Machinery

Conor556

Well lads. Just wondering what machinery ye have on the farm that ye couldnt live without and with rising contractor prices and shorter pockets of good weather is there anyone concidering buying there own mowers, balers ect to do there own work. Looking forward to your replys, thanks

ZETOR_IS_BETTER

Conor556 wrote: »

buying there own mowers, balers ect to do there own work. Looking forward to your replys, thanks

Bought them a few years ago and have not looked back in regret yet. Thank God.
So much handy to have control over cutting dates, wilting period etc

And better packed bales too! :pac:

(seriously though couldnt fault previous contractor work)

kerryjack

looking at buying a round baler have a mower , i am going to try cut out the wrapper altogether , I done a bit of an experiment this year I stacked 5 bales tightly together in a straight line like a Swiss roll and left plastic under neath and just wrapped all around the bales and sealed it with black tape if it works well the plastic can be used again if it don't work its back to the drawing board , bales are great really suits our system here, but they are gone very expensive over the years to make.

blue5000

Great thread, at some point this year I could have used a plough, mower conditioner, haybob, combine, self propel silerator, loading shovel, track digger, one pass seeder, agitator, baler/wrapper combo and a 4wd tractor, oh yeah and a few trailers.

But I draw the line at having my own slurry equipment. My motto is KISS. I have NO machinery repayments.

bogman_bass

was at the Macra young farmers conference and one of the things that all 3 speakers said is that Irish farmers are way too over mechinised. Was shown a picture of a contractor doing 40,000 acres of seeding a year with a 2 wheel drive 30 year old Deutz. Machinery and building will lose you money Land and stock will make you money. I know what I would be spending my money on.

vanderbadger

Conor556 wrote: »

Well lads. Just wondering what machinery ye have on the farm that ye couldnt live without and with rising contractor prices and shorter pockets of good weather is there anyone concidering buying there own mowers, balers ect to do there own work. Looking forward to your replys, thanks

couldnt live without the loader anyway, didnt have one for years but wouldnt be without one now

manjou

Used to do all own silage slurry etc and had all machines to do the work.When everything went well and had no breakdowns saved money but when had a breakdown could cost more money than contractor would charge.Now have good contratrors that do the work and it leaves me more time to do other things.their bill is my only expence and fully tax deductable and let them worry about the repairs.

8k2q1gfcz9s5d4

bogman_bass wrote: »

was at the Macra young farmers conference and one of the things that all 3 speakers said is that Irish farmers are way too over mechinised. Was shown a picture of a contractor doing 40,000 acres of seeding a year with a 2 wheel drive 30 year old Deutz. Machinery and building will lose you money Land and stock will make you money. I know what I would be spending my money on.

I see where you are coming from, but its not always that simple. 40k acers will take a long time to seed with small machine. In Ireland the window for getting fields seeded may be very short, same for cutting silage/barley. A bigger machine will get it done a lot quicker, and hopefully before the rain! On the other hand, I know a farmer that went from using a 135, to a 5455 and does the same jobs with it!

I disagree about buildings will lose you money, if you winter cattle on land, that land will need to be reseeded every year unless its rocky waste land.


We couldnt live without our tractor and loader, MF 4245. used literally every day during the winter feeding. Being able to stack bales close to the shead has saved a lot of time in the winter, and also left out road a lot cleaner

Black Smoke

blue5000 wrote: »

Great thread, at some point this year I could have used a plough, mower conditioner, haybob, combine, self propel silerator, loading shovel, track digger, one pass seeder, agitator, baler/wrapper combo and a 4wd tractor, oh yeah and a few trailers.

But I draw the line at having my own slurry equipment. My motto is KISS. I have NO machinery repayments.

Oddly enough, I reckon having your own slurry gear, is a great advantage.
With fertilizer prices as they are, being able to use slurry on a constant basis throughout the spring / summer, can save a lot of money.
Best return from slurry, is regular light dressing. Important to get it done, right after grazing or cutting.
Can't really get that done reliably with a contractor.

Dozer1

Don't have alot of gear around our place, tractor with loader and bale handler probably the most used, next to that the transport box.

Also have a haybob and drum mower, basic but does us fine lets me cut silage when I want.

