
Will Murphy together manage
to produce up to 30,000 bales
per season.
28 29

INTERNATIONAL
Loading up the bales takes
place without stopping.
Will Murphy contracts two farmers for
collection and stacking of bales. They have to
supply their own machinery.
Stacking the bales eight-high and pressing
them tightly together keeps rain
from seeping in.
WITH MOISTURE METER
The electricity power plant accepts straw at up to 25 %
moisture content (mc), but the contractor stops baling when
this reaches 18 % in the field, giving a safe margin. After all,
the straw is stored out in the open after baling. The HDP
High Speed with the MF managed almost 15,000 bales in
season 2018. Average weight for wheat straw (at 10 % mc)
was 490 kg, representing a baling density at the terminal of
95 %. The HDP II manages bales of 530 kg with a 70 % setting
at the terminal. “The HDP II should manage around 20,000
bales per year”, Will Murphy is sure. In six weeks, the young
entrepreneur estimates a production of over 30,000 bales
from around 4,000 ha.
When there’s baling straw lying ready in the bout, the drivers
leave the depot by 8.30 am and this is often a little early
in the day, the moisture meters on board indicate when
it’s safe to start baling. Will Murphy says of his strategy: “I
would rather that the drivers are already on the spot and
have maybe time for a cup of tea than when they set off
at 10 am and maybe miss an hour of baling before they
eventually get started.”
Will Murphy specialises in
straw baling with his farm
contractor business.
This is also right for the farmers involved. It’s in their interest
when the stubble is cleared as fast as possible. Mostly,
both balers drive to the same field. As a rule, the HDP High
Speed bales the headlands and any irregular border areas.
Then the HDP II goes in set at maximum performance on
the long swaths.
Information on the areas to be baled is sent to the contractor
via Shape file, but also per printed maps from the farm
computer. The data can also be read and managed on smart
phones using the app Harvestyield. In this case, all the driver
needs to do is enter starting and finishing time plus bale
count. This information is the basis for subsequent invoicing.
FAST BALE COLLECTOR
Will Murphy hires a couple of farmers for
bale collection and stacking. Both bring
tractors pulling Heath Super Chaser
QM Extra trailers, specially conceived
for the 120 x 90 cm bales. The drivers
collect bales at a good lick with usually
no stopping. A dozer blade mounted
on the tractor front weights is used
to push each bale in line with trailer
travel direction. Pick-up spikes
in front of the offset trailer lift each bale, placing it on the
trailer floor from where each is hydraulically pushed back.
The sides of the baler load are also continually pushed in by
side-gates, also hydraulically powered. Up to 16 big square
bales make up a load on the chaser trailers. The loads are
then towed to a collection point where the trailer is tipped
to a vertical position and backed against the existing stack
(if already established) before jerking away to leave the load
on the ground. The trailer system apparently makes for very
compact stacking of the bales, offering good protection
against rain seepage.
STRAW STACKS
The stack stacks built by the chaser trailers have a maximum
height of eight bales with, once again, very tight packing.
Moisture must be kept out this way because no rain covers
are used. The straw collecting team is hired directly by Will
Murphy, the two farmers having to supply their own kit:
the bale collection trailers being leased by them for the
season. Subsequent road travel to the biofuel power plants
is then by truck.
A truck load is usually 54 120 x 90 cm bales which means
a height of just over 5m. The season for road transport
is usually from harvest through to Christmas time and
this easier timetable reduces stress for the truck loading,
which takes place with two telescope loaders owned by Will
Murphy. Lift capacity is 3 t and reach 9.50 m.
During our visit it had rained heavily in the previous night,
which meant a start couldn’t be made to the planned
barley straw baling. However, the oilseed rape straw was
dry enough to get started on. One aspect that gave the
visitor something to ponder over was the possible longerterm
effects of baling and completely removing virtually all
organic material left on the combined fields.
Otherwise, the enterprise certainly seems to represent a
good business model for everyone concerned. For instance,
the combines don’t need to chop the straw, which makes
for an easier threshing job and less power requirement.
The cereal growing farmer has no lying straw to cope with.
The material is quickly baled and removed. On average,
our contractor this year was paying the farmer 15–20 GBP
(17–22 €) per tonne straw baled and carted off the field. The
contractor calculated his costs right up to delivery to the
power plant at 36–42 GBP/t (40–46 €). This takes account
of all inputs: baling twine, collection, further transport.
The costs Will Murphy calculated for the baling seemed
extremely low. What the contractor actually received for his
straw on delivery at the power plant, he did not wish to read
about in this magazine. But in the light of the high work rate
and the low costs this appears to be a profitable business.
The principle of investing in optimal baling technology
and protecting it through extra warranty seems to pay off
here. Maintenance is carried out by the local dealership.
The young contractor reports he’s experienced no serious
problems with the Krone balers. «
30 31 31

Xtra
fresh

BiG X 480–630: IMPRESSIVE HIGHLIGHTS
BiG Pack: LOW-WEAR & PROFITABLE PERFORMER EasyCut B 870 / B 1000: CUTTING WITH COMFORT Model series Highland: FOR FAR-SEEING SUMMIT STORMERS
BiG_X_Facelift
BiGPack_neue_Generation
EasyCut_B
Highland-Baureihe
Our development team was busy, hatching numerous innovation
ideas for you. Here you can view the eight most important ones.
Simply scan the QR codes and learn lots more.
*Whilst Karla is not a member of our team, she never fails to inspire our new idea development.
Our 8 Innovations
This is
Karla. *
VariPack: SIMPLY SUPERIOR PERFORMANCE
Easy Wrap: PERFECTLY PACKAGED
Vendro: TREND SETTING TURNABILTY
Swadro TC 1250: THE STEP-UP FOR PROFESSIONALS
VariPack
EasyWrap
Vendro
TC_1250

INFORM
BEHIND THE
SCENES
A smoothly running online conference
with the professional touch
needs loads of preparation and
practice beforehand. Here, a selection
of impressions snapped “behind
the scenes”.
32 33

ON-FARM
KNEER FAMILY, BAD DITZENBACH, GERMANY
REAL PROFESSIONALS
Florian (l) and Moritz Kneer together manage Oberberghof farm in Bad Ditzenbach.
Some words are often misunderstood.
The word “amateur”, for instance. In the
correct sense, an amateur is someone who
does something for the love of it. This is
an entirely fitting term for brothers Moritz
and Florian Kneer. But they easily earn the
title of farming professionals too ... even
although their main business is building
windows.
Oberberghof is a well-kept horse farm
on the outskirts of Bad Ditzenbach,
nestling amid the Swabian Alb foothills.
Enthusiasts of rural architecture would
recognise right away some of the farm
buildings originally fulfilled another purpose.
This is confirmed by Florian Kneer
who runs the farm with brother Moritz.
“From our mother’s side we come from a
family which, as was earlier quite common,
ran a hostelry and butcher’s business along
with the farm. By 1962, our grandfather had
established a beef herd as main enterprise
on Oberberghof. Later, horses were brought
into the business and, after his successful
graduation in horse husbandry at the
Baden-Württemberg State Stud Farm in
Marbach, he specialised completely in this.”
Florian and Moritz took over in 2004, with
Florian manager of the non-agricultural
side and Moritz the person usually found
around the farm.
“We farm around 75 ha here”, explains
Moritz Kneer. “Most is pasture, mainly on
steep slopes. We only have about a hectare
of arable land, along with some woodland.
We have 25 horseboxes with 16 of these
rented out to private horse owners. Riding
is a hobby for most of our customers and
the same applies to us. We’re open minded
about breeds. We keep mainly warmbloods.
A rare breed is represented here by
our Altwürttemberg horse. Additionally,
34 35

