DRIVING IMPRESSION: Well-established in big bale wrappers, McHale has now gone the complete silage packaging ‘hog’, in launching its own combined baler/wrapper. Not a true ‘all-in-one’ nor a combi-type outfit, the green machine has some interesting design features, as Martin Rickatson discovers in wet, windy Galway
Why would an Irish machinery maker venture into the competitive waters of the baler market when it has a dominant, ‘safe’ position in the
specialist field of wrappers? After all, there are numerous baler makers with which it could develop a combi type baler/wrapper unit – in tandem. McHale sales/marketing director Martin McHale says the reason is that the firm would rather develop its own integrated ‘green’ machine from start to finish, with complete design compatibility and full parts commonality. And creating its own baler allows the firm to diversify into a new – but not unfamiliar – area of the forage kit business.
The new Fusion baler/wrapper is more ‘combi’ than ‘all-in-one’, using as it does a separate bale wrapping table platform to the rear of the bale chamber. But it is built on a single chassis, and the whole machine’s sides are completely enclosed, so that in profile the outfit looks very like a standard big square baler. A single mid-mounted beam, booted with big 550×22.5 flotation rubber, supports the 5t build unit without the need for twin axles with their associated field headland scrubbing problems, or the additional cost of a steering rear axle, claims McHale. The Fusion trod lightly in the very wet Galway field where we made and wrapped up a handful of bales, with only a minor amount of scuffing on headland turns in the cut field surface. The axle is also braked to ensure safety on steeper ground and in road travel, although our brief drive on a relatively flat field gave little opportunity to test the outfit’s anchors-on stopping capability.
