For the past 20 years, Gretna contractor Bryan Redpath has used a number of different McHale Fusion balers but says his latest Fusion 4 Plus is perfection personified.
Bryan works within a 20 mile radius of his Beechwood Farm at Gretna, servicing mostly livestock farms with mowing, raking, and baling as well as ploughing, drilling, and muckspreading.
Having racked up 40 years in the business Bryan knows exactly what he needs from a baler, and, as he works mostly on his own, knew a baler combination was ideal for him.
“When you run a McHale Fusion, you simply wouldn’t run anything else,” said Bryan. “My first McHale baler all those years ago was a Fusion 2, which I thought then was a good baler.
“Then I went to the Fusion 3 and often remarked it made a hard day that bit easier. Once the Fusion 3 Plus came out, I endured a few teething problems with that model and reported them back to McHale who seemed to listen.
“They did improve the issues I was having with plastic and the later Fusion 3 Plus machines were much better.
“However, having run this new Fusion 4 Plus machine for a while, I can’t see how it can be improved on at all,” said Bryan.
The McHale Fusion 4 Plus is a fully automatic integrated baler wrapper combination that can apply film or net wrap to the barrel of the bale, delivering optimum bale shape and bale density.
Standard features include a 2.1m Profi-Flow pick up, 25 knife heavy-duty chopping unit, an automatic greasing system, an 18 roller bale chamber, and isobus compatible.
The machine is equipped with a patented bale transfer system and a vertical wrapping ring. These two McHale patents deliver maximum output whilst keeping the machine short and compact at 5.8 metres in length, 2.76m wide, and 3.02m high.
McHale has created its highest output pick-up for the Fusion 4 range. The new Profi-Flo pick-up has been designed to increase crop intake through more efficient crop flow and has been engineered to ensure end users are operating with a high-performance pick-up that is designed to suit various working conditions.
Bryan runs his Fusion 4 Plus behind a 185hp Claas Arion 650 tractor, sometimes with a Claas mower on the front, giving him the perfect combination to get grass into bales.
“With this Fusion 4 Plus, the McHale engineers have brought the rotor forward and altered the pick-up reel to make it slightly wider,” said Bryan.
“With these improvements, the Fusion 4 Plus can handle more grass. They really have made the machine easier to operate,” he said.
During his career Bryan has run a number of McHale balers including four Fusion 3 Plus balers and three Fusion 3 balers, as well as the Fusion 2 he started off with. He tends to change his baler every two years depending on his baling output during a season.
In the past, Bryan would have baled up to 14,000 bales per year, but that figure has dropped as more farmers ensile more pit silage, and because there are a lot more balers on the market.
Bryan said: “I normally change the balers after two years of use. There was only one machine I upgraded after one year.
“At its peak, I was making up to 14,000 bales per year, including all cuts, but that total has dropped somewhat as there are a lot more people buying balers these days.
“I’m down to around 10,000 bales per year, but some years it might be down to 7,000. Like any other business, you win customers and you lose some.
“Over the years I’ve lost some customers purely on price because there are more younger lads buying a baler to go contracting and have to cut prices to get any work.
“But it’s simple economics, if you cut the price of baling you have to make more bales to make the payments,” he said.
McHale says the new McHale Fusion 4 range has been developed with a focus on operator comfort and machine performance, while still ensuring the renowned simplicity and reliability is maintained.
The company’s specialist team of engineers has maximised machine intake and output, increased bale density, and reduced maintenance intervals.
Referring back to his own experience with the Fusion 4 Plus Bryan highlighted a number of qualities of the baler that impressed him.
“The ease of operation is tremendous,” he said. “The grass intake of the baler is fantastic, it really is difficult to block the machine.
“The McHale baler sits high but with the bigger rotor, which rotates quicker, and it is located further forward now, which means it sure does have a good appetite, especially in shorter grass.
“My customers prefer using the plastic film instead of net to wrap the bales as it squeezes more air out of the bales before the wrapping cycle therefore forming more solid and tighter bales, better for handling and stacking. The Fusion 4 Plus seems to pull the bale in tighter than the Fusion 3 did.
“I like the clever isobus system where the tractor and machine are in sync and all the baler information is on my Cebis terminal screen in the tractor cab.
“When baling hay or straw the baler ejects the bale from the chamber far quicker than any normal baler. Plus there is the added advantage when working on steep ground to carry the bale to a level area,” he said.
Bryan also likes the external control keypad on the Fusion 4 Plus wrapper which allows him to operate different functions without the need to go into the tractor cab.
Another handy feature on the Fusion 4 Plus is the light package which enables Bryan to work into the long dark hours, which can be controlled both from the baler and isobus.
“In a good field of grass, I can reach 70 bales to the hour, and that’s good going. We sometimes have a short weather window to get a lot of grass baled, so as a rule of thumb I can tell a farmer roughly when I will be there. For example, if the farm I’m working at has 200 bales to make I can tell the next farmer I will be with him in around four hours or less.”
Bryan purchased his Fusion 4 Plus from dealer DW Toppin Ltd in Cumbria and is well pleased with the service.
“They seem to have every part you could ever need,” said Bryan. “From the smallest to the biggest part, it’s never a problem for them.”
Bryan runs two 10ft Claas 3200C mowers on his tractor, one front, one back when mowing, and Claas Liner 2900 rake.
He also praised his 23 year old daughter Farish who also goes baling with the McHale Fusion 4 Plus for him at times.
“Some of the farmers make big eyes when Farish arrives on the farm and asks when Dad is coming to bale. They get a shock when she says she is there to do the baling.”
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