ON-FARM
1 2 3
1 Because ideal cutting and curing
windows in the hay season for quality
horse forage are relatively short, the
brothers apply a machinery fleet that
ensures highest harvesting capacity.
2 The main enterprise on Oberberghof
is a horse pension.
3 Hay and straw are almost exclusively
pressed into square bales.
two American miniature ponies and two
Deutsche ponies share the paddocks.”
OWN FORAGE
Alongside a riding hall and another
all-weather riding facility, both of which
feature special textile-mix floor surfaces, the
facilities include a solarium, a horse exercising
system and bad weather paddocks with
sand floors. “Our grandfather also started a
riding school”, recalls Florian Kneer. “Nowadays,
however, we’re purely a horse pension,
although a certified groom on the payroll offers
riding lessons and trains horses. We have
a second employee for feeding, mucking and
carrying out other jobs around the yard.”
While many stud farms buy-in their feed,
the Kneers prefer home-grown forage. “We
harvest hay, haylage and silage, although the
silage is sold off the farm. Straw is bought
in the swath from other farmers. We bale it
ourselves with large square balers also used
for our hay baling. For the haylage and silage,
a round baler with plastic foil binding is put
to work. We’ve had good experiences with
this system.”
One of the two large square balers is a
Krone BiG Pack 1270 VC with multiblade
cutting system. Now, one might think that
such high technology might make more
sense on a dairy farm, and rather less so
with horses. Moritz Kneer argues against
this: “For over 90 % of the straw, we bale
for horse litter with all 51 knives fitted. The
great advantage is that the chopped litter
is more moisture-absorbent and makes for
easier and cleaner mucking-out. On top of
this, the resultant dung is a better fertiliser,
degrading faster in the soil. Initially, we
had our doubts about chopping, the litter
looking less comfortable as bedding to our
customers. But the advantages mean we
have never had negative feedback.”
WORK CAPACITY
WISHED FOR
The mowing machinery mainly hails from
Emsland too. A front-rear combination
without conditioner is used for smaller
parcels. For larger fields, a rear-mounted
butterfly mower from another manufacturer.
“The decision for the Krone F 400 CV
front mower was because of its 4 m working
width. We need that here because, among
other points, it gives an overlapping action
especially useful on side slopes”, explains
Moritz Kneer.
A pulled KW-T 1300 teds hay. The brothers
are very satisfied with this. It’s extremely
manoeuvrable, even in small areas, and still
offers high work capacity – very important
for main forage hay. Quality hay means that,
within the small time-slot,all crop should
be turned, especially important for first cut.
For the same reason, a suitably dimensioned
4-rotor swather, a Swadro 1400
Plus, is also on the inventory. “At first we
had a side-swather, then a central delivery
swather, running both of them for a period”,
recalls Moritz Kneer. “Now all the work is
carried out by a single machine. Optically, it
gives the impression of great size although
in reality it’s just as agile as a two-rotor
side swather and is especially suitable for
collecting grass cleanly out of corners.”
The Krone products, incidentally, all come
from the firm Steinbrenner in Wörnitz,
which also takes care of service and
maintenance. This is despite the workshop
being around two hours’ drive from the
farm. Says Florian Kneer: “We got to know
this dealership because we were contract
harvesting nearby. Especially with more
complicated machinery such as our large
square balers, the team working around
Willy Waldmann and workshop master
Stefan Sarke impressed us so much that
we’ve stayed with them. The work is either
done in the dealership facilities or sometimes
back on our farm.”
THREE CUTS
Hay and straw are harvested from around
450 ha, the large square balers produce
some 6,000 bales per season, the round
baler managing between 3,000 and
3,500 bales. Most of the machinery and
implements at Oberberghof are also used
on other farms. “We’ve always aimed to
have spare machinery capacity”, points out
Florian Kneer. “This is because for feeding
horses we can only use the very best forage.
The same applies to the straw litter. To
enable fast and flexible work we started
in 2005 with our first big machine, a large
square baler. Neighbours then increasingly
asked if we could also bale for them on a
contract basis. This enterprise has steadily
expanded.”
As a rule, three forage cuts are made on
grassland, the first exclusively for hay, the
second, depending on weather and growth,
for öhmd (the local term for aftermath hay)
and/or silage and the third for silage only.
Mainly, the last cut takes place mid-October
with the brothers careful that the sward
doesn’t go into winter too long because
this gives best conditions for field mouse
overwintering. Haying mostly starts in mid-
June. Work peaks can mostly be spaced out
well because the contracting dairy farms
have differing harvest times, although this
year haying proved a non-stop operation for
two entire weeks.
On their own fields, Florian and Moritz
Kneer aim for a high-quality mix of grass
and herbs in their leys. Deliberately, they’ve
stayed clear of stewardship schemes that
lay down limited mowing times because
they like full control of their haying operation.
They’ve had the experience that
some weeds in the sward have multiplied
massively during recent dry years. Their
answer: rolling, tine harrowing and reseeding.
Brought-in for the control of poisonous
pasture weed saffron crocus is a prism roller.
STAYING FLEXIBLE
Part and parcel of horse farming is the
production of solid manure from litter and
its spreading. Used for this is a 24 t, 22 m³
Annaburger spreader. For contracted and
own silage, maize and chopped forage
transport, a Krampe hooklift trailer has
been invested in. When asked about the
rather smaller transport capacity with the
body-swap system, Moritz Kneer explains
that flexibility is more important, with both
skip and flatbed bodies used.
The flatbed platform is also used transporting
construction and landscape-care
machinery including mobile backhoe,
tree-grip attachment, tracked mower and
tractor for steep slopes – all used in the
brothers’ contracting enterprise. “A further
big advantage is that we can use the trailer
at speeds up to 60 km/h (36 mph) on the
road, pulled by an Agrar-Unimog or a Fendt
926. We’ve been driving Unimogs for a very
long time. They’re maybe not optimal for
all farm jobs but we like them a lot: they’re
low-wear with economic fuel consumption
and high road speeds.” The rest of the tractor
fleet comprises mainly Fendt machines,
some of them getting on in years, but all in
top condition.
While it’s true Oberberghof is not the main
enterprise in the Kneer business, it is run
very professionally indeed. And listening to
the brothers’ considerations on purchasing
decisions, their experiences with machinery
and other technical details makes it clear
that both are farmers with great passion
and therefore real professionals, with an
amateur love of the land! «
36 37

