25 years of Krone BiG X forage harvester.

25 years ago, the first BiG X forage harvester rolled off the production line in Spelle. This addition completed Krone's machinery range, now covering the entire forage harvesting chain.

The self-propelled harvester, first introduced to the public, started as a 40 km/h fast runner officially with 540 horsepower. At the launch, the BiG X came with the EasyFlow grass pickup and the EasyCollect corn header. Just five years later, a BiG X prototype was unveiled, surpassing the magical threshold of 1,000 horsepower. Equipped with two synchronized six-cylinder engines, this forage harvester was developed for the toughest tasks. What began as a prototype has now become a significant player in the forage harvester market, according to the manufacturer.

BiG X Leading the Way

Right from the start, the first BiG X came with features that were later adopted by other manufacturers. These included a powerful engine, a top speed of 40 km/h, and a fully hydraulic, stepless drive on all four wheels.

Additionally, it had six pre-compression rollers, a chopping drum with a diameter of 750 mm and a width of 830 mm, as well as 32 V-shaped arranged knives.

The harvester concept, where engineers implemented numerous practical ideas, was designed from the beginning for maximum throughput with the best chopping quality.

The Newcomer quickly established itself in the market. (Image source: Krone)

Efficient All-Rounder with Great Comfort

Noteworthy are the driver assistance systems and electronic aids such as AutoScan, AutoStop, EasyLoad, as well as ConstantPower and XtraPower, which optimize machine utilization and significantly relieve the driver during work.

With the EasyFlow, XDisc, EasyCollect, and XCollect harvesting attachments, the BiG X proves to be an absolute all-rounder, reliably harvesting all field crops from grass to corn in the best quality and highly efficiently, the company continues.

Especially in corn applications, the chopping unit, with a wide range of MaxFlow to Biogas chopping drums combined with the intensive OptiMaxx conditioner processing the crop, ensures optimal chopping quality with maximum throughput. Thanks to the VariStream system, the BiG X achieves an extremely uniform flow of material.

20 Years of Experience in the 1000+ HP Class

Across generations, there are now two harvester series with a total of 10 models to choose from. The small series covers the power range from 490 to 653 HP with models from BiG X 480 to 630, while the large series offers extremely powerful models from BiG X 680 to 1180 with 687 to 1156 HP.

All forage harvesters come standard with the SmartConnect telemetry unit. The machine data automatically captured in real-time can be processed further in the Smart Telematics application or alternatively transmitted via the agrirouter to one of the many farm management systems - this is how modern data management works.

Read the complete history of the BiG X forage harvester, including all development steps, at https://www.krone-agriculture.com/bigx25.