Richard has been farming for about 20 years in the region. The Waikato region had the largest share of dairy cows in New Zealandnat 22.4%. Indeed, the Waikato climate which tends to have warm, humid summers and mild winters is particularly suited for dairy farming with a good average grass growth rate.

Richard’s 220 dairy cows are milked on a once-a-day (OAD) system. This milking regime relatively common in New Zealand, used either as the overall farming system or tactically as a short-term response to adverse seasonal conditions.

Richard has owned another brand of bale feeder in the past, but there were a lot of moving parts and he broke the chain several times. He got tired of having to spend time in the workshop or at his dealer’s to fix the machine. So, he recently bought a Unrolla LM105 mounted bale feeder from his local Hustler dealer, Power Farming Morrinsville.

“I changed to Hustler because my other bale feeder had a lot more moving parts and would break chains fairly frequently.”

Richard has already adopted his new Hustler bale feeder, which was very easy to get to grips with. He is delighted with it, noting that it is robust and has far fewer moving parts. Richard only needs to grease the four nipples of the self-aligning, fully sealed block bearings to maintain his machine.

“The Hustler brand seems to have a lot less moving parts, (and) just seems very robust.”

Richard particularly likes the time-savers that come as standard on the machine. For instance, the unequal length tynes are a handy feature for quick and easy alignment when reconnecting the cradle, even on uneven ground.

“It just makes it so much easier to back the tractor and to hook up the buggy part of the bale feeder,”

Richard explained.

“Previously, I used to have to come on on a bit of an angle with my old bale feeder that forks were the same length.”

With a 100% hydraulic system, there’s not much that can go wrong with this unrollabale feeder. Moreover, the drive system is very simple: the hydraulic motor is located on the headstock and drives a pin that connects to the drive shaft when reconnecting the cradle to the headstock.

Investing in a Hustler bale feeder was also about additional peace of mind for Richard. It is a machine with a very robust chassis that is built to last.

The Unrolla range all come with strong 40 x 40 mm feed bars and zinc-plated chains rated to 24,000lbs. Not to mention the single piece fully enclosed floor in polyethylene, it’s non-corrosive, impervious to UV and very shock resistant.

“I would definitely recommend the Hustler LM105 bale feeder to any other dairy farmer.”

Source: Hustler 

The post [Job Story] A New Zeland Farmer Switched to the Hustler Bale Unroller appeared first on North America FarmQuip Magazine.

Mark is thrilled to have chosen a Hustler Applic8r mounted boom sprayer a few months ago and thinks it’s a “wonderful machine”. Mark farms on 5,500 effective hectares with about 46,000 stock units comprised of sheep, cattle and deer.

Mark was looking for a versatile and compact mounted boom sprayer that would handle a large variety of applications, from fertiliser to herbicide and insecticide on both crops and grass paddocks. He explains that with the Hustler Applic8r LX1150,

“we can use it all through this machine. All around, it’s just a good machine to use, for everything.”

The Hustler sprayer range is ideal for livestock farmers or crop farmers willing to use a sprayer in tight paddocks and small to medium size areas, especially on rough terrain or rolling hill country. Mark chose to equip his sprayer with a Hustler SonicBoom which is hydraulicly folded as

“you don’t have to get out and fold anything away,”

Mark said.

Some other time-savers make the Applic8r very easy to use according to Mark, such as the handy storage container on the side of the main tank or the extra freshwater tank.

For Mark, one of the key benefits is the GPS guidance unit he decided to add to his sprayer configuration.

“You can outline your paddock where you go it’ll paint the paddock for you, if you overlap or anything, that part of the boom is shut off itself automatically,”

Mark detailed.

Hustler Applic8r sprayer helped Mark to “save on chemical” and to get the perfect application for his operation.

“Hustler is a wonderful product, well made, the backup service and the people at the factory are just wonderful to deal with.”

Before buying his Hustler sprayer, Mark has done his homework, asking fellow farmers. Mark has received good feedback about the brand, whether it is the sprayers or other machines manufactured by Hustler. Several neighbours in the district own a Hustler product and they “can’t fault them” while “the backup service is really good”.

“All around, it’s just a good machine to use, for everything.”

As Hustler Equipment head office is based some 45 minutes away from Oheniwairua Station, Mark was also happy to support a local company with a good reputation.

Source: Hustler

The post [Job Story] Hustler Boom Sprayer in Action on a New Zealand Farm appeared first on North America FarmQuip Magazine.

Kent Smith, a Missouri farmer and hardwood flooring businessman, recently purchased one of the very first all-new Hustler’s Combi RX multi-feeder wagons operating in the United States. Strongly built and versatile, this is the machine Kent was looking for to feed his cattle.