TELEGRAM
NEWS TICKER
BEST MARKS
How satisfied are farm machinery dealerships
with the makes they sell and service?
This is the question asked by the dealerships’
professional organisation in Germany, the
LandBauTechnik Bundesverband e.V. (LBT), of
all farm machinery selling members in spring
2020. The answer is unequivocal: Krone is
top of the preference list with an average
16.7 points. Dealers could vote on a scale
from 0 (very poor) to maximum 20 points.
AGRIROUTER
WINS A PRIZE
The platform agrirouter wins the Digitalisation
Prize Agrar und Ernährung
(Agriculture and Food), Lower Saxony.
This data platform, developed by DKE
Data GmbH& Co. KG, enables farmers
and agricultural contractors to exchange
data between machinery and agricultural
software applications from different
manufacturers. Krone is one of the
NEW KRONE TRAINEE COURSE
At the beginning of the new training year in August, 41 trainees and dual course students
were officially welcomed and gathered for a group photograph according to corona rules,
resulting in a slightly unusual perspective.
THE SUMMER PHOTO 2020
TOP AGAIN
13 BIG PACK
founding members of agrirouter.
In a widespread poll answered by readers
of several German specialist magazines,
Krone repeated its success of the previous
year being once again awarded top place
in the category “Trailer Cover/Curtainsider”.
Almost 50 % of the total 8,125 poll
participants voted Krone as best.
......balers were sold all at once by the
Australian Krone partner Echuca CIH,
including 11 HDP machines. Good
weather conditions including spells
of continuous rainfall resulted in an
above-average harvest in the state of
Victoria this year.
TX ON THE ROAD
Agrolohn Müritz this summer collected
two TX 560 D trailers in Spelle and towed
them by road all the way back to Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.
The home journey took
the tractor and trailer teams around 9 h.
comes from Australia and captures a Premos pellet harvester in action with the
backdrop of a breathtakingly beautiful sunset in the state of Victoria.
NL FIELD TRAINING
IN RETIREMENT
Aloys Schnelte (65), commercial director
Under strict corona protection regulations
of the Krone Commercial Vehicle Group
the team from Krone Netherlands &
celebrates his retiral. The business admin-
Belgium carried out four exclusive field
istration graduate worked for the company
training sessions for sales personnel and
since 1991, initially as head of the control
mechanics from all Krone dealerships in
department in the agricultural machinery
the two countries. Presented at the events
factory and then also in the commercial
were the respective new introductions for
vehicle division from 1999.
STRONG TURN­
OVER DESPITE
CORONA
Krone Group turnover for the business
season 2020/2021.
TOUR DE FRANCE
Krone France was on demonstration tour this
harvest covering 12 regions with the same
number (12) of VariPack Plus balers. Whether
STUDENT VISITS
ONLINE
The Krone training team has been available
during regular online sessions to
answer questions from career-interested
year 2019/2020 ending end of July lay by
hay or straw, netting or twine, small swaths or
schoolchildren – and their parents too.
approx. 1.9 billion €. While commercial
big ones – the VariPacks were able to master all
Nowadays, video conferences are already
vehicle division results were substantial-
situations successfully and impress innumer-
well-known to schoolchildren through
ly impacted by corona, Krone agricultural
able customers and other interested parties
their home schooling. This familiarity
machinery division in fact increased
with the performance achieved by the high
probably influenced the high attendance
annual turnover.
density balers, and their ease of operation.
for the on-screen sessions.
38 39

GRÜNLAND-MANAGEMENT: NIEDERLANDE
PARTNER
Separate sales structures will continue
to exist for individual main makes. But
servicing in Abemec’s 21 locations will be
carried out in the same way for all makes.
NUR QUALITÄT
AGRIMEC/ABEMEC
THE
SPECIALISTS
Leading machinery makes in the product
range and benchmark status in service have
helped the Abemec Group establish a powerful
presence in the southern half of the
Netherlands. Interesting thereby: sales and
service facilities now exist as separate subsidiaries.
The aim is clear: “Optimally, none of
our customers should have to drive
further than 30 km (18 miles) to reach one
of our sales or service locations”, emphasises
Hans Quint. He’s managing director
of Abemec b.v. which has its head office in
Veghel, around 25 km north of Eindhoven
and therefore in the heart of Noord-Brabant,
one of the Netherlands’ three southernmost
provinces. But the operative area of this
company specialising in sales and service of
farm machinery stretches far further afield.
14 of the now existing 21 branch depots
run by this 70-year-old organisation lie in
the “home ground” of Noord-Brabant and
Zeeland. As part of a carefully planned expansion
strategy, a further seven locations
have been added in the centre and north
of the country.
NEW STRUCTURE
But why did Abemec open, in February 2020,
a further, completely new-built, facility
in 10,000-soul Beek en Donk, just 12 km
from Veghel? After all, purely from business
logic this close positioning of specialised
facilities makes little sense. In this case,
though, there’s a logical explanation, says
Hans Quint. Between 2014 and 2019, the
Munich-based agricultural supplier BayWa
AG gradually took over Abemec.
This led to the challenge of retaining the
Fendt exclusive sales strategy, as carried out
by the business for the preceding 55 years
in Veghel. “The concept we’d so far successfully
followed, as far as our customers were
concerned, involved always listing strong
brands from specialised manufacturers in
the individual product sectors”, explains
Hans Quint. “We had worked with most
of these firms for decades. For example,
with Krone since 1995. To relinquish this
policy would have set us back enormously
in the market. So we made up our minds to
continue this strategy, and to unite it with
that of our new owner for best possible
synergy effect.”
This has resulted since 2019 in a trio of
self-contained companies under the roof
of a single holding: Agrimec. One of the
daughters, Agromec, focusses exclusively
on customer-advice and sales for the complete
Fendt range. Abemec Machines, on
the other hand, is responsible for sales of
the other core brands – except for tractors.
And the third part of the trio is responsible
only for technical customer services, as
emphasised by the company name Abemec
Service. The highlight here is that the
service division supports all products from
both sales companies. And so the question
on locational nearness of the Veghel and
Beek en Donk facilities is explained. “In
Veghel, we concentrate on Fendt sales and
presentation of new Fendt machinery. In
Beek en Donk, the head office of Abemec
Machines, our interest is centred on Krone,
Dewulf, Agrifac and other specialists”,
explains the managing director.
40 41

PARTNER
Really important here, he cautions, is
continuity in performance and quality.
“Naturally, good machinery brands play an
important role. But conclusive for farmers
and contractors is that we, as a dealership,
provide optimal solutions for their work requirements,
and answers to their problems.
These concern machinery just as much as
service, advice, financing and other aspects.
For example, this is why I see our sales staff
not as classic salesmen and saleswomen
but instead as advisers of equal standing
– or, to exaggerate a little, as buyers for
the customers who, after all, can only be
sustainably satisfied by solutions offering
exactly what is required. This is our greatest
capital. Under which of our companies this
takes place, is of secondary importance. The
main thing is, the customers come to us.”
Abemec managing
director Hans Quint (r)
and Jeroen Manders,
manager of the new
sales branch at Beek
en Donk, are both
delighted with the
new building and its
boost for sales and
service.
KRONE MUSEUM
“NOW IT’S
REALLY GOOD.”
BIG SERVICE
The importance of service in this overall
concept can be seen from staffing proportions.
From the holding’s current 280
employees, a good 150 are in the workshops,
a further 25 especially employed in
the spare parts sector, altogether 175. Here
too, however, specialisation is ever-stronger
in this sector. “Particularly with the highly
complex harvesting machines such as the
BiG line from Krone, extensive know-how is
expected from our mechatronics engineers.
Only so can technical problems be solved in
the shortest time.”
Sums well over the six-figure mark are
annually invested, alone for the schooling
sessions and further-training of his team.
Such investment is a must, emphasises
Hans Quint. “As specialised company, we
play a key function between manufacturer
and customer. This only works when there’s
far-reaching specialisation amongst our
staff members.” For Krone, this means a
total nine mechatronics engineers schooled
as intensively as possible in the respective
products. They become, one can say, the
Krone masters within the Abemec service
team.
Incidentally, this in no way infers that the
other 140 colleagues cannot be employed
in servicing and repairing the machinery
from Spelle. Certainly, the Krone presence in
the regions is impressive. Hans Quint points
out Abemec currently services 250 BiG line
machines including 60 forage harvesters, 20
self-propelled mowers and 130 large square
balers. “If machines such as these break
down during the season, ‘the house starts
burning’. Competent help is needed as fast
as possible. In very complicated cases this
means working closely with factory service
and therein lies yet another strength: Krone
supports us in an exemplary manner also,
and in fact particularly, in service.”
TAILOR MADE
In the optimal situation, however, machinery
breakdowns do not happen during
the season. To ensure this remains so, the
service team has for a long time made
every effort in the discipline “preventative
maintenance”. Here, standards from other
engineering branches, e.g. the commercial
vehicle branch, have time and again been
successfully adapted for farm machinery
by his service people and, adds Hans Quint,
often substantially earlier than others in the
dealership scene. Belonging here are also
maintenance and service agreements with
customers. “It’s very important that we do
not try to sell an inflexible maintenance
package deal from an individual manufacturer.
Instead, we should apply our own
concepts and thereby follow the wishes of,
or possibilities for, the customers as far as
absolutely possible”, explains the managing
director.
With this strategy of tailor-made agreements,
he sees the company well equipped
for rapid structural change. In the south of
the Netherlands up to 2025, reckons Hans
Quint, something like one third of existing
farms will have given up business and the
remainder expanded greatly. Additionally,
electronics and digitalisation will increasingly
dominate. “This creates completely
new challenges for us in customer advice
and product service. However, with still
more emphasis on specialisation we aim
to meet all these needs – as said, with tailor
made solutions.” «
After some two years’ work, the Krone Museum is now
completely redesigned. For Walter Krone, as manager of the
working group involved, the project has been something very
dear to his heart – and its completion the crowning culmination
of his activities within the company.
42 43

