The brand is distributed in New Zealand by Power Farming.
The company’s sales and marketing manager, Paul McHale, contrasts the new machine with conventional baler-wrapper technology, in which the bale is first secured with net or string then transferred to a wrapping table for sealing with plastic for fermentation.
Crucially, the McHale system eliminates the use of netwrap, instead applying plastic directly to the bale in the bale chamber.
New Zealand was a critical testing ground for the new concept baler, Paul McHale says. The company’s managing director, Padraic McHale, and engineers, spent 12 weeks on farm in New Zealand trialling and refining the pre-production versions of the new concept machine. Several Kiwi contractors ran prototype machines last season.
“These machines worked well and have since been put into production,” McHale says. “Now 20% of the new Fusion 3 machines working in Europe this season are being supplied with film-on-film instead of net wrap.
“We have been working on our film-on-film system for four years and once farmers have experienced the increased quality that our system delivers, they do not want to return to more traditional methods.”
Power Farming machinery division general manager Graeme Leigh says when a traditional baler applies net or twine, the bale expands by a couple of inches before the plastic is applied.
“When the plastic wrap is applied in the bale chamber, it does not stretch so the bale does not expand. The bottom line is that more air is excluded, the bale is denser and the quality of the silage is significantly better. Depending on the number of layers you can apply, you could save $1.00-$2.00 per bale.
“Without netwrap, feed out is easier and faster, especially if you are using one of the new bale slicers, and you only have one form of waste to deal with, which makes recycling easier.”
Paul McHale says the company’s engineers had to make several technical innovations so that the Fusion 3 Plus could effectively and consistently apply net replacement film.
“The Fusion integrated baler wrapper can deliver 10% more output than other baler wrappers on the market. It was important for us to get the film working well so that it was reliable and did not reduce the baler’s output as it passed through different crop types and as the temperature changes over a day’s work.
“The Fusion 3 Plus offers contractors a new service they can provide to differentiate themselves from their competition.” It also gives farmers and contractors who need to bale hay, straw or other stalky crops the option to use netwrap because the chamber is designed to handle net or plastic.
Power Farming expects half its McHale orders for the 2013-14 season will be Fusion 3 Plus machines.
Tel. 07 902 2200
www.powerfarming.co.nz