Might look at getting a small sprayer after that but get contractor to do the baling, slurry and hedge-cutting, its just easier when working full time and gives more time for family.

Don't see the point having expensive gear sitting idle for 95% of the year

bob charles

Conor556 wrote: »

Well lads. Just wondering what machinery ye have on the farm that ye couldnt live without

loader and diet feeder, everything else I dont really care, must buy an old 10ft mower for topping next year that is easy to take on and off the tractor. Some of the most shrewdest guys I know do mostly their own work, silage,slurry etc. Guys underestimate the benefits of making high quality silage.

bogman_bass

Colin Tender Gout wrote: »

I disagree about buildings will lose you money, if you winter cattle on land, that land will need to be reseeded every year unless its rocky waste land.

what I mean by that is machinary and building depreciate in value at the end of the year where as stock will be worth more at the end of the year

simx

bogman_bass wrote: »

what I mean by that is machinary and building depreciate in value at the end of the year where as stock will be worth more at the end of the year

not necessarily, my uncle had a 50 store charlaois bullocks/heifers, he sold the best and kept on the rest to put on condition, he sold some not long ago and reckoned he would have been better off sellinf them all bad and all and it wouldnt of cost anything to keep them a few months either

yellow50HX

would be nice to have my own gear for most work but there would be a lot of money tied up. all depends on what you need and what you can use. any new equipment would need to be matched to my tractors and what i use them for, and to whether or not i will have the time/use to regularly use them. If i changed tractor then i could get gear that would be more suited to it. That said the digger is brilliant and though it is getting a bit old now i dont regret getting it. find it safer to use then a tractor and loader for heavy work if a little awkward in tight sheds. the shuttle is a great saver on the knees too.

was thinking about getting my own slurry tanker but with a 2wd tractor the max i could use would be a 1350 gallon. but then again if i got a 100hp 4wd i could go for a 1600 gallon, but best to get my own agitator as well. at present i contract out the spreading and agitating. usually get the tank agitated and emptied in a day and half twice a year. I doubt id be able to do it in the same time with smaller gear and as i'm working too not sure id have the time. neighbour has a 1100 gallon tanker and its like watching someone emptying a bath with a tea cup.

have been toying with the idea of getting my own mower, one that can be used as a topper as well. contracting out the mowing and its about 500-600 a year. That said with the summer we just had it might be handy to be able to mow your own. and if the weather is good could get some hay made too. have topper but haven't actually used it much except to get rid of thistles and nettles in the last few years so a machine that can do both would be better. Probably woulnt make much sense for me to get my own silage gear as i dont have the manpower or time to make use of it, when i can get some one in to do it while im in work.

i do have a bit of tillage gear left over from my dads time, although i have a plough i don't do it anymore, easier to get in 4 board reversible as there are no issues with jions and hollows in the middle of the field. got a couple of harrows (triple K, grass, & land leveller) and a rotovator which i use for reseeding and the kale and beet, snapped the tow bar on the roller last spring so might have to change that as the frame is well worn. Have a small sprayer but that too might need to be get changed as its getting on a bit now as well. Dad kinda regrets selling some of the older gear a few years ago, we had a small square baler and he reckons it would have been probably worth holding onto for doing a few small hay jobs, had paid for its self years ago and was running well. The other was his MF seed drill, knew it was a mistake to sell it the 1st time we went reseeding and the wind was blowing the seed from the wag tail. Have held on to some of the other stuff too but get only small use from it, there is a potatoe planter and digger and a seed drill and furrow plough for beet, sold the old harvester back in the early 90's as it was easier for him to hire in a harvester and draw it himself then trying to harvester and draw by himself.

