Hustler Gets Over Barriers

Buston Farm, near Banbury in Oxfordshire, UK, stretches across five hundred acres of mixed dairy and arable and had been in the Gardener family for over forty years. About five years ago Roger Gardener decided to go from working with small conventional bales to big round bales but was faced with the challenge of finding a bale feeder that would get over a four foot barrier. His search was unrewarded until he came across a New Zealand website and spotted, in the process of being built, what was to become the Hustler Bale Feeder he has used ever since. Wessex International, then known as Broadwood, said they could bring one over for him and so arrived the first Hustler balefeeder to be used in the UK.

“We have around two hundred head of dairy cows and replacement,” says Roger, “and we’re feeding young stock indoors over four foot rails. The Hustler is worth its weight in saving on time and labour compared to manually feeding. It loads itself and is very efficient and very well made.”

Roger describes the Hustler as ‘overly built’ and that is what makes it a tough machine and yet one which needs only greasing and general servicing, with virtually nothing to go wrong. He cites the strength of chain as a key feature contributing to the reliability and relatively little running costs. Hustler Bale Feeders have been a big success story for Wessex International, with both mounted and trailed feeders in the range. The SL-450X is today’s version of Roger’s feeder, based on the popular SL-350 but with the added advantage of the extension chute which allows delivery of the fodder into a high level trough or manger.

Wessex International – UK distributor of Hustler Equipment can be contacted on: 01264 345870 or visit their website wessexintl.com