For Irish company McHale, scoring 9 out of 10 during product testing has never been good enough.  The philosophy has served this family company well, delivering a timeline of successful products.

The brainchild of two brothers, Martin and Patrick McHale, the company grew from a small machinery dealership to become one of the major suppliers of balers to the European market.

Co-founder and Sales Director Martin McHale recently visited Australia to speak with customers, dealers and distributor PFG Australia about current products and future releases.

McHale’s new ProGlide mower range and the new Orbital high-speed bale wrapper were very well received when they were exhibited at Agritechnica 2015.

Following rigorous testing in Ireland, PFG Australia plans a gradual introduction here to ensure they are well suited to the market and Australian conditions.

Mr McHale said during his travels he sees many indicators of a bright future for Australian farming.

“The way Australian products are rated by the rest of the world is fantastic.  I’ve just come from Japan and Korea and it’s obvious in supermarkets there that Australian beef, for example, is very highly regarded.

“For ongoing success, whether it’s beef or balers, we improve efficiency whilst maintaining the quality and integrity of the products,” he said.

“If a machine is performing well, if it is simple and strong, efficient and reliable, people will want it.  If McHale continues to supply good products that suit the market, at a fair price, our market share will continue to grow.”

In some ways, the McHale story reflects deep agricultural traditions of self-reliance, curiosity, creativity and common sense.  They asked: how can we do this?  What would happen if we did this?  How can we make this better?  And the patents followed.

In the late ‘80s, Irish farmers saw their first bale wrapper.  A new concept, developed by an Australian, Ken Williamson, and an English farmer, Lloyd Foster, it was eventually manufactured by Kverneland in Norway.

By the late 80s, Martin and Patrick McHale had built their own bale wrapper and its success was the seed that led to the development of the popular Fusion baler wrapper.

“We sold the first ten Fusions to local contractors in Ireland and from that day, we’ve never been able to catch up with market demand,” Mr McHale said.

“Our competitors at the time, were producing integrated baler wrappers but they were big complicated machines.  Nothing could actually compete with the streamlined performance of the Fusion, which quickly captured the attention of importers worldwide.

“Farmers and contractors seem to like our machines.  We use top quality heavy-duty components with far higher specs than our competitors use.  They are built for a long life and plenty of hard work.  There are Fusion baler wrappers out there with over 150,000 bales on the clock,” he said.

McHale released their fixed chamber balers in 2005 and the V660 variable chamber round balers in 2010.  Next came the Fusion Vario, and more recently the Fusion 3 Plus.

McHale now dominates the baler market in Europe and also the baler wrapper market.  McHale machines are at work in 50 countries across six continents.

Those sales have been driven by farmers and contractors.  Machines talk, and great performance sends the loudest message.  And when it comes to McHale machines, it seems just about everyone is listening.

Pictured from left: Martin McHale with Graeme Leigh, General Manager Machinery Divsion PFG Australia