Bale chasers offer the opportunity to significantly improve the efficiency of field clearance as well as helping to limit traffic and wheelings. But they do have their limits, not least in controlled traffic systems and on undulating ground where producing stable stacks can be challenging.
With its latest Transtacker 4100, Big Bale South hopes to have tackled these issues. Last harvest we assembled an experienced test crew to put it through its paces. Despite the trial being limited to just a couple of weeks thanks to the accelerated nature of harvest 2022, our men in the seat got a chance to run some 900 bales through the machine.
Bit of history
It was back in the late ‘90s that Yorkshire engineer and serial inventor John Walton started developing a chaser that would be able to deal with any size bale and would also be able to pick existing stacks up for transport, setting it apart from other machines on the market at the time. In 2001 the Walton Eclipse first broke cover, quickly establishing itself with contractors looking for a versatile field clearance tool.
The market for big bale straw was rapidly growing, fuelled by demand from
