10 Year Old Chainless Bale Feeder Still Going Strong

Scott Charmley runs a dairy farm in Dannevirke, and is feeding out with a Chainless 4000 round & square bale feeder that his father purchased in 2007. We find out how he gets 4 days of feeding done in just an hour.

Scott and his wife Aimee recently purchased a dairy farm near Dannevirke, with an effective platform of 78 hectares and a 26 hectare run-off and they’re milking 230 cows. With the run-off block being 3.5 km’s away, Scott doesn’t want to be taking his tractor down there everyday, so with a bit of kiwi ingenuity and an eye for saving time, Scott cleans up 4 days worth of feed out in just under an hour, meaning he can run down on the bike to shift the breaks each day. 

Scott is feeding between 100 and 150 round balage bales, and up to 400 large square bales of dry hay which are fed out with his Chainless 4000 bale feeder and also feeds a bit of pit silage through a silage wagon. 

Ready to go for rounds and squares:

One of the main reasons Scott loves his Chainless 4000 bale processor is the fact that he can switch between the rounds or square bales being either hay or balage without having to alter the machine or change any settings. Simply back in and load whichever bale you need and you’re ready to feed out.

“It’s been a great machine, we’ve had

no problems with it in 10 years. I’d highly

recommend one“

Reliability and ease of maintenance:

Scott finds the design of the Chainless system very reliable having had no issues in the 10 years they’ve owned it, with years of life left in it. “There’s nothing to wear out, we grease it probably 3-4 times a year and that’s all we have to do to it” says Scott. 

3 Bales on the feeder:

The unique self-loading design of the Total Control Loading System on his bale feeder allows Scott to back up and load 3 bales without leaving the cab, and he takes a further 3 on his front loader, meaning just one trip from the hay shed to the field, and 4 days worth of breaks fed out to, in around an hour. Take a look at how he loads and feeds 6 bales.

Watch the video to see Scott feeding out with the Chainless X5000 bale feeder