Have always tought that having another tractor would be great, we had a 5000 & 7000 back in the 80's and 90's and it was very handy in spring time when you would be swapping and changing the tractors all the time. I remember once putting on the plough at 7 in the morning, then putting on the spinner then the rotovator then the planter all onto the 7000, while having the 5000 harrowing, then picking up seed in the trailer, loading fertiliser, then seeding corn and finally rolling and all in one day as we tried to get the beet and corn in before the weather broke. Might look to pick up a small tractor like a 4610 for doing light work rather then having to constantly swap the big one in the busy times.

dzer2

We used to have contractors doing all the work found we never got it done when we wanted it done. At the time 92 there was only 2 contractors in the area. Up until then we mediocre silage and dung and slurrry spread in October. The wet spring on 93 meant that we were looking at july for silage we bought Baler wrapper and mower as we had a tractor and haybob. We reduced the feed bill for the following spring and had plentty of fodder which we sold the excess. To this day we still make our own baled silage and do my own slurry and dung. The problem with Irish farmers is that they cant seem to machinery share and get the work done together. My neighbour not the one with the roaming cattle discussed getting a baler and wrapper. I said to him that if he bought a fairly decent tractor and handler I would go in with him and we would make the silage together. He went off and bought a load of machines by himself madness

bbam

Loader for the tractor.
Definitely most useful for us, saves the body no end.

royalmeath

More machinery means more diesel. Large operators may justify it small operators are just giving themselves headaches.
The more gear you have the more problems you have.

kupus

A good point there is that machinery is lying up for a lot of the year, just sitting there losing money, and something a small farmer should not be wasting money on, as the cost is not paying itself off even in the long run.

td5man

Have our own silage and slurry equipment cost about €10k.
Have a couple of reasonable 100+hp tractors 12tonne digger and dumper all from my plant hire days.

MfMan

Colin Tender Gout wrote: »

I see where you are coming from, but its not always that simple. 40k acers will take a long time to seed with small machine. In Ireland the window for getting fields seeded may be very short, same for cutting silage/barley. A bigger machine will get it done a lot quicker, and hopefully before the rain! On the other hand, I know a farmer that went from using a 135, to a 5455 and does the same jobs with it!

I disagree about buildings will lose you money, if you winter cattle on land, that land will need to be reseeded every year unless its rocky waste land.


We couldnt live without our tractor and loader, MF 4245. used literally every day during the winter feeding. Being able to stack bales close to the shead has saved a lot of time in the winter, and also left out road a lot cleaner

Agree. Some bits you need, regardless of cost. E.g. it would be pointless contracting out hayturning if the contractor couldn't come when exactly needed. Better to have your own haybob, even if it's used only a few times a year. What cost-analysts find hard to quantify is putting a value on frustration- and hassle-avoidance.

I have a fair few bits that, now I have them, would find it hard to do without; Cattle and tractor trailers, sprayer, spreader, topper, spiker, spring harrow, roller etc. Recently added a feeding trailer which is already proving useful and flexible. Have a skidsteer with shear grab which is the bees knees now that the feeding season is here. Skiddie very handy too for saving the back and knees from heavy work, e.g lifting 1/2 ton fertiliser bags instead of 50kg ones. Depending on the quality of the silage pit this year I may consider getting a conditioner in '13 to shake out the mown swathes a couple of times - it would make an appreciable difference in palatablilty I'd say. Contractor does slurry and silage, and a bit of reseeding when required.

All these things alone cannot be measured by monetary value.

nashmach

Maybe we are too fond of metal but have a small bit of tillage here and all our own gear apart from the combine and a round baler.

My father always had a plough as he did contracting a number of years ago and the rest just followed.

About 8 years ago, it was getting harder to get contractors to sow for us and most were moving to one-passes so we bought our own MF 30. Well paid for now and would in fact make money on selling it.

Similarly with the sprayer, may have paid too much for it bit even so it still does over 100 acres a year and at at least €6/acre it all adds up. Even with a small tank but plenty of rainwater available I wouldn't be long swiping 10 acres out of it.

I will say we have a few :rolleyes: older smaller tractors so that helps with gear but our depreciation is practically zero apart from the main tractor.