INFORM
Museum – for many, the term
indicates something a little dry
at first, and perhaps boring. But here in
Spelle, the Krone Museum is nothing of the
sort! With fascinating exhibits, appealing
presentations and clear explanations via
multimedia technology, history can in fact
be very exciting. Also particularly for younger
folk. “After all, tradition and history don’t
mean worshipping the ashes but instead,
passing on the blazing torch. In other words,
those who know nothing about the past
cannot understand the present, nor can
they create the future. This wisdom from
the former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl
applies not only to politics, it’s right for all
fields of life. For instance, for the Krone
Group and its history of 114 years. This is
why it’s up to older folk like us to pass on
our knowledge and, with help from younger
generations, to prepare it in such a way that
the information ensures understanding
across the generations”, explains Walter
Krone, cousin of Dr Bernard Krone and thus
member of the third family generation since
the firm’s founding in 1906. Walter Krone
worked in the family concern for some 40
years, initially in the machinery factory then,
from 1977 to 2003, as managing director of
the Krone trading division “Landmaschinen
Vertrieb Dienstleistungen Bernard Krone”,
abbreviated as LVD.
He didn’t hesitate when his cousin Bernard
asked him to coordinate the “Project Museum”
and the associated working group. In
2015 the LVD moved into a new building
in the south of Spelle and soon afterwards
the tradition-steeped meeting house in the
community’s centre, parts of which stretch
right back to the beginnings of the factory,
was reassigned as museum with numerous
exhibits moved-in. “Alone the sight of the
numerous machines and implements under
that roof was immediately impressive, representing
a first big step forward”, recalls
Walter Krone. “But it soon became clear
to us: this alone was not enough. For the
right effect, a completely different concept
was needed. And this is what we’ve been
working on intensively since 2017.”
“We” in this association includes the
working group of around 20 people and
comprising Krone family members, representatives
of external services and a
number of machinery factory colleagues,
retired or still employed. “Such a mix of
different experiences and competences was
very enriching for the project, just as for me
personally”, he remembers. By February
2020 everything had been completed. The
“new” museum was ready for opening –
and then came corona. “That was certainly
disappointing because we had all looked
forward to a wonderful opening, and to the
reactions from as many visitors as possible”,
says Walter Krone.
INSPIRING
However, he and especially his honorary
helpers from a circle of former colleagues
including Franz Feismann, Georg Holterhues
and Josef Börger, did not allow themselves
to become discouraged. From April onwards,
guided tours have indeed welcomed regular
visits. After advance registration they come
in small groups of all ages under compliance
of full precautionary measures. The
groups learn all about the exhibition and
have been – as hoped – deeply impressed.
“Especially with the slightly older visitors,
many of whom often know exhibits from
their own experience, the discussions that
develop become so animated that a guided
tour planned for two hours duration quickly
runs to three hours and even more”, smiles
Walter Krone. “But the younger visitors also
show great interest when the context of
respective exhibits is graphically explained.”
Apropos explaining. Here it’s sometimes
amazing how apparently self-evident things
cause great wonder. Walter Krone speaks of
the short films shown at the beginning of
each visit. Among the subjects is machinery
from the present company range with their
respective applications. “Particularly those
with no, or at least no close, relationship
to agriculture often don’t know anything
about the basic work being carried out – for
instance in harvesting forage. So, at the end
of the films we can get amazed reactions
such as: ‘At last, I understand what these
machines really do’. Often, applause breaks
out at this point – which is very welcome
indeed”, laughs Walter Krone. Similarly, he
takes great interest in the visiting school
classes. After all, during their guided tours,
many children learn about working methods
with tools they are seeing for the first
time in their life.
On show in Spelle: the world’s
only working example of the
Lanz Landbaumotor with
integrated rotary cultivator.
Among the highlights
in the museum: a huge
collection of historical
tractors.
Important in the museum’s conception, he
continues, is the interesting mixture of differing
experience dimensions – modern and
from the past, general contemporary and
personal family histories, real exhibition
objects and virtual presentations. Thus, we
can visit the office of the second Bernard
Krone, as well as see household utensils
from the 1950s and 60s. “After all, not only
the machinery factory and the trading
business belonged to the concern, there was
a hotel too – even a household goods shop
run by Dr Krone’s mother, Gertrud. Here, for
instance, came many folk from the region
before they got married, perhaps to buy
crockery with their dowries, and seeking
her advice in Spelle,” he relates.
UNIQUE
The great attraction of the exhibition is –
how could it be other – the machinery. To
this belongs all the machines ever built by
Krone, including prototypes that never went
into series production. Figuring among the
highlights are also the innumerable old
timers, sometimes extreme rarities to be
seen nowhere else. As one example from
many, Walter Krone names the 1917 produced
Lanz Landbaumotor with integrated
rotary soil cultivator. He says this is the only
functioning example worldwide. Another
One hundred years ago a the well-known nickname for the smallest Hanomag 2/10 car was “Kommissbrot”:
its main components jokingly referred to as “2 kg of tin and a lick of paint”.
rarity is one of the first John Deere combine
harvesters, from 1940. The precisely
restored model in the museum is the only
example of this type in Europe.
These two machines count among Walter
Krone’s personal favourites. “In fact, I actually
have seven favourite highlights here.
My, one can say, BiG 7 – because, as is well
known, we have a thing about BiG in Krone.”
The other five include a six-furrow motor
plough and a very old mower cutterbar,
the latter as synonym for the massive importance
of mechanisation in agriculture.
The cutaway model of a threshing machine
from Ködel & Böhm is also well up on his
BiG 7 list, as is a hand-powered winnower
from the 19th century with hand-carved
cogwheels. Last but not least is one of the
first Hanomag serial tractors, of which the
LVD sold hundreds in its day. “But in reality,
most impressive to me is the collection as
a whole, along with the fact that, working
together, we have succeeded in presenting
everything so well in the Krone Museum.
Now it’s really good.” «
44 45

