New Holland was birthed out of the entrepreneurial spirit –
the spirit of innovation and leadership that generates new ideas, new products and new business processes.
This month, we look back at the decade spanning 1946 to 1955.

PAST
In 1947, New Holland was acquired by the Sperry Rand Corporation and was renamed Sperry New Holland. The following year, Sperry New Holland laid its foundation as a leader in harvesting equipment with the purchase of the Dillenger Company, maker of the first Forage Harvester.

New Holland continued with baler innovations, introducing its Model 66 “lightweight” baler in 1951. The Model 66 was popular because it could be comfortably pulled with a utility tractor on level or hilly ground, and because it produced smaller bales that were easier to handle.

In 1952, Claeys introduced the first European self-propelled combine harvester. Eight years later, Claeys would be acquired by New Holland. No one could have imagined at the time that New Holland combines would one day make up one in every five combines sold globally.

The Model 55 Rolabar™ rake was introduced in 1954. Produced for four years, it was the first of many successful rake models, including some that remain in production today.

PRESENT
Capacity, productivity and reliability are the hallmarks of today’s New Holland’s self-propelled forage harvesters. Early models from the 1970s offered 200 horsepower engines while today’s models range from 449 horsepower to the whopping 824 horsepower found in our FR850 model. An advancement for its time, the first New Holland self-propelled forage harvester enabled farmers to cut two rows at a time at a speed of 2.5 mph. Today, our largest Forage Cruiser can chop twelve rows at speeds up to 10 mph.

Better feed leads to better milk and meat production, so many operators specifically choose New Holland machines to create superior feed. Our forage harvesters provide the widest cutter head and feed rolls in the industry, producing a thin crop mat for a consistent chop length. Our efficient crop processors ensure uniform kernel cracking, which also improves feed quality.

Comfort is key to productivity, so New Holland forage harvesters offer a spacious cab with 360-degree visibility that enables operators to see the forager spout through its entire range of motion. Our force-based multifunction handle makes it comfortable to operate our machines for long hours and a high degree of automation is possible to reduce fatigue from doing repetitive functions over and over.

NEXT GEN
Through the years, we’ve remained focused on developing innovations that matter to those we serve. We’ll be launching a new line of forage harvesters for model year 2016 that deliver the same quality chopping, blowing, and feeding systems our farmers rely on with improvements to operator comfort and control in the cab. We’ll be introducing new 13 and 16-liter engines with ECOBlue™ HI-eSCR, specifically tuned for forage harvesting needs. Soon, our forage harvesters will include integrated auto guidance, offering further reliability improvements in kernel processing for corn silage and ensuring our forage harvesters continue to be the preferred choice of the Next Gen of New Holland SMART customers everywhere.

Take a look at our gallery to see the Model 616, an early New Holland Forage Harvester, and get a sneak peek at the soon-to-be-released FR780.