Chaffing 1930s Style

Our neighbours have restored a 1930s Chaff Cutter and added a new electric motor.  They have kindly let us use it to cut oaten and lucerne bales into chaff for the horses. Instead of paying $28 per bag, it works out less than half price with a lucerne bale costing $16 and producing 1.5 bags.  This has had a huge impact on the finances and with our own oaten hay, our feed bill this year will be less than half of what it was last year.  It takes a couple of hours to do the 4 oaten and 2 lucerne bales which produces enough chaff to last the 3 horses for 4 weeks.   The Leeuwin Chaff Cutter was built by Perth based Malloch Bros who manufactured fencing and agricultural and mining machinery from the 1920’s.  It is featured on an advertising overprint on a 1931 Australia post envelope and is mentioned in an article in the  local Sunday Times newspaper in 1939.