Straw chopper

[Hfd Cattle]

Am going to be buying a straw chopper due to my health and bad back .
Who has got what and how do you rate them ?
I'm leaning towards a McHale ....any comments ?

 

[marco]

Am going to be buying a straw chopper due to my health and bad back .
Who has got what and how do you rate them ?
I'm leaning towards a McHale ....any comments ?

No complaints with the McHale here. Smoked the belts afew times and still goes well. I haven't tried other makes so can't really comment. But being able to bed cattle without moving them or getting in with them is brilliant. You won't regret it.

 

[Muddyroads]

Happy with my Lucas Castor but haven’t tried others to be fair.

 

[Scholsey]

Lucas raptor here, can only do straw, no silage kit, all have done to it in 16 years is grease it, adjust bed chains and 1 new control cable.

 

[solo]

I bought a McHale last winter due to poor straw bales and arm problems. Brilliant machine and saves about a third of the straw. Only downside is the control box will take 5-10 minutes to boot up on a cold morning, even though tractor is parked inside. Dealer is supposed to be sorting it, but has yet to happen after several requests. I would guess you may use the same dealer near Ross.

 

[Hfd Cattle]

I bought a McHale last winter due to poor straw bales and arm problems. Brilliant machine and saves about a third of the straw. Only downside is the control box will take 5-10 minutes to boot up on a cold morning, even though tractor is parked inside. Dealer is supposed to be sorting it, but has yet to happen after several requests. I would guess you may use the same dealer near Ross.

Don't go there unless I have to , have found them fast enough selling you kit but too slow looking after it after . .....will be Western Farm Equipment for a McHale if I go that way .recently bought a new wrapper of them and they were brilliant .

 

[Hfd Cattle]

Lucas raptor here, can only do straw, no silage kit, all have done to it in 16 years is grease it, adjust bed chains and 1 new control cable.

What does 'grease it ' mean ?

 

[Battlefield Machinery]

Try a Kverneland 864 or 863...Ben at Whites if your that way I guess...got some sort of blow to be fair! Well worth a look

 

[milkloss]

Lucas castor here. Good machine, can run two 4x4 squares through it, pit silage (tests the bed motor a little) or three rounds. If I was replacing it I would buy the one with two shredders.
Halse have every part on the shelf you could ever need should something catastrophic occur.

 

[Dave W]

I will have a pair of tidy teagle for sale in due course. A 8080 and 9090 with electric controls

 

[tr250]

What are your sheds like is there anyway you could use a spread a bale? I love our teagle but hate the dust but our passages are too narrow for a spread a bale

 

[Barleycorn]

We went from Lucas to Teagle, big mistake. Our old Lucas must have had many thousands of bales through it. Halse are cracking dealers too.

 

[Northeastfarmer]

No dealings with any of them but was going to buy one last year and when I looked at them all I’d say the Kuhn was built the best

 

[Dave W]

Other than mchale I think I've owned/sold nearly every make of straw blower. Build quality I'd say there's little to choose between them. They all use the same gearboxes and hydraulic gear. Kuhn has the advantage of being able to stop the cross rotor without stopping the fan. Handy for moving between sheds.
however if I was buying new based on build quality it would be a supertino. Think they are sold as king bedders. Built like a tank and much better bed chains. Far superior machine imo

 

[thorpe]

i hate beding machines! but sons keeping more cattle , me unable to fork out straw rang local dealer asked if he had acheap machine , teagle 808 fetch it. try it bring it back if you dont get on with it. went to pick it up, workshop wouldnt let it out the yard till fully checked and all gaurds in place , it did look a bit rough, 3years later still going well saved tons of straw and hrs and hrs it cost £1500 .kept under cover it will last years , but if it packed up tomorrow id buy them a new one!

 

[Hfd Cattle]

What are your sheds like is there anyway you could use a spread a bale? I love our teagle but hate the dust but our passages are too narrow for a spread a bale

Sheds easy to get in and out . Might look a thing spread a bale but not sure if my JCB is big enough . It's only a pup .

 

[Suffolksucklers]

We have a teagle and it's been a great machine. Like it as it's just a chain and shear bolt on the rotor which saves worrying about cooking belts. We do keep it in the dry though as it has a typical teagle paint job

 

[An Gof]

Am going to be buying a straw chopper due to my health and bad back .
Who has got what and how do you rate them ?
I'm leaning towards a McHale ....any comments ?

Just buy one, you will not look back. I resisted for many years due to my “careful” approach to money After pressure from my wife I finally relented and then wondered why I had not done it years ago.
I demoed both the Lucas (through a dealer) and McHale (thanks @bluepower ) The Lucas didn’t perform well with baled silage so I bought the McHale. Been a great machine and is used every day of the year. Ours was before the Bluetooth control box so no problems with waiting for it to boot up. Has been a great labour saving device. McHale also has the benefit that the blower, rotor and bed chain can all be started and stopped independently.
Like another poster has said if it suffered a terminal problem it would have to be replaced immediately.

PS ..... and no shear bolts to replace

 

[ford4000]

I've got a second hand teagle, does a good job of straw..... But I'm still forking big bale silage out to the ewes as its easier than unblocking the blooming thing which is disappointing!

 

[deleted user 837354]

All the teagles I have ever used don't like wet/damp material. If you store your straw perfectly they run fine.

Lucas do that cool telehandler mounted machine which looks ace. Spreadable are alright but a slower job than chucking two quadrants in a blower and driving along the front of a shed.