Maintaining baler productivity is possible when flakes per bale are measured and ground speed adjusted as the amount of hay in the window changes. This prevents the baler from under producing when the ground speed is slower than necessary. It also prevents down time when the baler is over feed and a shear bolt breaks. This saves labor and wear and tear on balers.

Consistent bales can be difficult to achieve with changing field conditions. Maintaining flakes per bale will keep your bales length and weight more consistent. Bales of the same length and weight are crucial to the success of automatic and mechanical bale handling systems. When selling by the bale, consistent weight prevents profit loss by not losing extra product when bales are too heavy and reduces unhappy customers when they are too light.

There are a few factors with picking a flake count target. A good place to start is your target bale length for your bale stacking system. The other factors are the size of the flake and the productivity of the baler. Some hay customers care about the flake size, if you know they want 3” flakes and your bale length is 30” divide 30/3=10 flakes per bale for your target. The bigger the flake, the larger the possible difference in bale length and the higher the baler productivity. The smaller the flake, the less difference in bale length and the lower the baler productivity. Most balers work best and produce the most consistent bales with 2-3” flakes.

The monitor will display the flake count of the bales and depending on the flake count target the ground speed may need adjusted to correct the flake count.

Flake count too low means too much crop is entering the baler for each of the plunger strokes and the ground speed is too high.

Flake count too high means not enough crop is entering the baler and ground speed needs increased.

 The flake count feature displays the last 4 complete bales’ flake count and displays the increasing count of the bale currently being made.  The last 4 bales numbers allow the operator to know if there has been a trend of counts going higher or lower then the desired target count. The baler operator should make ground speed higher if the count is too high or slow down if the count is too low.

 Just like the mechanical counters on most balers, the total bale count keeps track of every time the knotter is tripped. The advantage is its digital and is much more accurate. The counter is easily reset. 

 Strokes per minute allows the operator to maintain consistent baler speed preventing over speeding or in light crop help keep a minimum speed. It can also monitor slip clutch issues. It's also useful for checking the performance of engine drive balers or hydro powered Freeman balers.

The BPM-101 has the ability to display the moisture of the hay passing through the baler chamber. One or two sensors per monitor are available, one side or both. This allows the operator to identity if the hay is dry enough to be safely baled. The moisture sensor(s) can be can be added at a later time if not purchased with the original kit.

The BPM-101 can be equipped with an optional GPS speed sensor that allows the operator to know the current speed and correlate ground speed to strokes per bale in relation to windrow material. This is indented for tractors or self-propelled balers without speed readout displays or any one who wants the speed data next to the flakes per bale. If not ordered with the monitor the sensor can be added at a later time.