Previewed as a prototype at last year’s US Husker Harvest Days, we spent time in the field with the pre-production version of Vermeer’s novel ZR5 self-propelled round baler

Krone had a stab at making a self-propelled round baler a decade ago, but Vermeer is the first firm to create a concept that combines the drive unit and baler into a compact 6.29m long x 3.60m wide x 3.10m high package. Called the ZR5, essentially what the Iowa-based firm has done is take one of its 605N eight-belt balers and modify it to work hydraulically.