Heath Super Chasers Compete in Great British Straw Challenge

Two Heath Super Chasers were the machines of choice at the recent Great British Straw Challenge, held at the Moreton Show in Gloucestershire in September.

Located in the beautiful north Cotswolds, Moreton is one of the biggest one-day agricultural shows in the UK attracting visitors from all over the country. The 2018 show featured over 350 trade stands, various livestock, a dedicated horse section, a rural attractions area and a grand arena with a number of exciting events taking place.

One of which was the Great British Straw Challenge which saw two teams, RJR Contracting and Thomas Gaydon Logistics, using Heath Super Chasers to compete against each other.

Contestant Robert Redman from RJR Contracting, was on hand to explain the widely attended competition.

“The Straw Challenge has been a long-standing competition and this year, for the first time ever, event organisers decided to introduce Heath Super Chasers into the competition.

“Basically, it was a race in which the teams used the Super Chasers to pick up the bales on the floor. Once all the bales were collected the Chasers would race back to either end of the ring and whoever got there first was the winner.”

The range of Heath Super Chasers have been providing reliable and efficient agricultural solutions for well over a decade. The original Super Chaser was first brought to market in 1995 and quickly made an impression on operators by handling 10 4×4 Hesston bales. This design was enhanced in 2006 when the Super Chaser Extra was brought out with extra capacity, allowing for 12 instead of 10 Hesston (4×4) bales.

Equally as popular is the QM Super Chaser which was released in 2002 and was designed to take every other size of big bale except the Hesstons. It takes 14 midi (4×3), 18 quadrant (4×2), 24 mini (3×3) or 27 3×2 bales and bales are stacked on their strings to ensure stability. Following this, the QM Extra was produced in 2012 with an extra 20% capacity. It also features air suspension, radial tyres, air brakes with ABS and hydraulic extensions to the pushers and side gates.

Although Robert was on the losing team it didn’t stop him from cherishing the challenge as a memorable experience.

“It was so nice to be able to compete in the challenge and it was a lot of fun. I think the Heath family were also really pleased to see their kit being displayed like that and for me – using the machines was the best part of the challenge.

“We regularly use the Heath Super Chasers and they are absolutely fantastic pieces of kit. Prior to using them I used to have a different machine, which was very good but a little slow. Since I’ve been using the Super Chasers I have honestly never looked back – they are incredibly fast and efficient. My two Super Chasers have probably done about 60,000 bales of straw and I’ve had no breakdowns since using them, so they are also very well built and reliable too.”