Self-propelled forage harvesters: New Holland celebrates 50 years of excellence and innovation

The story of self-propelled forage harvesters began in 1961 when New Holland decided, with a futuristic and bold vision for the time, to turn its famous pull-type forage harvester into a self-propelled machine.
From then on, the pioneering and innovative spirit that has always driven New Holland expressed itself freely and gave rise to a whole series of innovations that improve productivity.

These NEW HOLLAND technologies have revolutionized self-propelled forage harvesters and enable farmers and operators to increase yield, work quality, efficiency, safety and driving comfort.

A limited series to celebrate 50 years

To mark these 50 years of evolution since the world's first self-propelled forage harvester, New Holland has produced a special limited edition of the FR9060 model specially for the occasion.

For this limited series, the FR9060 model features eye-catching commemorative decals, an aggressive look thanks to its black livery, metallic grey-style rims, a chrome exhaust, a luxury seat, a leather steering wheel and a high level of equipment.

This special-edition model is intended for users who want an exclusive machine that symbolizes New Holland's excellence in forage harvesting.

Note that this special version was designed and built at the New Holland Centre of Excellence based in Zedelgem (Belgium).

This Centre of Excellence is one of the most important industrial sites in the world for NEW HOLLAND harvesting machines. It houses the design and development offices as well as the production lines for combine harvesters, balers and forage harvesters.

It is also a vast test centre, a fully equipped training centre, a recently redeveloped visitor centre and an exhibition hall where visitors can admire a fine array of machines in New Holland colours.

50 years of major technical developments

It is in this Centre of Excellence in Zedelgem that the main inventions related to New Holland self-propelled forage harvesters came to life. They are numerous and the list cannot be exhaustive. These major technical and technological developments are now integrated into the FR9000 range and include in particular:

• The Metaloc™ metal detector with metal object location.

• The Adjust-O-Matic™ system for sharpening the knives and automatically adjusting the clearance between the knife and the shear bar.

• The adjustable Variflow™ blower, which makes it possible to adjust the distance between the rotor and the blower for optimized blower performance.

• The Power Cruise™ II system, which regulates engine speed and forward speed according to the load: up to 15 % fuel savings in the field and 20 % on the road.

• The IntelliFill™ filling system with 3D camera automatically loads trailers. No wasted time or forage and better operator focus on the harvest. Winner of the Innovation Award at Eima 2010 and Gold Medal at Agritecnica 2009.

• The IntelliView™ III touchscreen and the CommandGrip™ multifunction handle. Extremely intuitive and simple operation for one of the most appreciated control and adjustment systems on the market. Now adopted on the new tractors in New Holland's T7 and T8 ranges.

• The HydroLoc™ feed roller drive system, which provides immediate on-the-go adjustment of the cutting length according to needs.

• Independent front attachment speed adjustment, particularly useful for wide tools in difficult harvesting conditions. The speed of the tools can be adapted from the cab, independently of the feed rollers, which optimizes cutting and crop pick-up.

The FR9060 Limited Series model will be presented on the New Holland stand at the next SIMA. Enthusiasts, take note...