and 34 fit inside the bridge 3 if necessary the cover 32 can also consist of one single piece of sheet metal the suction hood 8 has two suction openings 81 and 82 which are located preferably near the ends of the bale plucker roll 6 and which are connected via a conduit 83 and 84 to a suction channel 9 located above bale b as can be seen especially in fig1 the conduits 83 and 84 are made at least in some areas in the form of extensible bellows due to this they are able to follow the ascending and descending movement of the bale opening device without danger of jamming in addition misalignments can be compensated for in this way the arrangements of the suction channel 9 as shown in fig1 approximately in the center above bale b is preferred for reasons of work flow and space saving this does not however preclude an arrangement at the side of the bales possibly also at a low height the suction channel 9 extends in the direction of the row of bales over its entire length and is provided with a longitudinal slit 91 which faces the bales b and which is closed by a covering band 92 fig2 the covering band 92 is made of spring steel and is held in a covering position by magnetic.