Spread-a-Bale inventor and managing director, Michael John Hughes has died aged 69 years.
A bonne viveur who led a very colourful life, with good humour and unforgettable stories, Michael’s resilience and dogged determination to successfully build the Spread-a-Bale business was par to none.
Spread-a-Bale was one of those ‘inventions’ conceived in the farm workshop – a machine specifically designed to take the hard graft out of manually spreading straw and improve the unit’s efficiency. Unlike the scores of inventions that never emerge beyond the farm gate, Michael realised the machine’s potential, he patented Spread-a-Bale, took it to market in 1999, and immediately found demand.
Following on from those early days he continued to listen and learn. The eponymous M-Range was launched in 2012 followed by a range of machines that could be configured to suit farms according to scale and species, as well as to businesses beyond agriculture.
During the last 10 years, the Spread-a-Bale brand gained further momentum after Michael took the decision to bring both the marketing and manufacturing in house, a move resulting in rapid business expansion throughout the UK as well as the international marketplace.
The journey continued apace in 2025 after the business outgrew its initial manufacturing premises in Ellesmere Port and relocated its base over the border to Flintshire enabling output to double. Michael signed off further expansion scheduled for 2027, ensuring delivery of an expanding range of machines to its global network of dealers and distributors now trading in over 30 countries and across five Continents.
Michael was born in Rugby in 1957, the son of a former London chorister and evacuee and his wife, a ‘Midlander’ who hailed from a farming family spanning five generations. Together with his brother, Keith, he grew up on the Leicestershire farm before studying for a HND in agricultural business management at the then Royal Agricultural College before realising an ambition not only to farm in his own right but also breed pedigree dairy cattle.
He took a tenancy on the Bolesworth Estate, Cheshire in 1981 where he established the Mickerra pedigree Holstein herd. Success came with a number of world-class, high-profile cow families including the seven star brood cow, Mickerra Blackstar Gaye and Mickerra Solicitor, one of the first sires to stand at Cogent in 1995.
Having realised Spread-a-Bale’s potential, in 2002 he took the major decision to cease farming, surrender the tenancy and focus on furthering its development. The machine had made its debut the previous year at The Dairy Event where it received RABDF’s Prince Philip Award for The Best Presented Technical Exhibit, the first of a string of prestigious accolades amassed over the years.
They included the 2006 Royal Show’s RASE Gold Machinery Medal, the 2024 LAMMA Livestock Gold Award, 2026 LAMMA Machine of the Year Bronze Award and two Royal Highland Showcase Commendations.
Beyond the awards, Michael took pride in seeing his machines being acknowledged by Governments, NGOs and the R&D community, as well as operating on college and university farms and other units approaching 5,000 throughout the country and beyond.
He leaves his wife, Anne and three children, Trudi, Edward and Thomas.
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