ON-FARM
HAY HEINRICH
FARMING – CONSERVATION –
ADDING VALUE
It’s generally accepted that the content
in small packages is often substantially
dearer than that in larger containers.
This applies to hay too. By text deadline
for this issue of XtraBlatt, first-cut hay in
large square bales averaged just under
160 €/t. On his website, “Hay Heinrich”
sells his organic mountain meadow
hay for 1.50 to 3.00 €. Per kilogramme!
Safe to say, this represents a more than
respectable margin. But the business isn’t
as straightforward as it seems. Until the
hay lies ready for sale in the shop shelves,
a lot of work has to be done. And a fair
portion of know-how is needed, too.
ECONOMIC
CONCEPT
Heinrich Meusel doesn’t come from a
farming background. His grandfather was
botany professor and while his father is, in
fact, an agricultural engineer, his main activity
for a long time has revolved around
landscape conservation, his full-time post
being managing director of the Naturpark
Thüringer Wald e. V. (Thuringia Forest
Nature Park). He is also honorary member
of the board for the German Landscape
Conservation Association and the Foundation
for German Landscapes. So, a family
connection is definitely present. “I’ve
always been happy working with hay”,
reports Heinrich Meusel. “Even as a kid,
I improved my pocket money by cutting
mountainside meadows with a single-axle
mower and then making hay. This fired my
ambition to be a farmer. The appropriate
education I underwent in the Austrian
uplands. Hereby, it became increasingly
clear to me that my interests lay not only
in nature conservation, but also strongly
in the machinery aspects. And I aimed to
apply this through an economically viable
business concept. Even then, I didn’t want
to rely on just farm subsidies. This is how
I arrived at the production of hay for pets
as an enterprise.”
Heinrich Meusel registered his first company
at 17 years of age. The beginnings
were modest. Initial mechanisation was a
single-axle mower, later joined by a small
tractor, then a tractor of Russian origin.
Finally, a “real” tractor could be bought in.
The first specialised machine was a Metrac
bought second-hand in Switzerland. “I
started without any land and no capital
either”, Heinrich Meusel remembers. “It
wasn’t easy to get credit and was quite
normal to sell off machinery at the end of
the season so that starter capital would be
available for at least part of next season’s
purchases.” In the meantime, the implement
fleet has substantially expanded
Heinrich Meusel worked with hay even
as a child, then as teenager. And he was
brought back to hay later during his search
for a viable farm business model. He sells
his production as pet feed through grocery
retailer chains.
46 47

ON-FARM
4
1
3
and mainly comprises premium makes and
specialised machinery. “This we certainly
need”, says Heinrich Meusel, “because under
our production and working conditions,
material wear and tear is very high.”
SAFECUT HELPS
Heinrich Meusel nowadays produces hay for
household pets from 120 ha. Several Krone
mowers are used. “The SafeCut system was
behind the decision to go for this make”, he
continues. “Beforehand, many of my fields
had lain fallow. This leaves a field surface
that can provide unpleasant surprises for
the mower operator. SafeCut helps avoid
damage under such conditions. But even
when a roll pin shears, it can be replaced
on the field in just a few minutes.” Heinrich
Meuser has also experimented with double
knife cutterbar, although not too successfully.
His field surfaces often have sudden
ups and downs. Revolving knives therefore
work better.
As a rule, the mower is immediately followed
by the tedder for quick drying, with
a repeat on day two. Sometimes the hay
has to be turned again on the third day
before swathing – all with machinery from
Spelle. For baling, small bales are favoured
at 80 cm and 1.9 to 2.0 m length with under
16 % moisture content. To spread out any
labour peaks, a round baler is often sent
into smaller fields as early as the second
day. These bales then go into the farm’s barn
drying plant. The same applies to hay carted
home early because of rain.
TRACEABLE
2
This farmer works with high performance
transport capacity. “Not so long ago I invested
in a bale trailer with hydraulic load
securing”, he explains. “This is a real advantage.
We no longer need to fiddle around
with tension belts. It saves time and is much
safer, especially evenings with the last loads
of the day after sunset. We load the trailers
with front loader and for unloading we use
a compact telescopic loader. Traceability
entails precisely recording which fields each
load comes from and where the bales are
stored. I work with a special food standard
IT system. Every package of pet feed is
stamped with a traceability code.”
The automatic packaging system is sited in
the farm buildings. Firstly, the bales go into
a shredder with sieve system, then by conveyor
belt into the actual packaging plant.
Each portion of appropriate weight is first
pressed into a form and then pushed into
plastic wrapping. The packages are further
packed into cartons and palleted ready
for road transport. “It took quite a while
before the packaging plant ran smoothly”,
recalls Heinrich Meusel. “It has a highly
complicated management technology and
many adjustments were necessary. Even
nowadays, my workers and I are continually
1 For “Hay Heinrich”, additional business
enterprises feature landscape
conservation, forestry and advisory
services.
2 Thuringian rural entrepreneur Heinrich
Meusel: widely known as “Hay
Heinrich”.
3 Special machinery is applied on the
sometimes very steep slopes.
4 The hay is harvested conventionally.
But important for Heinrich Meusel is
that the sward contains a high content
of valuable herbs.
making corrections. The plant runs yearround
in two shifts per day.”
BIO-CERTIFIED
The hay fields are mostly on steep slopes
and usually just one cut a year is made.
“In order to encourage herb growth in the
sward, we tine harrow each spring. Our
USP (unique selling point) is that all our
hay areas are certified as organically managed
and that we produce real mountain
meadow hay including valuable herbs such
as spignal, yarrow and arnica”, points out
Heinrich Meusel. “Most of our competitors
sell only dried grass. Until we could really
convince customers, I had to carry out lots
of persuasion work, have plenty information
at hand and carry out intensive discussions
with end customers. There was, and still is,
tremendous effort required in marketing,
advertising and sales. I never set out to sell
on price. Instead, I concentrate on quality.
But now we have a good customer base
and are listed by big chains e.g. Rewe,
Kaufland and Tegut. Admittedly, there are
still problems, for instance meeting delivery
requirements in some cases, and the
associated logistics. But the trade lays down
the rules and we follow them. This gives us
delivery conditions that are generally very
stable.”
Because, meantime, demand has overtaken
own production, this farmer has founded
the Thuringia Hay Exchange. Project partner
is the region’s Landscape Conservation Association
that collects suitable hay from growers.
Quality is strictly controlled according to
an official catalogue and the results govern
payment. Deliveries now not only go to Hay
Heinrich but to other customers, including
riding stables. “What I’m especially pleased
about is that there’s a good community
feeling developed amongst our hay makers,
and now we’re working together in other
respects.”
MANY IDEAS
“The hay harvest lasts around one and
a half months. And to better exploit my
investment in special machinery I’ve started
other enterprises: landscape conservation,
forestry services and associated advisory
work”, adds Heinrich Meusel. “Our business
spectrum is therefore varied. In forestry
work, for instance, it stretches from tree
planting over fence building through to
timber extraction. In landscape conservation
there’s a lot of classic mowing work
in difficult to access locations, but also
renaturation, and stabilising of steep
slopes. For the latter work I’ve developed
a special procedure involving strands of
hay. Particularly in the service sector, I’ve
invested considerably in the last years. Since
the beginning of this year we are using our
own ‘walking excavator’, a backhoe that
moves on hydraulic legs. Extra attachments
for this are a mulching head and hydraulic
tree shear. A forest tractor with crane and
rear bogey are to be delivered next.”
Ideas just keep on flowing from this young
farmer and entrepreneur. He’s further
processing the valuable flowers from his
hay meadows for use in cosmetics. A farm
shop to sell the ensuing products is just now
being completed. And because environment
and landscape conservation are not only a
business for him but a real mission, he’ll
doubtless soon have interesting new projects
in this sector too. «
48 49