It does help if you are handy with the spanners and most of our gear either leaves here as rust or scrap after about 50 years :pac:

For the stock end, don't bother doing anything with wrapped bales apart from drawing as for max of 130 bales we don't see the point.

grazeaway

dzer2 wrote: »

We used to have contractors doing all the work found we never got it done when we wanted it done. At the time 92 there was only 2 contractors in the area. Up until then we mediocre silage and dung and slurrry spread in October. The wet spring on 93 meant that we were looking at july for silage we bought Baler wrapper and mower as we had a tractor and haybob. We reduced the feed bill for the following spring and had plentty of fodder which we sold the excess. To this day we still make our own baled silage and do my own slurry and dung. The problem with Irish farmers is that they cant seem to machinery share and get the work done together. My neighbour not the one with the roaming cattle discussed getting a baler and wrapper. I said to him that if he bought a fairly decent tractor and handler I would go in with him and we would make the silage together. He went off and bought a load of machines by himself madness

machinery sharing is a good idea once who you are sharing it with sound people. I know a few lads round here i'd be afraid to give a shovel, but i also know a few lads would be great to share with (whether they think the same about me is a different question).

Every time i go to the in-laws place on the continent i'm like a child with all the gear they have but as my father in law told me its not all their own. He hires out their big tractor to a local contractor for most of the year as he need it most during the spring for the ploughing and tilling. A lot of the rest of the big gear (combine, seed drill, harrow and furrow press, roller and mower) is shared between a number of local farmers. They tend to store at his place as he has a bigger shed. Repayments and services are split evenly, diesel and breakdown are paid by however is using it at the time. Things that he uses himself a lot or in his own time he has for himself (spreader, trailer, tractor and loader etc).

F.D

my opinion is, if you have the time to do some of the work yourself and can afford it, why not.. it doesent have to be big and complicated or brand new
3 things on top of my shopping list are, 1 straight mower for topping and mowing silage, (sell off topper) 2 buy a decent tedder (sell off the haybob)
as stated earlier i can make top quality silage and i'm not at the mercy of the contractor, you can have it all prepaired and you will find ten lads around with balers that can bale it for you, if the one you want wont come!!
3 a slurry spreader, slurry has a value now even over the price of diesel and been able to put out a small bit here and there in the spring on a few dry days or following the first of the stock out of the shed as they clean up the fields,
after that we have our own fert spreader, sprayer etc that are a bit old but work and are cost nothing
we contract the tillage work out, because we dont have enough acerage to justify buying the equipment ourselves, but if we wanted to we could pick up an old tiller and mf drill and just set the tramlines to suit the sprayer and fert spreader we have, it doesent have to be 24meters after all !

keep going

theres alot of issues being touched on here first, most people underestimate the value of getting good quality silage.second it is far easier and not much more expensive for most people to get contractors but it is possible to save money with well maintained owned gear.the reason it dosent pay people to have their own gear is alot of farms are too small anyway.sharing is super and i share agitator and tank which means i have far better gear than i could justify on my own but its like choosing wife,great when it works but if it dosent....

cjpm

There's pros and cons to this.......

If you have a tractor or 2 then owning a few bits of machinery makes sense.

We have an Overum plough, four furrow non-rev, that's about 30 years old. Bought second hand, and prob worth almost the same money now. Used 2 days a year since, and only ever required points to be replaced. There is no way that hiring a contractor to do our ploughing each year could have possibly worked cheaper.

bbam

kupus wrote: »

A good point there is that machinery is lying up for a lot of the year, just sitting there losing money, and something a small farmer should not be wasting money on, as the cost is not paying itself off even in the long run.

Even a small operation needs basics.. we have a topper, weed licker (home made though), roller, fert spreader, power box, tipping bale handler, chain harrow. All low cost items but not what you could get a contractor in for..

Wouldn't dream of slurry or silage making equipment for our scale of operations though..

1chippy

There has to be a balance with what you need and what you want. loads of lads round me with next to new or brand new tractors on 40-50 acres. they sit with a power box most of the year and only really get used when the neighbours need a hand. we decided to stick with getting the slurry spread with an umbilical, however we bought a small 1100 second hand tank for maybe throwing out a couple of loads or drawing water for agitating. It got a serious run this year pulling silage effluent from the tanks that would have cost a mint to have to spread with no real fertilizer value.
Hoping to buy a new conditioner mower, fertiliser spreader and loader in the next few years. would love a digger if only for to put a decent sized shear grab on, but at the moment cant really justify it.

kupus

bbam wrote: »

Even a small operation needs basics.. we have a topper, weed licker (home made though), roller, fert spreader, power box, tipping bale handler, chain harrow. All low cost items but not what you could get a contractor in for..

