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.

“ClicRtechnologies is laser-focused on bringing the ag industries into the 21st century,”

said ClicRtechnologies President Joey Spicola,

“using never before seen technology and creating the digital ranch.”

About 30 attendees gathered for a luncheon and presentation by Spicola and other ClicRtechnologies team members. Among those in attendance were representatives from Florida Senator Marco Rubio’s office, guests from the University of Florida’s Beef Teaching Unit and Abraham Baldwin Agricultura College (ABAC).

Recently ABAC partnered with ClicRtechnologies and American Cattlemen magazine to produce a series of articles after the company donated $40,000 along with three weighing systems for the school’s cattle operations.

After the luncheon, all attendees had the opportunity to view the ClicRweight Bovine Solution for themselves at work in one of Double C Bar’s pastures. The system is set up in a simple pole barn around the water source. An RFID ear tag is scanned whenever an animal goes to drink and a camera instantly begins “clicking” hundreds of 3D photographs. That data is immediately processed into a weight, which can be viewed with a digital dashboard made accessible through any device with connection to the internet.

Over time, the system continues to learn each animal, providing the herd’s valuable information including daily rate of gain, weight average and feed efficiency. The ClicRweight Bovine Solution has been in place on the Double C Bar Ranch since early March. Joe Planz, a ClicRtechnologies board member and investor, grazes some of his cattle herd on the ranch.

“Grazing our calves two and half hours away from the main ranch,”

he says.

“ClicR enables us to have a constant analysis of how the calves are doing in real-time and enables us to address any issues expediently and proactively.”

The next day, the ClicRtechnologies team gathered in the company’s new International headquarters in Tampa. The team discussed plans for company growth in the near future and progress made over the last 12 months.

“One of the benefits of our system is that it can be totally managed from anywhere in the world,”

said Spicola.

In addition to cattle, ClicRtechnologies also has solutions for weighing swine and alligators. To learn more, visit the company website: https://clicrweight.com.

ClicRtechnologies is a company revolutionizing the agricultural industry through unique means of scaleless weighing and data management. They are committed to the development of proprietary technology to enhance the lives of its users by providing the most advanced vision software with unparalleled expertise in 3D imaging.

The company remains focused on the expansion of our weight capture technology and the development of future applications that will deliver cutting-edge solutions to increase production efficiency across multiple industries.

Source: ClicRweight

The post ClicRtechnologies Shares Innovative Scaleless Livestock System at Expo and Pinnacle Meeting 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.