INTERVIEW
LANDBAUTECHNIK-BUNDESVERBAND
PERFORMANCE
PROVIDERS
Farm machinery dealerships represent
the key interface between
manufacturer and end customers.
Why interactions at this point are
not always stress-free, and what
solutions to improve the situation
might look like, is discussed here
in an interview with Ulf Kopplin,
president of the LandBauTechnik-
Bundesverband (National
Agricultural Machinery and
Equipment Dealers and
Repairers Association).
XtraBlatt: Herr Kopplin, machinery which has become
increasingly complex over the years ensures that the importance
of the supplying, servicing and repairing dealership
increases. Isn’t this development actually a very welcome
50 51
one?
Ulf Kopplin: You’re correct in the assumption that highly
qualified personnel are needed more than ever in dealership
workshops to ensure reliable servicing of machinery that can
include the very latest technological developments. This gives
our member companies a central and growing importance in
the relationship between manufacturers and end customers.
However, there are definitely no grounds here for unrestrained
jubilation. The investment needed to support this level of
performance, and to encourage further the appropriate
technical development, is gigantic. For instance, the cost
item ‘vocational education and training’ alone represents
tens of thousands of euros each year for every dealership,
even when simply considering calculated training costs and
related downtime through the days when the trainees are
not at their workplaces. On top of this comes the required
workshop equipment, joining another cost block that’s just as
serious: the area of guarantee costs. All this is hardly possible
any longer at the rates commonly charged. The dealerships
are the performance providers of the branch. Their input must
be justly rewarded!
In particular, the
so-called internal
workshop hours
drive costs upwards
substantially for many
dealerships.
Assistance
hours 5.3%
XtraBlatt: Aren’t you complaining here from an already
excellent position? After all, standard rates of 90 €/h for
a skilled mechanic with a master certificate, or 65 €/h for
one who has completed all basic training, cannot be called
chickenfeed – at least from the point of view of the bill-paying
customer. And not every dealership workshop provides
highest standards in work quality and performance.
Kopplin: As far as hourly rates are concerned, those charged
by our farm machinery dealerships remain well below those
of other technical sectors, e.g. for road going vehicles, or IT.
And do not forget that the standard of knowledge and qualifications
represented in a farm and construction machinery
mechatronics engineer compared with colleagues in the
other areas just mentioned is – in all modesty – substantially
greater. I am absolutely convinced of that. In practice, there
may well be differences in quality. But the future-oriented
companies are all in a very good position in this context.
And what I do not like is the current tendency, at least in
some customer circles, to expect us as service providers to
consider reducing our bills. What we charge now represents
income that’s crucial for our businesses. That the economic
situation in farming and therefore in agricultural contracting
too, may be unfavourable is not an acceptable reason. Just
think about it: Would you make a similar demand of your
Distribution of workshop hours 2019
Paid-for time in workshops
in agricultural machinery dealerships 2019
Absent
24.0%
Internal
hours 33.8%
External
hours 36.9%
Internal time in workshops
in agricultural machinery dealerships 2019
Rest
22.4%
Depot/delivery/
demonstrations
etc 14.9%
New machinery
28.5%
Used
machinery
Guarantee/ 10.9%
goodwill 23.3%

INTERVIEW
dentist, or accountant? Probably not! This is why at this
point I would like to appeal for more understanding of the
dealership situation. Nowadays the services involved have to
satisfy customer – and industry – demands that are spiralling
upwards regarding the required know-how levels of our teams
and naturally the reliability of the machinery after service.
But these external costings are only one side of the coin. What
dumps an almost greater load on our member companies are
the payment rates for guarantee and warranty work. After
all, one third of paid workshop hours are so called internal
hours. Of these, almost a quarter are down to guarantee and
warranty work. And this is where not a few dealerships stand
just at the brink of disaster. Those paying just 35 € or 40 €
per mechatronics hour and then asking for a reduction in the
hours on the invoice, and maybe also on travel costs too, have
– pardon me – totally lost touch with reality. As a rule, the
manufacturer should be responsible for any gaps in guarantee
and warranty cover. It cannot be the problem
of the service partner if new products are
rushed onto the market increasingly faster
with the trials carried out beforehand fewer
and fewer. Those who cause the problems in
this respect must shoulder the responsibility.
XtraBlatt: Does the problem lie with all
makes, in your experience?
Kopplin: No. Here, there are certainly clear differences. The
manufacturers of tractors and of harvest machinery have
already done a lot of homework regarding guarantee costs.
Certainly, there’s room for improvement here and there.
But after long discussions we’ve achieved a lot, not least
“THOSE WHO CAUSE
THE PROBLEMS IN
THIS RESPECT MUST
SHOULDER THE
RESPONSIBILITY.”
ULF KOPPLIN
encouraged by our regular membership surveys. In such
questionnaires, we don’t just stick to queries on guarantee
themes, but also on a whole series of different aspects at
various levels. Incidentally, these questionnaires on dealership
satisfaction with their manufacturer suppliers are not only
carried out nationally, but also on a European basis. Using
the responses allows us to make step-by-step
improvements in our cooperation.
XtraBlatt: You explicitly mentioned tractors
and harvest machinery. What can you say
about the implement manufacturing
sector?
Kopplin: Here lies the greatest need for
improvement on the subjects I’ve already
discussed. This is why in spring 2020 we conducted an appropriate
survey with around 180 dealerships taking part in
Germany alone. The differences in the results for individual
manufacturers were sometimes substantial. On the other
hand, a few makes, such as Krone and Horsch, came through
with marks clearly above the average, putting them right at
the top of total ranking. For companies where this was not
the case, there are acute grounds for discussions.
their trading partners as, for example, does Krone. With
smaller dealers, there arises the question at some point if,
under their own resources, the total effort required in sales
and service, whether for tractors or implements, will continue
to be worth it. As always, this depends on the individual
situation and expectations. But for businesses dealing with
only implements, I don’t see much of a future. After all, their
workshops have to support the respective firm with enough
income. And this depends on machine population and a good
basic level of equipment in the workshop. Mostly, this doesn’t
work out without self-propelled machinery on sale. In trading
and servicing, I also see a future for complete packages. As
specialist enterprises, we must be allowed to earn money in
trade, despite the pressures on margins through structural
change.
XtraBlatt: Is the training for skilled dealership staff able to
keep up with the technical developments in the industry?
Kopplin: This is certainly one of the greatest challenges of
our time and one of the core tasks for our association. The
fact is, the vocational education and training structures do
not everywhere keep up with technological progress. This
doesn’t only apply to the master mechanic in the companies
but just as much the examination committees, the schooling
and training regulations, the chambers of crafts and trades
and the technical colleges. Because of the foreseeable and,
even now sometimes, acute shortage of teachers, my greatest
fear currently lies with the schools.
But we too, must react here. For instance, giving extra
encouragement for the integration of more electronics and
digitalisation in training. This is why I’m especially pleased
that the LBT was last year one of the candidates from 176
applicants from many branches to be awarded funding for
a support project in the Federal Ministry of Education and
Research (BMBF) innovation competition ‘InnoVET’. This
triumph put us up amongst the leaders in the field and
polished our professional image – a good sign.
XtraBlatt: What does the support project entail?
Kopplin: Very briefly, the core idea is the further development
of vocational education and training of specialist and
management personnel for agricultural and construction
machinery engineering with a focus on the digital changes
and increasing automation. We hope the result will increase
the attractivity of professional education for existing and future
generations of specialist personnel in this work. After all,
at the risk of repeating myself, the dealerships and, above all,
the many committed colleagues involved are the performance
providers in our branch, and in the relationship between
industry and customers. Let us hope that this remains so!«
Ulf Kopplin values very highly the standard of knowledge and qualifications of
agricultural and construction machinery mechatronic engineers compared to that in
other technology branches.
XtraBlatt: Can a dealer in farm machinery earn a living from
one implement manufacturer alone, i.e. without tractors
and combine harvesters?
Kopplin: I believe this would be difficult. I can, however,
certainly imagine that on many farms, tractors actually play a
secondary role. The really big players in trading have no choice
but to accept the exclusivity demanded by the long liners
over the whole product range. The medium sized category
of dealerships , companies like those of our members, are in
a good position with tractor and implement manufacturers
when the makes traded are well positioned on the market,
and the manufacturers involved also give good support to
THE LANDBAUTECHNIK-BUNDESVERBAND* …
... is an association of company owners
in the skilled labour and specialised dealership
sector. Nationally, it represents
some 4,500 businesses, dealerships and
service firms on approx. 5,700 locations
with almost 44,000 employees and a
total annual turnover of 9 bn Euro. The
association is organised on a federal
basis comprising the respective federal
guild association, the 40 LandBauTechnik
guilds and the 10 state associations. At
national level, the federal association
coordinates overriding specialist themes,
organises congresses, exhibition presentations,
and – through its own academy
– a comprehensive schooling and
seminar system. It also prepares work
aids, information services and advises
companies and regional associations.
With six manufacturer societies and the
Federal Specialist Group for Motorised
Machinery, the association represents the
interests of dealerships with the industry.
It is also internationally linked within
the European association for the branch:
CLIMMAR.
*THE NATIONAL AGRICULTURAL MACHINERY AND EQUIPMENT DEALERS AND REPAIRERS ASSOCIATION IN GERMANY
52 53

