Farm Machinery Journal - G-1F125 Kombi

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First Impression // Göweil G-1 F125 Kombi
Austrian
oddity
The Göweil G-1 F125 Kombi is a rare machine in the UK, but that shouldn’t stop farmers and
contractors taking a closer look. FMJ went to see the first example to land here
WORDS AND IMAGES KEN TOPHAM
hile combi balers are not
a rare sight, here in the UK
W
the Göweil G-1 F125 Kombi is.
In fact, the example here is the first
and currently the only G-1 F125 sold
by Göweil in the UK, excluding any
used imports.
Father and son Ian and Richard
Lennie are contractors and farmers
based near Chester who took the
plunge after owning a previous
Göweil (pronounced Gu-vile) baler
and wrapper unit. And although
Richard had a few bumps in the road,
“A technician was
on a plane first thing
the next day. You
can’t ask for more”
it was Göweil ‘s customer service that
ultimately sealed the deal on this
machine. With no actual dealers in
the UK to date, many would question
why you would buy a baler from
Göweil, but Richard and his dad Ian
took a well-hedged bet on the
Austrian firm.
Ian Richard had already owned a
Göweil wrapper frame with a Welger
RP baler in it, which was lost to fire
of the baler, and also a previous
generation Göweil combi baler. “The
first combi from Göweil we bought
in 2016 had a few niggles,” explains
Richard. “Always silly things, which
was frustrating, but the factory were
so good with back-up we weren’t
worried. We had a breakdown once
that we couldn’t fix and a technician
was on a plane first thing the next
day. You can’t ask for more.”
When it came down to
replacement, Richard briefly looked
at a Kuhn, but having dealt directly
with Göweil before, the Austrian
manufacturer agreed to sell and
provide back-up to a G-1 F125. The
machine was actually ordered in
2020 but arrived in
time for the 2021
grass season. “The
only concern we
had was secondhand
value, but we don’t intend to
change brand,” says Richard.
“Technical support has been very
good and there’s a WhatsApp number
for parts. You can take a picture of
the part you need and they UPS it
overnight. It’s a brilliant system”.
Baler and wrapper
The G-1 is a 125cm fixed chamber baler
with crop cutting and plastic or net
binding. It has a dual orbit wrapper
element at the rear. Ahead of the
chamber is an upward feed of crop
over the 570mm-diameter, six-point
rotor through the bank of 30 knives,
which is combined with the drop floor,
or pop floor as it should perhaps be
known given that it goes up not down.
Either way, it allows blockages to pass,
taking the knives out of work position
and automatically resetting itself
when the lump has passed.
TECHSPECS
Göweil G-1
F125 Kombi
Header 2.2m, six
rows of tines
Chopping 30
double-sided
knives
Chamber 18 rollers,
fixed
Binding Net or
full-width plastic
Wrapper Twin orbit,
750mm rolls
Width 3.0m
(standard tyres)
Weight 8980kg
Power requirement
160hp
Hydraulic requirement
Min 80L/min (load
sensing)
APRIL 2022 WWW.FARMMACHINERYJOURNAL.CO.UK

Left: A monitor
and two cameras
are standard on
the Göweil baler
Right: The Göweil
features plastic bands
and six rows of tines,
so should give a clean
and quiet sweep
Left: The G-1 is
ISObus controlled
and a stand-alone
screen is available
if your tractor is
not compatible
Right: Two crop
press rollers and a
hydraulically driven
feed roller give a good
feed with little room
for bridging
The knives are below the binding
system and can be changed without
tools or opening the chamber, or
crawling around underneath. The
knives are reversible and give a
35mm theoretical chop length.
Richard gives those on his baler a
touch-up every 1000 bales so they
don’t dull easily. The crop flow would
see the knives working in the top of
the swath, as it’s lifted by the pick-up
rather than the bottom, so soil or
stone contamination may play a
factor in how long the edge lasts.
Before the rotor is the 2.2m header,
which looks well engineered and has
a pendulum action to follow the
ground. This allows each
wheel to lift by 150mm
without causing the
opposite wheel to lift off.
The jockey wheel arms
wouldn’t look out of
place on a plough. The
roller crop press is equally
well built with sealed
bearings at either end of the
double roller press. Behind that is
a hydraulically driven feed roller and
short augers to push crop in from the
sides of the header. It’s all tightly
arranged and Richard says the feed is
good even in shorter crops, as there
is little space for bridging.
Above inset:
Owner-operator
Richard Lennie
quickly dismissed
more established
brands in favour
of another Göweil
The pick-up is an area where
Richard has seen great
improvement. “With our old
baler we did some work with
Göweil on the tines. We did
have some trouble with
breaking tines and
experimented with different
angles, but we have only broken
a handful on the new machine,” he
says. Also Göweil adopted a plastic
tine band that has worked very well.
“We do have some meadowland that
has some sharp undulations, and if
you’re not careful it can cause the
pick-up to bottom out. This would
bend steel bands but the plastics just
“It’ll make a good bale in
pretty much any crop”
WWW.FARMMACHINERYJOURNAL.CO.UK APRIL 2022