Wouldn't dream of slurry or silage making equipment for our scale of operations though..

Yeah thats what i was getting at, no point in a big cost for stuff thats going to be used once in the year, unless you can rent it out to others,

And things like topper rollers spreaders yeah they would be needed in the small farm, but unless you've a big farm I cant see the reason to buy in a silage maker etc...

Black Smoke

keep going wrote: »

theres alot of issues being touched on here first, most people underestimate the value of getting good quality silage.second it is far easier and not much more expensive for most people to get contractors but it is possible to save money with well maintained owned gear.the reason it dosent pay people to have their own gear is alot of farms are too small anyway.sharing is super and i share agitator and tank which means i have far better gear than i could justify on my own but its like choosing wife,great when it works but if it dosent....

So you're into wife swapping as well -:)

dzer2

kupus wrote: »

Yeah thats what i was getting at, no point in a big cost for stuff thats going to be used once in the year, unless you can rent it out to others,

And things like topper rollers spreaders yeah they would be needed in the small farm, but unless you've a big farm I cant see the reason to buy in a silage maker etc...

When we were in milk we never closed fields for silage and baled and wrapped paddocks that got too strong. Contractors wouldnt come every week to do 15 to 20 bales also getting slurry spread on 4 acres is not a contractors dream.

Black Smoke

dzer2 wrote: »

When we were in milk we never closed fields for silage and baled and wrapped paddocks that got too strong. Contractors wouldnt come every week to do 15 to 20 bales also getting slurry spread on 4 acres is not a contractors dream.

What is it costing these days, to empty a bay of slurry by contractor?
One guy told me it cost him €750 to get 3 bays agitated and spread. Fields around the shed. Cash I bieleve!!

JohnBoy

There's two things you need to have your own kit. The skills, time and equipment to maintain it yourself and a roof to keep it dry.


There's no point in buying machinery, especially if it's only going to be used occasionally and leaving it to rot in the rain.


My personal machinery plan is you try and pick up a range of implements to let me over time do a lot of the smaller jobs. I dont want to own anything really big, or complicated though. I'd like to have a mower and tedder, but would draw the line at a baler for example.

My plan is to buy older, quality brand, machines and overhaul them. I'm well kitted and handy enough so the way I look at is there's a better tax treatment, and I'd rather spend more on an older machine that's been gone through than getting a newer, shinier machine that's an unknown.



I'm only doing small scale farming for a few years now, and I'm already getting tired of dealing with contractors. They either cant come when you want them, or dont do exactly what you wanted, or wont give you an invoice for ages.

The invoice thing really wrecks my head. we owe to two contractors for work done last year, dont know how much, dont know when they'll arrive at the door expecting to be paid at short notice. I dont like owing people money, but I hate owing people unknown amounts of money.




And so endeth awkward john's latest rant

yellow50HX

would luv to able add a few bits to do things myself. lucky enough that i have good local contractors, but like some of the boys above will agree trying to get them at the right time can be a pain.

the 1st piece of any new equipment i get will need to make would be a 4wd drive tractor about 100hp but they are very over priced at the mo. this would then drive what other work i can do myself. speading and agitating slurry and dung will be better with the 4wd as they travel the land better. i reckon a 1600gallon tank would be big enough but not too small that would take too long.

hillclimber

JohnBoy wrote: »

There's two things you need to have your own kit. The skills, time and equipment to maintain it yourself and a roof to keep it dry.


There's no point in buying machinery, especially if it's only going to be used occasionally and leaving it to rot in the rain.


My personal machinery plan is you try and pick up a range of implements to let me over time do a lot of the smaller jobs. I dont want to own anything really big, or complicated though. I'd like to have a mower and tedder, but would draw the line at a baler for example.

My plan is to buy older, quality brand, machines and overhaul them. I'm well kitted and handy enough so the way I look at is there's a better tax treatment, and I'd rather spend more on an older machine that's been gone through than getting a newer, shinier machine that's an unknown.



