New Combi feed out wagon from Hustler Equipment claims world record for the highest number of round bales unrolled in eight hours

HASTINGS, New Zealand - Working on a 1400-hectare dairy farm in central New Zealand, the new Combi RX218 wagon, designed and built by the New Zealand manufacturer Hustler Equipment, fed out an impressive 191 bales over eight non-stop hours in real farming conditions on Thursday 29 April 2021. That is equivalent to 23.8 bales an hour, including loading and traveling, and totaled more than 134 tonnes of forage. 

“We really wanted to set up this challenge on a typical hilly-country New Zealand dairy farm, traveling between paddocks, opening gates and… feeding cows!” explained Brent Currie, CEO of Hustler Equipment International Ltd. “We felt it wouldn’t be much of a challenge to just spin them out in a feedlot situation, as we wanted to prove for ourselves that the Combi RX218 is the most efficient feedout wagon on the market today.” ​ 

It is claimed to be the largest amount of bales unrolled mechanically by a single machine in an 8-hour continuous period. Wrapped silage bales of lucerne were used on the day that started at 8:30 am and finished at 4:30 pm on the dot.

Marcus Deadman, owner of Spring Valley Farm and Jaiden Drought, machinery expert and dairy farmer in the Taranaki region alternated operating the Combi RX218 towed by a Valtra T174 EV tractor – which did not disappoint – while a team of farm workers loaded the wagon using a Caterpillar excavator equipped with a set of Hustler Softhands bale grab.

Two independent quantity surveyors were on site to supervise the day, during which they dutifully measured each bale and recorded the weight of every load, and even oversaw the unwinding process. The goal was to ground feed the bales completely in long windrows, until their very dense core was unrolled completely. 

Hustler wanted to set the bar high and try to tease apart roughly 95% of each bale, and to then count up which bales met that standard and provide full transparency to the farmers and ranchers who would be interested in detailed results. The surveyors created a measurement methodology and even measurement tools based on the diameter of the bales loaded versus the bale core remaining and followed along the feed out path to measure every core fed out. Out of the 191 bales unrolled, only 21 left behind a core with a diameter larger than the qualifying 234mm, “which was no mean feat in itself”!

The day went by at a steady pace, which did not dampen the good mood of the challenge team. The wagon used had also to undergo a 25-minute repair following a collision with a fence post. 

“About ten more bales could have been unrolled without this incident, but it’s part of the challenge,” presumed Gary Low and Richard Currie, from Hustler’s R&D team.

Overall, the Hustler tridem-axle Combi RX218 demonstrated its value on large-scale farm operations, proving itself the most efficient feedout wagon – and is now awaiting a challenger!

Visit our website here to see more about the RX218 biggest Combi feed-out wagon yet!