TechTour: Bye-Bye Mechanical Transmission, Hello Electric Hay Rake

The integral drive on the Fendt Former 12555X. | Photo via Agritechnica, 2015.

It’s been an exciting year for Fendt’s forage branch. The company presented their brand new rotary hay rake at Agritechnica in November and have since received two silver awards for the innovation. The first, from Agritechnica itself, and the second from the International Agricultural Machinery Fair, FIMA, in Spain.

“We believe that there is a big future ahead with electrification of agricultural machinery,” Morten Leth Bilde, research engineer within Agco, told Shaun Haney in an interview at Agritechnica. “In this example with the rake, we are replacing mechanical transmissions.”

The Fo

The Former 12555X in-field. | Photo courtesy of Fendt.

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The rake’s innovation centres around its electric motor, which is integrated into the rake socket. It’s design is simple, and requires little effort in terms of maintenance (no joints to grease, no oil-filled transmission). The company says the rake allows operators to save on fuel, while also lowering the risk of contaminating forage with grease and oil.

The rake comes in working widths from 3.6 to 12.5 meters (11.8 to 41.0′).


Shaun Haney talks to Morten Leth Bilde about the new hay rake, its features, what’s taking us so long to move to electric implements, and how the rake will function in the field.

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