20 years of Agricultural Machinery

30 Apr 2019

KME LTD – THE SPECIALIST PROVIDER OF AGRICULTURAL MACHINERY

For 20 years KME Ltd have been enabling farmers and the producers of quality large bale haylage to generate larger revenues and improve the quality of hay, haylage, straw and other animal related bedding products with their agricultural machinery.

KME- Agri works across the UK and internationally. Leading in the manufacture and installation of agricultural machinery that meets our clients exacting needs.

Our process includes:

  • Initial concept and design
  • Detail design and procurement of raw materials
  • Machining, sheet metal, cut steel etc
  • Fabrication of machinery/systems
  • Hydraulic and electrical systems designed and built in-house
  • Final assembly and testing of the machinery
  • Machinery delivered and installed with after sales service and backup support

The company was formed by Ken Mills nearly 40 years ago who developed and manufactured a range of recycling machinery. Ken who had a passion for horses took his knowledge of his recycling technology from the textile fibre industry and developed the first bale breaker for hay, he saw a gap in the market for breaking large bales of forage to create smaller bales for individual use in the equine marketplace. Allowing the farmer, the speed of baling the forage in the field in large bale form and the luxury of making small bales without worrying about weather constraints or loss of quality.

In 1999 after numerous tests the first hay/haylage breaking system was created & sold, large round or square bales were fed by a conveyor into the breaker system, the product was broken up and thinned out by the rake (doffer) and spiked belt which then passed via conveyor to a weigh hopper and eventually compressed into a branded bag. The original system produced 60 x 20kg packs per hour.

Development of the machinery over the years has been continual due to different demands and needs of the end user & the diverse range of products to be baled. 6 years after the first breaker was sold KME Ltd developed their unique dust extraction unit (delivery Drum). The introduction of the dust extraction unit made the end product much cleaner and tests revealed that it removed >95% of dust and mould spores from the product passing through.  This was a crucial selling point for the purchasers of the small bale products as dust can be detrimental to an animals well being and is the underlying cause of many illnesses such as COPD & farmers lung.

The demand for rebaling systems has gone from strength to strength with over 100 KME systems in operation worldwide.  The machinery has continued to evolve & the current range vary from 100 packs per hour up to 180 packs per hour. The bales now have the option to be bagged or strapped and most recently the systems have been made fully automatic with form fill & seal technology.

KME’s full team of inhouse design engineers with over 50 years’ experience have the ability to create tailor made solutions for any forage producer or bedding manufacturer, the sky is the limit and if we can create it you can have it!