Customer Success Story: Fendt Balers Deliver for Legge Farms in Cambridgeshire

A pair of Fendt large square balers, supplied by Thurlow Nunn Standen Ltd (TNS), are relied on by a Cambridgeshire farming and contracting business to make approximately 16,000 bales per year, most of which are biomass for a Cambridgeshire power station.

The balers are part of a much larger Fendt fleet including eight Fendt tractors, all owned by Southery, Downham Market-based, Legge Farms. The family farming business was started by Les Legge in the 1940s, when he rented land from the local church and later offered a specialist contracting service drilling carrots, onions and sugar beet. Les’ son Bill took over management of the farm in 1973, and now the business is owned and managed by Bill and his wife, Judith and their son, Pete.

As well as land owned by the family, a large area is farmed under contract-farming agreements across eight farms close to the Cambridgeshire-Norfolk border. Potatoes are a speciality. More than a dozen varieties are grown for specific markets, for customers including Sainsburys and Morrisons. There is also a busy agricultural haulage business

Fendt is the preferred brand

“We started using Hesston large square balers in approximately 1980, and have kept to the same design ever since,” explained Pete. “We have had Fendt tractors since 1985, so five years ago, when the TNS sales team put together a competitive deal allowing us to purchase two Fendt 12130N balers rather than the brand we used previously, they were the obvious choice.”

Producing bales 120cm wide, 130cm high and up to 274cm in length, the balers work in a wide variety of crops including barley and wheat straw, grass and linseed. “They handle all the crops with ease,” confirmed experienced operator Graeme Briston. “Straw is bought in the swath and baled on a large number of farms across an area up to 25 miles from our Southery base, so the Fendt balers must cope with swaths from many makes, types and sizes of combine, including the latest large rotary models with headers over 40ft wide.

“They perform well, and the double auger arrangement centres the crop as it enters the baler from the pick-up which helps when there are large volumes of straw. Earlier models didn’t have it, so we notice the improved feed and work rates.”

Adrian Feltwell operates the second baler. “The balers are conveniently controlled through the Isobus connection to our Fendt 936 Vario tractors, and if bales are forming unevenly then we receive a clear indication on the terminal telling us to steer further to the left or right,” he said. “It helps ensure bales are of uniform shape and density, but when combine operators drive in straight lines then that always produces best results.”

Adrian said that the 2.26m pick-up leaves very little crop on the ground. “Apart from setting the pick-up height to suit the stubble length when we enter a new field, there is little extra adjustment needed. The only time we miss anything is if swaths have been dropped in wheelings, but with GPS guidance and autosteer, most combine operators adjust their path to prevent that.”

Variety of uses

Although most of the straw bales are destined for energy production, Legge Farms also provides a baling service for other arable and livestock farmers in the area. Straw bales are used for covering vegetable crops and to create walls for sugar beet clamps, and grass bales are for livestock feed when the quality is sufficient, but otherwise they are sold for energy production too. The versatile balers can achieve very high density to maximise haulage efficiency when bales are for the energy plant, but for livestock use softer bales are made making them easier to pull apart and spread.

“Both balers have weigh cells and we calibrate them by weighing bales on the farm weighbridge. Wheat straw bales for biomass average 620kg,” said Graeme. “The Fendt balers produce well-formed bales whatever the crop, although two years ago we had to fit additional chamber friction plates due to exceptionally high temperatures and dry conditions which made the straw shiny and brittle. It was an issue which affected most farms in our area but once the plates were fitted we had no further problems.”

Graeme said that the balers are easy to look after, and daily checks and maintenance take little time. Each baler accommodates 20 balls of twine which is plenty for a day’s baling. Lubrication points are easily accessed, and the knotters are extremely reliable. “Fans keep the knotters spotless and, even though we check them every day, there is never any dust or chaff to remove. It has to be seen to be believed how clean they are, even in very dry, dusty conditions. The only time we get problems is if a knot is made on top of a knot that’s already there joining the balls,” he stressed.

Plenty of capacity

Average work rates of 400 bales per machine per day are easily achieved, although up to 600 have been made during longer working days when unfavourable weather was forecast. The balers have each made approximately 40,000 bales in the five seasons since they were purchased, but as they remain completely reliable and show few signs of wear, Pete said that there are no plans to update them currently.

Great relationship

“The Fendt balers suit us well, and we have a great relationship with the sales and service teams at TNS,” Pete continued. “We usually deal with Fendt Brand Manager, Richie Hannant or our Area Sales Representative, Tony Meads when we are considering a purchase, and Darren Angel or Richard Gore for repairs and servicing. We know all the service and parts team members well. They know the products, understand our needs and are always keen to help. We also rely on Trimble precision farming equipment for our field mapping and guidance, especially for our potato crops, and the dealer has a dedicated team specialising in that too.

“TNS is a company we can work with.”