Mega Soft Hands Last Longer

Agricultural Contracting Otago Ltd

Ian & Elly Brown with their son Tim own and operate a family agricultural contracting business based in Mosgiel, Otago. Six generations in business is no mistake they say. The Browns service an 80km radius from Mosgiel which gets them out to the Otago Peninsula, Hindon, Middlemarch and south to Waihola. They offer a range of services from ploughing to hedge cutting and any hay or baleage requirements plus other cultivation services as well.

“The next season which is probably a month away,” says Tim, “is the hay and baleage season”. The Browns run a McHale Fusion II baler/wrapper combo and also a Welger baler too. Bales are averaging 800kg. Both balers can run up to 23 knives, however most clients prefer a 4-5 inch finish in the material length. Tim says they can cater for pretty much any customer request when it comes to chopping the material. Research has shown that if the material is too short the animals can’t always pick it up and therefore it is wasted.

To handle the bales they use 2 Hustler Mega Softhands® which Tim loves. Mostly the Softhands® are fitted to their JD6420 and occasionally JD6920s. They have had another brand in the past which didn’t seem to handle the pace. “The shape of the hands were too cupped, the pivots wore, and construction seemed too light”. With this happening the Browns knew they needed heavy duty Soft Hands, so the research began. “We looked into a few different hands including some of the imported type but because we were so impressed with the solid construction, good visibility, and slim arm design plus being easy to grease the moving parts – Hustler was the answer! Having a NZ made product is always good too. We purchased our first set and proved the benefits so when we needed a second set we didn’t have to look anywhere else!”.

We asked Tim if he would recommend the Hustler Softhands® to others. “of course I would! When you are handling 12,000-15,000 bales per year and you want Soft Hands® that are guaranteed to not let you down – then you want Hustler.“ I believe they are the best on the Market,” says Tim.