The story of Kent Smith starts with his grandfather, Jack Smith, who grew up in the little town of Eminence. Jack Smith was working as a logger and tie hacker in southern Missouri and, according to Kent, “he didn’t have two pennies to rub together.” In 1947, he founded Smith Flooring, a company now in its third generation of family ownership.

The timber business is “what drives everything” in the Ozark Forest area, but the family decided to “purpose some of that land for growing cattle,” Kent explained. Kent is now fully in charge of the beef cattle operation since his father, Van Smith, passed away suddenly in 2005.

Since then, Kent has fully embraced his life as a farmer.

“I feel like I’ve taken off about 10 years of my life sitting in an office wondering about numbers and money, and it’s really nice to be able to get out here where it’s just so beautiful, and walking around the calves every day – out here, outside, is a good one,”

Kent admitted.

Although livestock farming and timber harvesting are very different industries, they complement one another, especially in that they share a primary industry asset – land. And,

“anything you can do to increase efficiency, to maximize your return on any investment that you have out there on the land, is a positive thing. The Combi wagon that we have is amazing,”

Kent explained.

Kent Smith farms in rugged country, and Kent chose to breed beef cattle that are hardy enough for the area (such as White Faces and Black Baldys). To feed his herd, he needed a versatile piece of equipment – something that would “feed most anything that I have.”

He found the perfect match: the Hustler Combi RX148.

The Hustler Combi RX range is a chain-less rear floor wagon able to feed out literally every supplementary type of feed, including all bale types, shapes and sizes, and any type of loose feed that can be loaded with a loader including fine chop silage, maize silage, root crops, vegetables and more. Its lateral elevator design delivers feed out of the side of the machine to feed into troughs, feed pads, bunks or open pastures.

The loading height of a wagon is often a crucial element since it could narrow the selection of machines that could load into it without damaging the sides of the wagon. With the Hustler Combi RX range, it is possible to use pretty much any front loader of any type (bucket, grab…) to fill it thanks to its low loading height – between 2430 mm (95 inches) and 2650 mm (104 inches) – depending on the model chosen.

Once loaded, the Combi wagon is quick and easy to reconnect (no need to connect a PTO), however of course you could load with an extra loader like you would need to when feeding with a TMR (this simplicity allows for efficient use with just one tractor). The operator only needs to get out of the cab twice in total, meaning 66% less cab entry and exit compared to any other 2 or 6 bale capacity bale processor. Whilst similar cab exit/entry is required when feeding with a TMR, both a tractor and a loader are required to do the job.

Once the bale wrap is removed, the hydraulics only need to be reconnected once, which takes only a few seconds.

The Combi wagons developed by Hustler are built to last.

Feed out in the field and on the feed pad with one wagon

The ultra-low center of gravity, combined with the large floatation tires, are a game-changer for stability allowing the Combi RX wagon to feed out in the roughest of terrain, the terrain you wouldn’t dare take a mixer wagon on! And Combi RX finds itself just as at home in the field as the feed pad, with a large tilting elevator to place that feed exactly where you’d like it.

Simple hydraulic drive – with out the need to a PTO shaft!

Yes, the simple design of Hustler’s Combi range is powered by hydraulics for safety, reliability, and lower power consumption. And with the oversized 12,000 lb. roller chains to the high tensile sprockets, there are no wearing parts to buy or replace for the life of the feeder! And it handles all types of feeds including balage, silage, root crops or anything else you can load in it. The powerful hydraulic ram-powered pusher blade ensures even the ugliest of bales are no contest!

Massive drawbar clearance

The drawbar design offers great clearance and a major advantage (far superior to any wide-angle PTO shaft) in maneuverability, making life easier for operators in tight lanes and gateways. This reduces the possibility of damaged gate posts or machines due to operator error. Kent Smith’s Combi RX148 has a turning circle of 7.8 m (25 ft) compared to 20.8 m (68 ft) for the equivalent size wagon.

Impact-resistant floor

The unique heavy-duty 15-mm (3/5″) thick puck board rear floor is slippery, durable and extremely tough, it handles the impact of heavy beets landing on it without damage.

Recently Kent Smith found himself sliding backward down an icy hill, jack-knifing his Combi wagon. Thinking it was going to be out of service for weeks, turned into a $10 trip to the store thanks to Hustler’s design and strength.

“This thing is built like a tank,”

he said.

Source: Hustler 

The post [Job Story] Hustler Combi RX Multi Feeder Wagon in Action on a Missouri Farm appeared first on North America FarmQuip Magazine.