Rata Equipment's Power Claw product feature

The Power Claw is a core part of Rata Equipment's range and the compact model has been redesigned to suits its customer base in NZ and Australia

New Zealand manufacturer Rata Equipment has continued the development of a core product, making changes to further boost its compact Power Claw’s efficiency.

The Power Claw is designed to be an all-rounder on farms, thanks to its ability to lift hay bales and remove debris such as rocks, logs, and tree roots.

Available in three models — compact, mid-range, and standard — each is designed to suit different sizes of tractors along with other machines, such as skid steers and telehandlers. It’s Rata’s compact model, which is suited to small tractors between 25hp and 45hp that has received recent attention from the manufacturer in terms of a redesign.

Rata’s marketing and sales director Glenn Walton says the redesign has made the compact Power Claw more efficient to build, as well as becoming a better product for smaller farm machines.

“It’s got a new design back frame, which is all folded plate,” he says.

“The hoses and everything are right inside the frame and very well protected from any branches or anything coming through. The frame itself is compact and designed especially for the protection of the machine and for the hydraulic hoses.”

Rata’s compact Power Claw measures 1.35 metres wide, features an opening width of 90cm and weighs 140kg.

The Compact Power Claw is ideal for contractors with small tractors or skid steer machines

The tines are made from 10mm AR450 grade high-tensile steel to ensure maximum strength and durability.

Glenn says the Rata team has put the new machine through rigorous testing to try and find weaknesses but are happy to have failed in that mission.

“We’ve actually tried pretty hard to find the weak spots, but we haven’t found any on this machine,” he says. “We’ve really given it a good old workout, ripping out trees and weeds, branches, lifting concrete, and various different things — obviously within the capabilities of the machine — and we haven’t been able to bend it.”

The tasks Glenn outlines are right in the compact Power Claw’s wheelhouse, highlighting the versatility it offers customers, including contractors, framers, and lifestyle.

“We’ve been breaking up some branches that have been sitting in long grass,” he says.

The Compact Power Claw tines are made from 10mm AR450 grade high-tensile steel

“It’s got a decent width to grab and also it gets it right out of the way too for when you’re going into a tree line or a fence or something like that and want to pick up something quite close to that.

“We’ve been doing work with it spreading out mulch. It’s great for that also.

“After you’ve done the arborist work with the trees and chipped the branches, you can spread all of that out and take all the rake work out of it.”

Other features of the compact Power Claw include grips on the irons, which help to hold on to slippery logs, while the machine’s versatility is further enhanced by the ability to be put onto ‘virtually any type of quick hitch’. Ease of use has also been considered in the design, with the compact Power Claw providing excellent visibility to the working area, which is particularly helpful for users operating in tight spaces.

Another design feature is that the top part of the Power Claw comes down and interlocks with the bottom tines.

The Power Claw will be displayed at Northland Field Days and Central Districts Field Days

“That means you can grab onto a small bush or weed that is in the way that you want to move,” says Glenn.

“You can really clamp up small things with them, right down to being able to pick up one stick off the ground.”

Glenn says the compact Power Claw is a great investment for farmers with a small tractor or skid steer who want an attachment to help get maintenance completed quickly.

“We think this is a really great little tool to complement any small machine to speed up operation and do work that you couldn’t otherwise get done in a day,” he says.

“It makes fast work of any of that hard work.”

Rata’s wider Power Claw range includes the mid-range, which is designed for tractors between 45hp and 75hp along with small loaders. This is available in two different widths of 1.5 metres and 1.8 metres.

The largest Power Claw is the standard, which suits tractors 75hp and above along with telehandlers. This is available in a variety of sizes between 1.6-metre and
2.6-metre wide, depending on the size of the tractor skid steer or telehandler it’s being paired with.