Traditional methods, new innovations in pasture care

Can you tell us about the company history?

William Hackett was founded in Cradley Heath, West Midlands – the heart of the UK chain making industry – by the Hackett family in 1892 and has since had a long and varied history.

There are now two areas of the company – the Alnwick site in Northumberland, where we build our lifting equipment, lifting chain and hoists – and the Cradley site where we manufacture our chain harrows, fishing chain, low grade chain, and assemblies for mooring.

We’ve been making the harrows for over 125 years; the Hackett Harrow is long-established in the marketplace, and we still manufacture all of our harrows in the UK.

Harrowing is a very traditional method of regenerating grassland or levelling areas and our two main markets are the UK and the US.

We pride ourselves on being UK manufactured, the quality of the products and the service we provide – things don’t go wrong very often, but when they do, we get it sorted and make sure the customer is happy.

What does your product range include?

We do your traditional Trailed Harrow from 4–18ft. It’s fairly simple and has maintained its core functionality over time.

We then developed the product further, creating a Mounted Harrow to suit tractors as they got bigger, with more capability – this makes it easier to transport the harrow around fields.

On the underside of the harrow, there’s a good sag in the chain which allows it to get right into the ground, right into any furrows.

The harrow is slightly offset, so you get a full coverage, and the spikes go through the ground and pull any moss, thatch, or old weeds and aerate the grass.

They will also spread muck around, helping to break it down.

We introduced the Levelling Harrow this year, which has a much shorter mat. It’s got two bars at the front and a bar at the rear which will go flat to the ground and level any molehills or ruts on the ground – and it will also do a mild harrow.

While it doesn’t have the depth of the traditional mat, ours gives greater coverage than the competing ‘ring and spike mats’, which can also be quite brittle, leading to more breakage.

If farmers are looking to level and get a bit of harrowing, this is a good piece of kit.

The final machine we have launched is our Multi Harrow, which is very similar to our traditional frame with the addition of a levelling bar on the front.

So you’ve got that full depth mat, which will give you a good harrowing job, combined with a levelling job as well. That’s the premium option.

Both are now on sale and the feedback has been very positive. With the Multi Harrow, people really like the idea of it; the fact that it does a levelling job and a proper traditional style harrowing job is very positive.

What are the benefits of harrowing?

If you don’t thin the grass out it probably won’t grow as well and could eventually become infested with weeds, or you might end up at the stage where you have to spend more money on fertiliser applications or ploughing and resowing.

Also, spreading the muck out can stop worms and disease if you’ve had livestock on the field.

From a sustainability perspective, the harrowing technique for pasture management, opening up the soil to aerate and break down manure as a natural biological process, reduces the need to use chemical fertilisers, so it’s a good way to improve the land without necessarily investing a lot of money into it.

Andrew, when did you start your new role?

“I’ve worked for the company for 12 years now, on the lifting side.

“I’ve always had an interest in agriculture – my uncle’s a farmer – then the opportunity came up for the harrow specialist role, as Stuart Mullins, our in-house expert is retiring.

“He knows the industry inside out and has spent time getting me involved in this new sector, which I’m really looking forward to getting to grips with and building new relationships”.

For more information, visit the William Hackett website.

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