INFORM
THE GREENNIGHT-TOUR
MEADOW
MOVIES
This year, the corona crisis stopped the
famous Krone Grassland Evenings. This
left us with the question: How can we still
manage to combine information on our
latest machinery with personal distancing
and not forgetting the traditional
conviviality? The Krone management
team’s answer: Tractor cinema on 14
locations throughout Germany.
White nights, blue hours...Summer
offers many magical moments.
This year, green nights joined the spectrum.
More precisely: the GreenNight-Tour from
Krone. Behind this lay a Germany-wide
series of tractor cinema events staged on
grassland over a period of almost three
weeks. “The idea came to us as the development
of the corona pandemic encouraged
a renaissance of traditional drive-in movies
in many places, a cinematic experience
permitting distancing and hygiene rules.
This could also function with tractors, we
thought”, relates Ingo Schoppe from the
Krone marketing team.
MOBILE CINEMA
Conceived, achieved: a total 14 such events
were planned between 18th June and 12th
July, with venues right across the republic
between Wurster near Cuxhaven on the
North Sea coast and Dentingen, southwest
of Ulm. At each event there was strong
support from the respective regional Krone
dealerships. “This was a great help for us
because an awful lot of work was involved.
After all, it wasn’t just that invitations were
to be sent off to customers from the region
and available areas of grassland found and
booked for the cinema evening with room
for a large number of tractors. Among the
most imposing challenges were the safety
and hygiene aspects, as well as securing
permission from the local authorities. In
fact, though, everyone involved worked
together superbly with us”, he smiles.
On-site, procedure was always the same. In
the forenoon the GreenNight team arrived
with sack and pack to get the site ready.
Stand areas were measured and parking
spaces marked out with lawn mowers,
boundary tapes were staked out and an
entry control hut positioned, the 18 x 9 m
screen was inflated, film and audio equipment
assembled – just some of the many
jobs necessary before all was set to go. And
although the procedure became almost
routine after the first event, every date and
location needed small extra adjustments.
Evenings just before 8.30 the first guests
rolled in with their tractors. Mostly, it took
an hour before everyone had arrived and
the machines lined up in neat rows. Clear
instructions were given on what everyone
had to watch out for. “For us, the obeying
of hygiene and distancing regulations was
obviously very important, and instructions
were handed out to every participant on
arrival because in this respect we could
afford no compromise”, emphasises Ingo
Schoppe.
PLENTY APPLAUSE
Our marketing team member found the
resonance from customers impressive. On
average, between 120 and 150 vehicles
found themselves on each grassland site,
up to 95 % being tractors. A few cars also
turned up and they were naturally let in too,
so that their occupants could also follow
the exciting programme. Included in the
introduction was “Performance-Bingo”
a very competitive game devised by the
marketing team. This featured contestants
drawing numbers and then having to rush
over to a bingo board at the entrance and
hook up on the matching number there.
Part of the excitement was the lighting up
of the screen as sunset approached. First,
came a number of “action films” featuring
the latest Krone machinery at work. The
main attraction without a doubt, however,
was the film “Farm mechanisation worldwide”
produced in cooperation with “profi”
magazine and “landtechnikvideos”. At the
end there was plenty applause, contented
faces and, during the exit of the visitors in
their tractors, an absolutely sensational
light show staged by the tractors. “One
thing was always clear to us as each evening
event finished”, concludes Ingo Schoppe.
“Our guests were delighted to experience
an open-air event again, after weeks and
months of the corona limitations.” «
Ingo Schoppe: very
happy about the
great success of the
GreenNight-Tour
2020.
54 55

AT WORK
1
3
1 As part of the grassland ecological management, the Dortmund
Parks Department has invested in new machinery including a
round baler from Krone.
2 In favour of extensive grassland management: Jürgen Hundorf,
planner in the Dortmund Parks Department.
2
3 Nature-friendly and insect saving cutterbar mowing.
DORTMUND PARKS DEPARTMENT
NATURE-
NEAR CITY
PARKLAND
More usually, round balers are to be seen on
farms or in an agricultural contractor’s fleet.
There’re seldom used on municipal green
areas. But the city of Dortmund proves the
exception.
Westfalenpark in Dortmund. While
the morning commuters join the
traffic jams on the adjacent B 54, a team
from the city parks department get to work.
A sizeable patch of meadow landscaped
around a road junction must be mowed. But
not, as in earlier years, using a cost-efficient
and speedy mulcher. Instead, a tractor and
cutterbar mower go into action. Admittedly,
the equipment is not as simple as a mulcher.
But substantially less insects fall victim to
the mowing operation. “A few years ago,
we changed the way we look after our
grassland areas and started extensive
methods”, says Jürgen Hundorf, planner
in the Dortmund Parks Department, responsible
for a total 400 ha within the city
precincts. Nowadays, around half of this
is managed extensively. “These areas are
cut twice yearly with cutterbar mower”,
says Soenke Janssen, agricultural master
craftsman and responsible within the parks
department for the Technical Service West.
The changeover from mulching to cutterbar
mowing is, however, not the only adjustment
in machinery used. Whereas the
mulched vegetation is left lying on the surface,
the cut grass has to be removed after
a few days. Firstly, it’s swathed by a tractor
mounted band rake, then round baled.
Especially for this, the Park Department in
early 2020 bought a Krone Bellima F130. The
investment in the machinery needed for an
organically managed parkland system is not
insignificant, but is necessary”, emphasises
Soenke Janssen. There was no resistance to
the required investment.
THE RIGHT KIT
The Bellima F130 represented the baler
Soenke Janssen really wanted when the
tenders were submitted. “The round baler
is comparably light, very compact and suits
very well our communal tractor, which is
smaller than the tractors used on farms”,
he explains.
The new Dortmund biodiversity is especially
impressive taking the example of wildlife
on the meadows around a housing district
in the southwest of the city. The meadow
flowers in widely varied colours were in the
56 57

