The CTS 1600 will makes its UK debut at this year’s LAMMA show taking place on January 11 and 12, 2022 in Birmingham.

Samco’s newest round bale chaser enables just one operator to pick up 16 round bales in as little as eight minutes.

The final pre-production and design was completed by 27-year-old Samco employee, Paddy Lane, who has worked for Samco for over three years.

It features hydraulically-operated soft hand bale squeeze, that lifts and rotates the bales into the chaser, with just one joystick click from the operator.

“This handling method allows both netted and wrapped bales to be gathered without damaging them,” said Matthew Shine, Samco director.

The new chaser will load itself automatically, by stacking two bales side by side at double height, before moving the stack down its length on floor rollers.”

Once full, the 16 bales are secured by the chaser’s caged sides, which move inwards to hold the bales in place. Built-in sensors fine tune the position of the sides ot the size of the bales, while gripping bars along the top and rear of the chaser to prevent any movement during transport.

A Danfoss load sensing hydraulic system controls the main functions of the machine.

The baler can simultaneously offload eight bales (in four stacks of two on their ends) keeping unloading times to a minimum. Its 7.3m length helps the CTS 1600 unload in tighter areas, allowing more bales to be stacked on a smaller footprint.

“During demonstrations last summer, we were surprised at just how manoeuvrable the chaser was,” said Mr. Shine.

“The operator was able to travel down narrow lanes and negotiate small yards that would previously only have been accessible with a loader. The chaser’s manoeuvrability is further enhanced as only the rear half of the chaser tips, enabling bales to be unloaded where height restrictions are an issue.”

The CTS 1600 runs on a brace of air-brake equipped ADR axles and features a choice of three 710/40 R22.5 tyres and a steering axle, if required. There’s an in-cab colour screen for fine-tuning settings and monitoring bale numbers along with a manual mode, which lets the operator stack the chaser with odd-sized loads. A rear-facing camera gives excellent vision and helps keep bale stacks tight when unloading.