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.