I'm only doing small scale farming for a few years now, and I'm already getting tired of dealing with contractors. They either cant come when you want them, or dont do exactly what you wanted, or wont give you an invoice for ages.

The invoice thing really wrecks my head. we owe to two contractors for work done last year, dont know how much, dont know when they'll arrive at the door expecting to be paid at short notice. I dont like owing people money, but I hate owing people unknown amounts of money.




And so endeth awkward john's latest rant

I couldnt agree more re. contractors and invoices, it drives me spare when they roll into the yard around nine or ten oclock at night two or three months after doing the job to get paid. How they keep on top of their own bills is beyond me.

keep going

Black Smoke wrote: »

So you're into wife swapping as well -:)

that s a bit like machinery-what you have is nearly always better than looking at other newer stuff:p

Markcheese

On a small to middlin farm , where they get everything done by contractor, what does the farmer actually do most of the time...
Do see a lot of huge tractors with tiny kit on the back....
I suppose if your handy with the tools,and have right size gear for the farm+right size tractor for the gear then your replacing contractors bill with your wage.. If you have small kit on a big tractor your just burning diesel...

grazeaway

Markcheese wrote: »

On a small to middlin farm , where they get everything done by contractor, what does the farmer actually do most of the time...
Do see a lot of huge tractors with tiny kit on the back....
I suppose if your handy with the tools,and have right size gear for the farm+right size tractor for the gear then your replacing contractors bill with your wage.. If you have small kit on a big tractor your just burning diesel...

have to agree, lad up the road was in the plant hire game as well as farming back a few years ago so got a few big JD's for pulling the lowloader and dump trailers. He is back full time farming but kept some of the gear. Saw him last week spreading slurry with a 6910 and a 1300 gallon tank. He has 3 tractors about 120 to 160 hp. One of them will have a bale spike on loader for the winter, seems a waste to me. Would make more sense to trade in 1 or 2 of them and get some gear more suited to their size. But each to ther own i suppose.

freedominacup

bogman_bass wrote: »

was at the Macra young farmers conference and one of the things that all 3 speakers said is that Irish farmers are way too over mechinised. Was shown a picture of a contractor doing 40,000 acres of seeding a year with a 2 wheel drive 30 year old Deutz. Machinery and building will lose you money Land and stock will make you money. I know what I would be spending my money on.

Did you go on the farm walks on Sat? What did you think of the neighbours places?

dzer2

Black Smoke wrote: »

What is it costing these days, to empty a bay of slurry by contractor?
One guy told me it cost him €750 to get 3 bays agitated and spread. Fields around the shed. Cash I bieleve!!

Really out of the loop spread slurry for a neighbour back in the summer 3 bay slatted tank spent a day and a half at it along a bad country road. charged him 200 euro and had to wait until last night to get paid.:(:eek:

sea12

I have all the basic machinery I need. Probably a bit more than is justified but got completely fed up with waiting on contractors for all the reasons mentioned above. I have a disc mower for mowing hay and topping, a haybob, a sprayer, transport box, tipping trailer, fertiliser spreader, a few other implements such as old plough, rotavater bale spike etc.

Would love to have a round baler but tractor only 65 hp so not big enough. Tractor perfect for everything else so not interested in trading up.

royalmeath

Did anyone see the guy in the journal this week with the zero grazer. At 28000 its a serious investment and if its running
everyday you would have a hell of a diesel bill. Is anyone on here using them, if so whats your experience of them?

6480

royalmeath wrote: »

Did anyone see the guy in the journal this week with the zero grazer. At 28000 its a serious investment and if its running
everyday you would have a hell of a diesel bill. Is anyone on here using them, if so whats your experience of them?

i didnt see the journal yet , but a guy that i know that has a zero grazer told me that it was just too wet this year to use and really no recovery on a sward that was cut twice with the machine

Bog Man 1

bogman_bass wrote: »

was at the Macra young farmers conference and one of the things that all 3 speakers said is that Irish farmers are way too over mechinised. Was shown a picture of a contractor doing 40,000 acres of seeding a year with a 2 wheel drive 30 year old Deutz. Machinery and building will lose you money Land and stock will make you money. I know what I would be spending my money on.

