Kubota BV5160 Plus SC14 baler: Reliable workhorse
Kubota has been able to offer Vicon fixed- and variable-chamber round balers in its own orange livery for several years. We tested the smaller of the two balers, the BV5160 Plus, which produces a bale measuring up to 1.65m in diameter; the BV5200 goes up to 2.0m.
Our machine was the SC14, meaning it had the 14-knife chopping system; Kubota also offers this with 25 knives or a simpler rotor-feed, non-chop baler for those predominantly doing straw. In the UK, the SC14 version has proved to be the most popular.
Drawbar with potential
UK and Irish BV machines only come with the bottom-mounted drawbar to suit pick-up hitches. We married the BV5160 with a John Deere 6155R and 6210R, whose powers were enough to operate the machine with ease, as Kubota specifies 56kW/75hp as a minimum. Probably of rather less interest to most of our readers, the
