Central to the plant is a Hustler Chainless 1000 bale feeder.
Paul Reynolds, with his wife Sue, a keen horsewoman, first saw the business opportunity when he realised most of the chaff available at the time was of poor quality or too dusty. He has been making horse chaff for 15 years.
Having been involved with haymaking since he was 12, Reynolds knew he could produce the quality of hay needed for making good chaff, he says.
“Horse people are very particular,” he says. “By growing the hay, making the chaff and bagging it, we have complete control of the process. This helps ensure the consistency in quality our customers expect.”
One challenge in setting up the chaff operation was finding a system suited to high volume production that also fitted within Reynolds’ modest startup budget.
The answer was to employ Tom Dear, a jack-of-all-trades, who put together a system for much less cost than the $500,000 needed at the time for an off-the-shelf solution.
Reynolds describes his operation as ‘Kiwi ingenuity meets Heath Robinson’.
The current system has been operating since 2003 and is made up of a custom-built Hustler Chainless 1000 ale eeder (with a stationary frame and no wheels or forks), a silage cutter, riddles for separating the fines and the chaff that is still too long, and a silage wagon.
“The Hustler bale feeder is reliable and easy to operate,” Reynolds says. “It handles rounds and squares, runs eight hours a day, five days a week, year round. It feeds evenly, which allows the silage cutter to cut properly without stalling. Maintenance is virtually nil because there are no chains and the bearings are all sealed.”