Irish Farmers are not over mechanised for the conditions they work under . Go to Austria they have a newish Fendt for feeding 30 cows . The speaker at the conference when he was farming in Ireland had €1000000 worth of machinery in his few years in the business . Was talking to him recently and he commented we still had the same combine for the last 14 years . I am fed up with people driving Lexus cars telling us we are spending too much money on machinery. I have driven the equivalent of Pedros 2 wheel drive deutz and it would have been feck all use pulling a redrock loaded to the Gunwales out of our rain sodden fields .
P.S there is only one Bog Man unless my schizophrenia has reappeared:eek:

Conor556

Does anyone know if the poles for beacons are a universal fit, all I have left is the poles (Beacons were robbed) will any of the different types of beacons fit or will I have to get the same 1's that I had on?

bogman_bass

Bog Man 1 wrote: »

I have driven the equivalent of Pedros 2 wheel drive deutz and it would have been feck all use pulling a redrock loaded to the Gunwales out of our rain sodden fields .

Aye but its the contractor thats pulling the redrocks full of silage and leave him at it.

Bog Man 1 wrote: »

P.S there is only one Bog Man unless my schizophrenia has reappeared:eek:

Aye you better change that user name sharpish! i was here first!:D

farmer_dave

yellow50HX wrote: »

would luv to able add a few bits to do things myself. lucky enough that i have good local contractors, but like some of the boys above will agree trying to get them at the right time can be a pain.

the 1st piece of any new equipment i get will need to make would be a 4wd drive tractor about 100hp but they are very over priced at the mo. this would then drive what other work i can do myself. speading and agitating slurry and dung will be better with the 4wd as they travel the land better. i reckon a 1600gallon tank would be big enough but not too small that would take too long.

1600g is a big tanker for 100hp tractor. We work with a 1300g on a 120hp on flat to fair ground. You would want any less. If you land is hilly I'd opt for an 1100g. Dimensions wise there is not much in them, but the extra couple of hundred gallons could get you into bother with 100hp.
If all your land is nearby to the tank, then I'd go for a 1100 with your 100hp tractor.

bogman_bass

we were pulling a 1100gallon hispec with a 165 for a good few years.

now being pulled by a 5610(rated at 70 hp). I think you are under working your tractor there.
that or going out when conditions arent suitable

Conor556

farmer_dave wrote: »

1600g is a big tanker for 100hp tractor. We work with a 1300g on a 120hp on flat to fair ground. You would want any less. If you land is hilly I'd opt for an 1100g. Dimensions wise there is not much in them, but the extra couple of hundred gallons could get you into bother with 100hp.
If all your land is nearby to the tank, then I'd go for a 1100 with your 100hp tractor.

100HP will manage 1600g. A neighbour has 1600g abbey and pulls it with a TL 90 and works fine with it.

yellow50HX

Conor556 wrote: »

100HP will manage 1600g. A neighbour has 1600g abbey and pulls it with a TL 90 and works fine with it.

yeah all down to your land i suppose, lad next door has a 1300 on a 5610 2wd, another neighbour has a 2200 on a JD3050, and i've pulled a 1600 and a 2000 on a 7610 4wd. lookign at the 1100 it wouldnt be worth my time using one as i'd spend more time goingin a out then spreading. with working and all it makes more sense to get in a contractor. usign a 1300 gallon on such a big tractor seems a waste to me but then again your land might not suit a bigger machine. I know from chatting to lads round here a lot of it if down to the tanker design and the wheel types on them too.

lad i worked with a few years back had a 1600 tanker on his 100hp massey but was going to get a smaller tanker to "do the hilly feilds" i told him if the hills were such an issue then dont fill the tank as much, no need to buy a second tank.

keep going

we reckon it pays better to let the contractor do the long draws with the bigger tank and use the handy tank to do bits and peices around the farm.you get good value out of the contractor as he s not wasting time doing the messy bits and you can still spread when you want.you can get a good 1100 or 1300 fairly right at the moment..the secret to hilly fields is the weather on the day,the wrong day it dosent matter what you put in front of it

freedominacup

keep going wrote: »

,the wrong day it dosent matter what you put in front of it

True dat, though an engaged brain is a help as well.