A help or a hindrance? Whatever a grower’s view on the merits of selling straw off the field rather than chopping and incorporating it, contractors charged with baling and clearing it do have a bit of a job on their hands.

“The weather and keeping customers happy are our two biggest challenges,” says Will Reed, whose father Paddy built up the PJ Reed contracting and straw merchanting business from their family farm at Higham, Bury St Edmunds.

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“Our customers are understandably keen to have the straw baled and cleared as quickly as possible so as not to delay cultivations,” he adds.

“But then we’re keen to get on as well, because straw left in the swath loses quality and if it’s rained on there’s the added cost and time involved turning it.”

Another factor influencing whether growers are comfortable selling their straw is the greater priority being placed on field traffic and soil compaction.

Will Reed

Compaction

Contractors have done their bit by operating tractors and balers with big tyres to minimise the impact of these machines. But much of the damage is done when it comes to gathering up, loading and carting off bales scattered about the field.

Paddy and Will believe they have the answer to that one in an accumulator built by a Danish manufacturer that enables them to drop bales on the headland.

“In long fields or when there’s a lot of straw, we may also have to drop a line of bales across the middle,” says Will.

“But there’s still a lot less running about involved in clearing them.”

“We’ve seen up to 50% time saved clearing fields after using the five- bale accumulator, which can add up to as much as 300hrs saved over the course of the season”
Will Reed, PJ Reed 

The new accumulators were used for the first time in 2013 behind a trio of New Holland 1290 big square balers, which produce 120cm-wide, 90cm-deep bales that make efficient use of curtain-sider road trailers hauling straw to buyers in the Netherlands.

This is also the size preferred for easier handling by the straw-fuelled power station that the Reeds supply.

“The baler we had demonstrated came with a three-bale accumulator, but at first my dad wasn’t interested because he saw it as extra hassle, something else that could go wrong,” says Will.

“But after thinking about it some more, we could see the potential of a five-bale version for dropping bales only on the headlands.”

As good fortune would have it, the accumulator’s manufacturer ParkLand Maskinfabrik in Denmark had just built such a machine and, like the smaller model, it has a relatively simple mechanism for pushing bales one width sideways alternately to left and right with the fifth bale occupying the space in the middle.

That usually gives enough capacity for at least four and often all five bales being dropped with the push of a button in a line just in front of or beyond the headland tramline.

“The main area of the field is then kept clear of bales and there’s no further traffic related to the bales except on the headlands where some damage has already been done by the combine turning and grain trailers running about,” says Will.

“When we’re collecting the bales, the trailer can keep to the headland tramline and the loader just works its way along the line.”

Time saving

“That means it’s quicker and more efficient, too,” he adds.

“We’ve seen up to 50% time saved clearing fields after using the five- bale accumulator, which can add up to as much as 300hrs saved over the course of the season.”

First-year experience with the five-bale accumulators revealed that when working on anything less than level ground, the first two bales off the chute could slide out of position before being pinned to the sides by subsequent bales.

The Reeds helped ParkLand develop an optional “bale brake” to eliminate that problem.

“The Danish engineers were very methodical to ensure it worked well without being too complicated,” says Will, who sees the bale brake as an added refinement to an accumulator that could have a big impact on the acceptability of contract baling operations.

“Our customers love it,” he says.

“Imagine if you’re dropping five bales for every swath up and down a field how much traffic there is using a loader and trailer or even a bale chaser.

“Our tractor, baler and accumulator run in the combine’s wheelings and apart from on the headlands there’s no other trafficking except by the grain trailers,” he points out.

Encouraged by the potential for other contractors to upgrade their systems with the new accumulator, the Reeds agreed last year to become ParkLand’s importer to supply dealers throughout the UK.

The five-bale model for 120cm wide bales is priced at £31,340, with the three-bale version £23,520; there are also versions for 80cm wide big square bales.