Will Murphy set up his own baling business in 2017, hiring a Krone 1290 High Speed big square baler. Today he owns one Gen V 1290 and one high density eight-string HDP2 as he continues to look at ways of packing as much material into each bale as possible.
“Before Brexit we had a lucrative contract to export straw to the Netherlands, seeing £20 per tonne more than our other contract for OSR straw and long straw-walker wheat straw. The HDP2 was brilliant for this, as we could make 600kg bales consistently and load a tautliner to a good weight (over 18t); they only hold 30 bales, so heavy bales were key.”
Since the EU market fell off the menu for easy export, Will has been concentrating on his power station contracts, which are stable in terms of demand. This does ease the pressure somewhat, as he knows what he needs and when it’s going to leave the yard.
The model of his business revolves around straw as the main commodity: buying straw as a standing crop, baling it in a timely fashion and transporting from field to his yard for storage, and then shipping it out to the power station on a regular schedule. High output and high density bales are