Front Link
First Impression // Göweil G-1 F125 Kombi
pop back. It’s also much quieter and
easier if you need to replace a tine,
as they flex out of the way easily.”
Inside the 18-roller chamber is a
starter roller and above it a cleaner
roller with a scraper. Richard doesn’t
report any slippage in straw so the
cleaner roller surface must keep it
moving, the only drawback being
that when working in straw the
baler will roll the bale for a number
of revolutions when the net is cut.
“It’s not long, but all day it adds up,”
Richard explains. “We’re hoping they
can change the preset as it seems too
long to me, but it’s only a minor thing
really.
Above and above
right: The wrapping
element is well
proven, available as a
frame for other balers
as well as being part
of development for
another manufacturer
Left: The Göweil can
be fitted with any
hitch. Adjustment for
setting the drawbar
to get the baler level
is straightforward
Above: Reloading the
wrapper is a convenient
job, done without lifting
anything much above
waist height
Above centre: The chamber has a
starter roller behind the rotor to
get the bale turning and cleaner
roller above to keep debris from
clogging the other rollers
“Bale density is good,” he continues.
“It’ll make a good bale in pretty much
any crop. We’ve made some plastic
on plastic-bound bales for customers
who wanted to see what they were
like and the feedback has been very
good.” Richard’s own bales have been
very good, which has given him and
Ian the confidence to recommend
plastic binding to customers.
Pay attention
One of the few niggles Richard has
found with the G-1 has been using
plastic to bind the bale in dry crop.
“You just have to pay attention when
the film goes in,” he says. “Every now
and then it won’t catch the bale and
you end up not tying, which means
digging the bale out if you miss it,”
he continues, explaining that you
can see the plastic going into the
chamber on the camera and if the
auto-tie misses and you spot it you
can manually re-tie the bale. But, he
adds, you have to be quick as the
binding gets wrapped on a chamber
roller. It’s not a common occurrence
but in very dry grass it can happen.
The wrapping element is well
polished, Göweil having developed
bale transfer and wrapping units for
their own frame that houses other
manufacturers’ balers. They have
also developed the system used by
another major manufacturer who
offers a combi baler in this format.
APRIL 2022 WWW.FARMMACHINERYJOURNAL.CO.UK

Front Link
First Impression // Göweil G-1 F125 Kombi
Richard says in optimal conditions
a rate of 60 bales per hour is a good
output.
Plastic consumption with six layers
provides 40 bales per pair of 750mm
rolls, and binding plastic sees around
140 bales per roll. “It’s a pound per
bale more for plastic binding,”
clarifies Richard. “With net you can
bind twice as many bales per roll.”
The storage on the Göweil is well
laid out with seven rolls of wrap
each side and space for a roll
of net wrap or plastic in
each store. The binding
plastic has adjustment
for stretch but Richard
says he’s not tested the
idea of applying less
wrap on bales that are
bound with plastic. “In
theory you could apply
less, but we wanted to see
how customers liked the
plastic binding before we got
too clever, and how the bales
stored too.” Silage quality is the
main reason for plastic binding,
but recycling is also easier as the
products can be processed together.
Clever connection
The drawbar on the G-1 has a forage
wagon-like look about it. An optional
extra sees hydraulic cylinders fitted
to the pivot point, the aim being
easier entry into steep gateways,
enabling the operator to raise or
lower the front to stop the tail or
pick-up grounding out. It’s a useful
feature for this format of combi
baler, as they are inherently low
to the ground.
The control interface is ISObus
connected and Richard runs his
through the New Holland T7
IntelliView IV screen. It controls the
G-1 and displays progress information
for the wrapper and baler status.
Above: The header
wheels are
substantially mounted
and each wheel can
rise by 150mm via the
pendulum movement
of the header
Above: The T7.185 is a good match
for the G-1 F125 and the
AutoCommand transmission
makes the day go by a little easier
Left inset: External controls for
opening the wrap store also
allow manual control of the
wrapper system
Right: These cylinders allow the
operator to lift or lower the front
of the baler, with threaded
adjusters for correct working
height
As with most balers, running is
autonomous, only needing to stop
for the chamber to open. The camera
monitor supplied with the baler has
two standard cameras looking at
the binding material entering the
chamber and the wrapper to monitor
transfer and wrapping.
Richard and Ian completed their
first season by making over 7000
bales with the G-1 F125 and are
pleased with its performance and
communication with the factory.
Having had no warranty calls, the
Göweil baler was cleaned down
and parked for winter after a season
without needing any technical
support. Soon it’ll be getting ready
for another busy season.
The Austrian-built machine is a
rare sight on UK shores, however as
the south-east-based Cooney Furlong
Machinery Company is handling the
brand in Ireland, perhaps Göweil has
gone straight for the combi baler
jugular before we see a UK dealer,
which we’re told is on the horizon.
“We wanted to see how
customers liked the
plastic binding before
we got too clever”
WWW.FARMMACHINERYJOURNAL.CO.UK APRIL 2022