The new baler singulation chute for the Massey Ferguson SB.1436DB places two bales into a single straight row as they leave the machine. AGCO showed the hydraulic chute at the 2026 Farm Progress Show. The company says it cuts the number of passes needed to collect bales compared with the double-wide chute already offered for the same baler.
Matt LeCroy, Senior Marketing Manager for Hay and Forage at Massey Ferguson North America, framed the product as the next step after the baler itself. He said the company is now looking at the whole process, from making a consistent bale to getting it out of the field efficiently.
What the chute does
The SB.1436DB is a small square baler that produces two 14-by-18-inch bales at a time. That output is the reason the chute exists. Two bales leaving the chamber side by side land in a wider footprint than a single bale would. A collection crew then has to work more of the field to pick them up.
The singulation chute changes that arrangement. As the two bales exit the chamber, the hydraulic system pushes one bale forward and then the second. The result is both bales sitting one behind the other in a single row. AGCO says the effect is a substantial reduction in collection passes against the double-wide chute, which saves time, fuel and labor during harvest windows when hay has to be moved quickly.
AGCO is aiming the product at commercial hay producers. Those operations bale at volume, so any step that removes a trip across the field has a direct effect on how many hours the work takes.
How the hydraulics and trailing design work
Adjustable paddles control the sequence. They let the chute handle different bale lengths, and they set when each side advances its bale. That matters because the two bales leave the chamber at the same moment and must be separated in a controlled order to end up in one line.
The chute runs off a hydraulic pump on the SB.1436DB. The tractor needs to supply only one additional hydraulic hose, which is used to raise and lower the chute. The company presents this as a way to limit the plumbing an operator has to connect and manage.
The chute also has a patent-pending trailing design. Caster wheels and suspension let it follow the baler and float over changing field terrain. A rigid attachment would be more exposed to uneven ground, so the floating arrangement is meant to keep the chute working as the surface shifts under it.
Transport and maintenance
For road transport, operators can raise the chute hydraulically and lock it in position. The same raised, locked position gives access to the area underneath for maintenance. The chute uses spliced conveyor belts, which AGCO describes as an added convenience for operators.
The company says the design continues Massey Ferguson's work on hay equipment, which it describes as spanning more than 75 years. Details on pricing, availability dates and compatibility with other balers were not provided. Readers can find product information on the Massey Ferguson site, and corporate background is on the AGCO site.
Analysis: why it matters and what is unproven
The announcement addresses a problem created by success. A baler that makes two bales at once raises productivity at the machine, but the gain can be partly lost afterward if the bales fall in a pattern that takes more passes to pick up. A baler singulation chute moves part of the harvest bottleneck from baling to collection. The logic is sound: if two bales land in one row, a pickup or accumulator operation has fewer lines to follow.
The design choices also point to practical priorities. Using the baler's own hydraulic pump and asking for only one extra tractor hose keeps the hookup simple. The trailing caster and suspension arrangement targets terrain, which is where add-on equipment tends to be tested hardest. Those are reasonable engineering priorities, but they are claims about design intent, not field results.
There are several things the available information does not establish. AGCO describes the pass reduction as substantial but gives no figure. It does not state how much fuel, time or labor a producer would save, or under what field conditions it measured any comparison. The comparison is against the double-wide chute, so the benefit depends on how a given operation collects bales. A farm whose collection equipment handles wide drops well may see less change than one that follows a single line.
Reliability is also open. A chute that sequences two bales relies on paddle timing and hydraulic action, and it must keep working across bale lengths and rough ground. The adjustable paddles suggest the system can be tuned, but whether it holds consistent spacing at working speed in varied hay and terrain will only be answered by use across seasons. The same applies to the floating trailing design, which is patent-pending but has no published durability data.
On comparison with other equipment, the one reference point in the material is the double-wide chute offered for the same baler. Nothing is said about how this chute stacks up against singulation or bale-handling systems from other manufacturers, so no ranking can be drawn. What can be said is that Massey Ferguson now offers two chute options on the SB.1436DB, which gives buyers a choice based on how they gather bales.
For commercial producers, the useful test is simple. If collection passes are a meaningful share of harvest labor on their ground, a single straight row is worth evaluating against current practice. Until independent or customer results appear, the case rests on the manufacturer's description of what the chute does and how it is built.
