At first, the Crowleys hired a local contractor to provide the service, but as the loads being cut increased year on year, the family decided to look into buying their own machine in the autumn of 2018.

Why Feed All?

With a very keen interest in machinery, Michael and his two sons Kieran and Brian carefully looked at all of the available brands on the Irish market.

After considering what was on offer, the family spoke to several farmers and contractors and visited a number of different machines while working in the field.

In the end, they felt the Kilkenny-manufactured Feed All Engineering Grass Grazer was the strongest-built machine, with the French-built Belair the nearest contender.

A key influencing factor was a conversation with a contractor 30 minutes away who runs his Feed All zero-grazing machine on a split 23-hour shift during peak season.

The Crowley family also visited Desmond and Nigel Condell, the father and son team in Kilkenny who are behind the Feed All brand. After agreeing a deal, they took delivery of the new tandem-axle machine in June 2019.

Mower/elevator

Keeping things simple, the Condells only offer two models of the Feed All Grass Grazer – a tandem-axle model which has a rated capacity to carry 6t of fresh dry grass and a tri-axle model which is rated to carry 8t of fresh dry grass.

Initially, the Crowleys were leaning towards the larger machine, but in the end opted for the tandem-axle machine, with an attempt to limit machine weight being the deciding factor.

Both models are fitted with a 2.8m (9.2ft) Krone disc mower. This was a big draw for the Crowleys to the Feed All machine.

Michael explained: “In autumn 2018 when we looked into our options, most manufacturers were largely selling drum mowers. These tended to have a narrow working width and we had heard some stories about such machines under pressure in challenging conditions.

“I liked the fact the Feed All machine had a Krone mower. It’s a proven unit and we can easily get blades and parts from our local dealer. The quick-attach blades are also very easy to work with.”

Feed All’s elevator system is hydraulically driven. The Kilkenny firm builds its elevator box completely in-house.

Despite often filling the machine at speeds up to 23km/h, the Crowleys noted that they have never blocked the elevator system.

Both the disc mower unit and the elevator system run independently of one another, and both can be adjusted to suit the contours of the ground.

The flotation of the unit, especially the mower, was another aspect that impressed the family.

The only aspect of the mowing system the Crowleys aired a word of caution about was the mower ground clearance.

Although not generally an issue on their land, they noted that it doesn’t have huge ground clearance and could get caught when entering or exiting low-lying gaps.

Flotation

As standard, the tandem-axle machine is shod on 550mm-wide tyres. However, with the weight of the unit, the Crowleys felt it would be best to fit the larger BKT 620/40 R22.5 flotation tyres, a decision they are very happy with.

The option of both a steering axle and air brakes were available, but both were declined.

“We are a fan of air brakes and have them on several other implements in our yard, such as the slurry tanker, but we felt they would be too severe on the ground at the shoulders of the year.

“As for the steering axle, if we chose this option we would have been limited to the smaller flotation tyre. We felt the benefits of the wider tyre outweighed the potential benefits of a steering axle for us.

“Most of our land tends to have fairly good access anyway. If we were focusing on hire work, we could have made a different decision,” explained Michael.

Controls

The machine requires one spool valve and a power beyond connection (essentially a hydraulic flow/pressure not directed through the spool valves).

The spool valve is used to extend or retract the drawbar into the working or transport positions. Meanwhile, all other functions are carried out through an electro-hydraulic control box.

This includes four functions – the mower bed up and down, the opening and closing of the back door, turning the floor on or off, engaging the elevator and turning the reversing lights on or off.

All hydraulic controls can also be operated manually from the valve chest, which sits at the end of the drawbar.

The unit has a hydraulic requirement from the tractor of 70l/min. However, this doesn’t tend to be an issue, as most tractors used to operate such machines tend to have a sufficient capacity.

Meanwhile, a wireless camera is fitted just above the rear axle. This transmits the live feed to the terminal in the tractor.

The Crowleys then fitted the same wireless cameras to several of their other implements, using the same terminal.

Tractor requirement

The Crowleys are pulling the zero-grazing machine with their Valtra T174. The machine sits on heavy-duty high-speed axles (which are on springs). They said it pulls very smoothly on the road.

Kieran explained: “We have a Ford New Holland 8160 and she has occasionally pulled the machine. It’s putting out 114hp and in good conditions she will handle it, but when working in the shoulders of the year, the machine will bully it.

“If conditions are tough or if working on hilly ground, you need weight in the tractor, especially as the unit works offset. We find the T174 to be a very good fit; it handles the machine at its ease.”

Similar to all machines in their yard, the Crowleys run the zero-grazing machine on a ball-and-spoon-type coupling. They find it very smooth on the road, cutting out any rocking. They noted it also brings the added benefit of reduced ware and safer working.

User verdict

“It’s been over two years since we took delivery and we are very happy with the machine. We tend to cut around 500 loads each year, with 85% to 90% of this for ourselves and the remainder for some local farmers whom we help out from time to time.

“One thing that initially impressed us was the huge intake capacity of the unit which was down to the 9.2ft disc mower and the large elevator.

“We found this had a considerable intake capacity over other machines and we still feel the same way today.

“In terms of negatives, there are just a few small bits. The oiler feed from the reservoir is very slow. We tend to manually oil it ourselves instead.

“The side marker lights are positioned inside the mudguards where they get covered in debris from the tyres, meaning they aren’t a great addition. We would like a little more ground clearance for the mower, it can be tight.

“The machine has a twin-drive floor, which means it unloads very quick[ly], usually in around 90 seconds.

“Another nice feature is the way the rear door is mounted via off-centre pivoting. It offers great clearance once it’s opened.

“All in all, we feel the machine is very well engineered and the heaviest built on the market. This is evident when you walk around it and look at the steel which is used,” explained Michael and Kieran.

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