The Bale Wrapper.
A trailed round-bale wrapper. Nobody hires this because they want to. They hire it because the forecast changed. £150 a day, machine only, collected from here.
The specification.
The machine
- Bale size
- 1.2–1.5 m diameterRound only. It will not touch a square bale
- Film
- 750 mm, six layers standardFour layers is a false economy and we say so
- Tractor required
- 80 hpIt is about hydraulics, not horsepower
- Hydraulics
- One double-acting spool and a returnLoad-sensing preferred, not required
In work
- Control
- In-cab box, wiredThe wireless one broke in 2022 and was not replaced
- Output, realistic
- 35–45 bales/hourWith one person. Two people does not make it faster
- Weight
- 1.9 tonnesPlus the bale on it
- Film not included
- Bring your ownOr buy ours at cost, which most people do
Figures are from the machine itself rather than from a brochure. Where the two disagree, the brochure is wrong.
What it fits.
An 80 hp tractor with one double-acting spool. Loading is by telehandler or a very patient friend.
If you are not certain your tractor will do it, ring before you hitch up rather than after. We have had two people arrive with the wrong linkage category and one with no air brakes, and all three of those were avoidable phone calls.
Who has actually used it.
Named because a machine with a history is easier to trust than a machine with a specification. Where somebody broke something, it says so.
Three livestock farms within eight miles
Every June, in a panic, usually on a Friday
A contractor from Chipping Norton
When his own wrapper went down mid-season
This farm
Four days a year, which is the entire justification for owning it
What it is bad at. It is a weather machine, which means demand is perfectly correlated across everybody who wants it. When the forecast breaks, four people ring within an hour and three of them are disappointed. It is also slow enough that it becomes the bottleneck in any silage operation with more than one baler, and the film cost surprises people every single time — six layers on forty bales is about seventy pounds of plastic before anybody has been paid.
When it is free.
Half days are two thirds of the day rate, because the loading, the walk round and the clean take the same time either way.
Tuesday8 September
Thursday10 September
Monday15 September
Pick a time and we will hold it for ten minutes. Hold that day
This is a demonstration build. Nothing here books anything, no deposit is taken and no card details are collected at any point. Prices are indicative and are published so the arithmetic can be argued with.
The terms, in four lines.
£150 a day
Machine only. No fuel, no operator.
Your insurance
Hired-in plant cover, shown before it leaves.
Owner keeps first call
If it is our weather, it comes home.
Back clean and full
Or it comes back with an invoice.
The other seven.
The 6m Tine Drill
Six metres of tine drill, bought in a fit of optimism in 2021 and used for about nine days a…
The Cambridge Rolls
Twelve point three metres of ring rolls. The cheapest thing to hire here and the one with the longest waiting…
The 3m Topper
A three-metre flail topper for margins, paddocks and the parts of a field a combine is never going to see.
The Post Knocker
A tractor-mounted post driver. The single most useful item on this list and the one most likely to hurt somebody.
The Subsoiler
A three-leg low-disturbance subsoiler. The most misused machine in British arable farming and we have misused it ourselves.
The 16t Grain Trailer
Sixteen tonnes, sprung drawbar, commercial axles and a working tarpaulin, which is rarer than it should be.
The Hedge Cutter
A six-and-a-half metre reach flail hedge cutter. Legally unusable for six months of the year, which is the most important…
Before you hire anything.
Insurance, briefings, and the two things we will not hire out at all.
