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MF 2200 bales up efficiency for hay contractor

Hay contractor Graeme Zilm is one of the first to purchase a new Massey Ferguson 2200 Series square baler, a 4’X3’ MF2270 XD.

Like many farmers, Naracoorte property owner and hay contractor Graeme Zilm understands the importance of efficiency as a factor in generating profit and delivering results to customers.

With 1200 hectares of hay, 2500 cross breed ewes producing fat lambs and a sizable parcel of grape vines, Zilm is a busy operator.

For his contract baling business, Zilm is constantly looking out for ways to improve material handling and freight costs.

Together with his wife Paolo and son, Graeme operates three Massey Ferguson balers on the family’s property and also undertakes contract work around his local district.

“We probably do about 20,000 bales in an average season with about 4000 bales on our own property – the rest is all contract work,” Zilm says.

“We started off with a 4’x3’ MF187 which we still have. We also run a 4’X3’MF2170 which is a really good baler.”

The Zilm’s 4’X3’ MF2270 XD joins a stable of Massey Ferguson equipment serving the family for well over a decade.

The new MF2200 Series balers, released earlier this year, is capable of producing high density bales in a range of crops and designed specifically to optimise storage and transport space and lower freight costs.

Producing bales mainly for export markets and local dairy producers, Graeme needs consistent, dense bales that make for easier handling, increased transport efficiencies and maximise profit for his business.

 “We get into different crops – a fair bit of cereal and pasture which are rye grass clover mixtures,” Zilm says.

“A third of our hay baling would be Lucerne.”

Zilm says the new MF2270XD is very efficient.

“We gain a lot more weight in the bales across all crops,” he says.

“We need to constantly get 600 – 650 kilograms in a bale to make transport efficient, not only for us but our customers and processors prefer these bales as well.

“For us the new MF2270 XD means fewer bales to move around. The bales are nice, solid and square. They’re easier to stack.

“Bales that are a little bit softer and lighter don’t stack so well and they don’t transport well either,” he adds.

Improvements made to the MF2200 series compared to the MF2290 and MF2270 XD models include a high capacity pick-up and a lengthened bale chamber. 

The New Optiform™ bale chamber not only increases the compression on the bale material, but also achieves this at lower hydraulic pressure. 

Together with the award winning pre-compression chamber and the heaviest and strongest plunger in the industry, the MF2200 Series balers produce perfectly formed dense bales.

“With the extra roller on top of the pickup, the MF2270 feeds more material in,” Zilm says.

“Having the extra half a meter length in the chamber gives us a lot more weight with a higher load, but working under lower pressure, that’s what seems to be the go.”

Click here to find Massey Ferguson square balers for sale.

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