Silage Wagon Saves State of the Art Deer Farm 2 hours Each Day

Published 4th September 2020
New Zealand

Peel Forest Estate in South Canterbury is an intensive deer stud with 9 full-time employees and they needed a reliable Silage Wagon that could carry 11 Tonne loads without issues. A Hustler Silage Wagon fulfilled the main criteria of Reliability, Quality and Value for money, and here is what they think of it after one month of putting it to work.

Mark Tapley welcomes us at Peel Forest Estate, an impressive 2800 hectare deer stud operation in South Canterbury.  With 10,000 deer and 400 cattle, the operation was in need of a ‘bloody good wagon’ to fulfill the feeding requirements of their stock. The estate is geographically spread out and it’s a long way back to the silage pit. Hence, the wagon needs to run at full capacity each time, making it 11 tonnes of silage every load. 

It’s a long way back to the Silage Pit

Mark explains that with the Hustler SF1500 Silage Wagon, they can feed 3-4 mobs at once, saving about 2 hours a day. “It’s not just the time savings”, Mark adds “it’s also the tractor having to go up an down the road less”, saving on fuel and maintenance costs.

AllFarm Engineering, their local Hustler dealer helped with finding the right machine for the job. The requirements were reliability, high quality and a fair price. The Hustler SF1500 ticked all the boxes. “It’s robust, solid and well built. It’s going to be very hard for us to break it” Mark notes. The main body and feeder section is fabricated with steel plates delivering the highest strength to weight ratio on the market. The heavy-duty steel floor is fully welded to withstand any kind of impact. 

Wheel Upgrade

Due to the high-intensity farming environment and the fact that the wagon is running at full capacity each time, Peel Forest decided to upgrade the standard wheels on the SF1500 wagon “blow outs in the middle of winter are the worst thing that can happen. Changing a tyre in the mud on a cold day is the last thing you want to be doing.” With the wheel upgrade they don’t risk any tyres blowing up and the wagon simply can’t be overloaded. Mike notes that the standard wheels “would have handled the load anyway”, however this way they added more ground clearance and adjusted the machine to their needs. 

“I’d recommend Hustler”

“If someone asked me, I’d recommend a Hustler.” Mark is happy with the machine and the fact they chose Hustler. A good brand, that for him reflects quality and reliability. 

 

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