Bale Feeder Helps Southland Farmer Achieve Full Utilisation
Frustrated with the losses of good balage when supplementing his sheep feeding on the winter crops, David McFadzien from Southland started hunting for a solution. Take a look at what he discovered…
Dave farms on 440 hectares, and runs around 3500 ewes and had used hay racks for many years to help minimize wastage when feeding his sheep on break fed winter crops, but being conscious of the time and effort it takes himself to make good balage, the time had come to eliminate the wastage of dumping full bales into the hay racks.
Dave wanted one machine that he could mount on both the front loader of his Fendt, and the rear 3 point linkage, to allow him to unroll the correct amount into his hay rack and for general feeding out on the pasture. After a hunt of the market and considering 6 brands, Dave settled on Hustler’s all new SL360X bale feeder because it was the only feeder that could be mounted to the front loader.
“I’m now getting full utilisation of every bale”
A season later Dave has found that the SL360X bale unroller has allowed him to make full utilisation of the each bale by breaking the bales up and allows him to fill 2 racks with 1 bale instead of a bale each, and now there’s virtually no waste at all! “Previously we’d be left with a chimney in the middle of the bale that the sheep wouldn’t eat”
Watch Dave feed into his Hay racks
When Dave’s old bale feeder broke down and he needed it replaced, the last thing he wanted was a troublesome latching system like his old feeder, which was always getting jammed up with hay and mud. So as you can imagine the patented Snaplox auto connection system took a bit of convincing, but having a keen eye for innovation and top quality gear, he decided to give it a go. Dave is rapt with his decision and the fact that “it’s so much easier to use, just drop it on the ground and go”
“it’s so much easier to use, just drop
it on the ground and go”“
Other points which helped Dave settle on the Hustler were the strong RHS feed bars and the fact they’re bolted to the chain, the answer to problems he’d faced with his old feeder.
Dave is swapping the Hustler bale feeder from front to back every second day, and has it down to a fine art, taking him just 3 minutes to disconnect from his loader and re-connect to his rear 3 point linkage, which he says “makes it hardly worth investing in a second headstock to leave connected to his front loader”
Watch Dave stringing out the balage nice and thin for his sheep when feeding in the pasture
To learn more about Hustler bale feeders, or to book a demonstration on your farm contact your Local Accredited Hustler Dealer or call Hustler’s Field Consultants.