AT WORK
EU EDUCATION MINISTERS
A LOOK INTO
LEARNING
In autumn, Krone presented “live” to the EU Ministers for
Education the company training of mechatronic engineers.
The German educational system enjoys
a very positive reputation worldwide.
1
2
1 Once the sward has lain a few
days, it’s swathed with a band
rake.
2 Sven Ribbrock, member of the
Dortmund Parks Department
staff, is responsible for mowing.
sward mown for the first time this year. The
mower is front-mounted on a Holder implement
carrier. Operator Sven Ribbrock says:
“Naturally, you can’t match the speed of a
mulcher operation when mowing with a
cutterbar.” But the operation is much more
insect-friendly. The sward is precisely and
cleanly cut by the sharp blades on the dual
cutterbars. Above all, much fewer insects
are killed compared with during mulcher
operation. Studies show that small animals
and insects have time to flee the cutterbar
action. And again, after mowing, the creatures
can scuttle off before the sward is
swathed and afterwards baled.
PUBLICITY WORK
The city of Dortmund is also among the
certified municipalities in the German
programme “Stadtgrün naturnähe” (Nature-near
urban parklands). The project is
supported through the Federal Programme
for Biological Diversity by the Federal
Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN) and
Federal Ministry for the Environment (BMU).
Because the Parks Department had already
undertaken a few measures towards
ecological grassland management, all this
work has now been recognised by a national
award: the “Stadtgrün” Nature-near label
in silver.
The required actions include not only concrete
application of extensive husbandry
methods on the parklands but also the
accompanying public relations work.
“Especially during the initial phase of the
changeover to extensive management of
grass areas, it was important to have the
citizens understand and agree with our
work”, points out Jürgen Hundorf. Naturally
there occurred one or two telephone calls
criticising the unkempt appearance of the
grass in the parklands. But through consequent
public relations work we managed to
convince everyone about the advantages of
the new concept.” «
And the dual vocational education programme
has earned a special position in
this respect. However, it remains of elemental
importance that, for industry and crafts,
young people undergoing general school
education receive the grounding necessary
for subsequent successful vocational training.
An opportunity to demonstrate modern
mechatronic engineer training in Spelle to
those responsible for education in the EU
was therefore an ideal chance.
However, full meeting agendas and the
indispensable corona prevention measures
meant no visit to Emsland by the education
ministers was possible. But what was
possible – thanks to modern transmission
technology – was a “live link” giving the
top-level audience a direct view into Krone
training, with practice-oriented explanations
in addition.
Thus, the politicians were able to take
advantage of an informative insight covering
current vocational training themes
such as digitalisation and dual training,
but also training under corona conditions.
Peter Kottmann, manager of Krone mechatronic
training, answered thereby diverse
questions from the German minister of
education Anja Karliczek to the backdrop of
Live transmission of Krone training enabled the EU ministers and civil servants an insight into practice-oriented
instruction procedures.
a simulated training session in Spelle. Hereby,
instructor Stefan Rammes explained a
circuit diagram within a BiG X mechatronic
system to some trainees.
Among the points made clear in this respect
is how complex the technical qualification
is, and the kind of balancing act the instructor
has sometimes to carry out in order to
combine in everyday training the latest very
advanced product technologies with the
themes of preparation for testing according
to national registration requirements. The
fact is, increasingly more new thematic
areas must be covered, e.g. additive assembly
procedures, network technology,
data security or computer programming. A
good solution is offered by project-oriented
and process-related training, states Peter
Kottmann. «
58 59

INFORM
FUTURE LAB
TESTING
HEART AND
SOUL
The more thorough the testing of
material and machinery, the better the
outlook for subsequent breakdownfree
customer operation. With this in mind, Krone opens
a new chapter in quality assurance with its “Future Lab”.
The best machinery manufacturers have always tried
to put their money on safeguarding respective reputations
for tractor and implement reliability. And increasingly,
as machinery becomes more sophisticated and complex, as
the pressures to get a quality crop in are ever-greater in line
with larger farms, bigger herds and the demand for optimal
crop quality, downtime for expensive equipment out in
the field is a very expensive experience. So the pressure
continues to test every idea, design and material involved
the best way possible. Particularly in vehicle technology, the
effort invested in such testing is enormous – for example
by Krone.
“After all, our products represent investments of substantial
value, that in practice are subject to considerable wear
and tear. The more comprehensively testing is carried out
during even first development steps on the computer and
then right through to the final inspection before customer
delivery of a completed machine, the better its resultant
assurance and operational quality. In other words, value
retention for the customer remains acceptable”, explains
Jürgen Graumann. He’s manager of the “Future Lab” created
by Krone in 2019, although in official Krone formulation, it’s
called the “Validation Centre”.
BUNDLED KNOW-HOW
The term validation indicates the focal point of the operations
taking place in the Future Lab, located at Lingen in
German Emsland. “Our task is, above all, to utilise complex
modern measurement and testing technology, as well as
appropriate analysis procedures, to test the
functionality and robustness of components,
component groups and complete vehicles and
machinery. The data and information thus
collected flow finally as basic information into
product development and the production process”,
explains Jürgen Graumann. “This has,
however, little to do with the quality control
carried out by our colleagues, for instance
on goods coming into the factory or during
checks at the end of the assembly line before
delivery. The knowledge collected by our work
is applied much earlier. One can say the information we
secure ensures the constructive success of future products
– so that the name Future Lab fits very well.”
This materials engineer is fascinated, not only by the daily
work in the lab – which alone is enthralling enough, he
reckons. But mainly by the opportunity to plan from the
start such a test laboratory valued at over 20 m €. And to get
it working with a team and the very latest test technology,
representing a once-in-a- lifetime chance in a professional
career. “On top of this, the Krone Group puts its complete
know-how into the validation from both its divisions:
commercial vehicles and agricultural machinery. This produces
very many synergy effects, boosting our work results
enormously. A situation not to be found anywhere else in
the manufacturing landscape”, he states with noticeable
enthusiasm.
SIMULATING STRESS
And how or, indeed, what is to be tested in each case? There’s
an enormous variety of possible subjects. Too long to list
here, says Jürgen Graumann. But he mentions a couple of
the available facilities such as often very large test stands.
There’s also a test track and an outdoor area for trials. The
main work includes functional and long-term load tests
with the aim of literally discovering the limits of what is
possible with the material involved. Such tests take place
under an enormous number of simulated scenarios. “Krone
products must function reliably and continually under all
climatic conditions and weather zones around the globe. So
we test, among other things, electronic modules in a climate
chamber to ensure that influences such as temperature or
moisture content levels do not impact functionality”, he
explains.
“KRONE PRODUCTS
MUST FUNCTION
RELIABLY AND
CONTINUALLY
UNDER ALL CLIMATIC
CONDITIONS.”
JÜRGEN GRAUMANN,
FUTURE LAB MANAGER
As a further highlight, he names the road simulator, called
X-Poster in specialist speak. With this, among other things,
working life cycles of the drive train and
bodywork of truck trailers are reproduced.
The aim here is to simulate one million km
roadwork within a three-week trial – over
as many different types of road surface as
possible. “The collected data allows realistic
usage results to be fed into a computer
model for reliable information on lifetime
stress. The development steps, up to prototypes
and the later test phases of the
machinery, can in this way be substantially
more effective. This helps efficiency, because
prototype construction and the further steps up until
readiness for serial production are extremely cost intensive.
“Thus, the better we carry out our work in the Future Lab,
the less teething troubles to take care of later. Or, to stay in
health simile mode: prevention is better than cure. What
we have tested heart and soul is therefore very fit for the
future.” «
60 61

We Wir connect verbinden
TRADITION
& VISION
Since 1906 Krone has been inseparably linked with agriculture. With people who sow their fields
Seit 1906 Since ist 1906 KRONE Krone untrennbar has been mit inseparably der Landwirtschaft linked with verbunden.
agriculture.
within the rhythm of nature.
Mit
We mow,
Menschen, With people
swathe,
die who
chop
im sow Rhythmus
and
their
bale.
fields der
We
within Natur
connect
ihre the
tradition
rhythm Felder
and
bestellen. of nature.
vision.
Wir mähen, schwaden, We mow, häckseln And swathe, together und chop pressen. we’ll and work bale. Wir to verbinden We get connect the best Tradition tradition out of your und and harvest. Vision. vision.
And Und together gemeinsam we’ll holen work wir to get das the Beste best aus out Ihrer of your Ernte harvest. raus.
#KRONECTED