Continuous Improvement sees new features released on Chainless Bale Feeders

Published 1st June 2018
New Zealand

Hustler’s South Island territory manager gives us a quick overview on some of the cool new features on the 2018 model, Chainless X5000 round and square bale processors…

Here at Hustler, we’re always challenging the status quo to bring better products to market which are both easier to use and more versatile. It’s just one of the many things we do to keep ahead of the trends and lead the market with The World’s Best Livestock Feeding Solutions. 

IMG_1037

Trends for bales

One of the most common trends we see in bales as a result of the latest balers is an increased bale density, and in turn, the average weight of bales are growing.

Bale weights –

Go back just five years and the average weight of 4′ wide round balage bales were around 600kg, and round dry hay bales a lot less. Fast forward and now it’s scarce to see round balage bales under 800kg, which is great because that means less handling, less wrapping to dispose of and fewer trips to the field to feed out.

Then in North America where 5′ wide bales are the norm, dry hay bales can reach as much as 1,000kg not to mention the weight of 5′ wide balage bales which aren’t so popular due to the lack of equipment to handle such bales. 

The bottom-line, bales are not getting any lighter, and that’s why we’ve been beefing up the design of our bale feeders to handle 1.5-ton bales with ease. So come five more years down the track you’re not forced into an early capital outlay to upgrade to equipment that can withstand the heavier bales.

Bale densities and shape –

Especially with square bales the latest high-density balers are packing around 30% more hay into each bale, not only driving bale weights through the roof but making for incredibly tight packed bales. This presents a challenge for most square bale feeders.

The same goes for high-density round bales, where a conventional round bale feeder cannot tease them apart. While rotor cut, round balers are used for baling silage which packs more fodder into each bale. Although the bale doesn’t hold its shape, as well as these bales, tends to fall apart quite easily, plugging up a conventional bale processor. 

Developing a bale processor that can handle both the tightest of a square and round bales, and the loosest of round bales that fall apart is no mean feat! Also, that’s the reason why more farmers are choosing the Chainless X series bale feeders.

However, we didn’t stop there! We’ve introduced a new adjustment onto the platform design of the latest Chainless X5000 round and square bale feeder so it can handle an even wider variety of bales with ease.

Watch Nigel explain a few of these latest improvements

Â