Tractor test
McCormick X7.460 Pro Drive
Great genetics
Hoping to turn around McCormick’s ebbing tide of UK tractor sales, Argo engineers have rolled up their sleeves to create the X7, incorporating quality components from the likes of FPT, Bosch, ZF and Carraro. Hybrid vigour or muddled hybrid hiatus? We test the X7.460 Pro Drive, to see how its various bits perform in harness
Practical test
Kuhn Metris 4102 trailed sprayer
The Metris rebooted
The previous SIMA show saw Kuhn launch the second generation of its Metris trailed sprayers. We worked with the bigger of the two models (a 4102, with a 4,100-litre tank and 24m booms), finding good design not always matched by technology
Driving impression
John Deere T670i combine
More threshing power
Up to 15% more output is a bold claim, but this is exactly what John Deere is quoting for its revised W and T series combines. We seized the opportunity to test a new six-walker, 292kW/397hp T670i model in some barley last harvest
Case IH Optum 300 CVX
Opt(im)um performer
Rumours had been on the go for a while that Case IH was developing a more powerful Puma, and now it’s here — the Optum CVX. We delve beneath the fresh styling to discover how Optum detail differs from what we’ve seen before
Kverneland 2500 i-Plough
Future furrows
Plough fans visiting Agritechnica will no doubt have spotted the 2500 i-Plough on the Kverneland stand. This is the first in the Norwegian firm’s range of new generation ploughs, and we had a chance to take a closer look at the six-furrow, shear-bolt model with hydraulic vari-width in the Netherlands this summer
LAMMA Special: NC Engineering FH225S pivot-steer handler
NC hammer cracks the loader nut
Pivot-steer telehandler buyers haven’t been blessed with multiple choices since the demise of Matbro more than a decade ago, so the emergence of another option will be warmly greeted by the pivot configuration’s many devotees. All aboard NC Engineering’s FH225S
LAMMA Special: Landquip Condor mounted sprayer
Condor spreads its wings
Demand for greater sophistication among tractor-mounted sprayers has led Suffolk sprayer maker Landquip to develop the fully loaded Condor, complete with a vertical folding boom
LAMMA Special: McHale Orbital bale wrapper
Something familiar
Sometimes ideas just stare you in the face. The McHale Orbital wrapper is a classic example, because it’s essentially the back-end of a Fusion combination baler . . . plus a rather neat loading mechanism. To be fair, though, the Orbital has a few more clever features up its sleeve
LAMMA Special: Dale Drills Eco 5T seeder
The middle man
While Dale Drills has offered, for some time, a mounted machine for smaller farmers wanting to get on the direct drilling ladder and bigger trailed units for those with a lot of ground to cover or to fit in with controlled-traffic farming, it has lacked a mid-sized line-up. To address this omission it unveiled the 3.0-6.0m trailed Eco T at Cereals 2015
LAMMA Special: Plowman Brothers Omni-Till cultivator
Top tickle and bottom lift
Plowman Brothers is not a new name in agriculture — far from it, as the Yorkshire-based firm has been producing livestock trailers since 1993. More recently, however, the business diversified into designing and building a range of cultivators. Its latest creation is the 4.0m wide Omni-Till
LAMMA Special: Kellands A280 Agribuggy sprayer
Design evolution, maybe, but a big change nonetheless
Tony Frazier launched his first Agribuggy back in 1981 with a 1,300cc BMC petrol engine and the capacity to carry a 600-litre sprayer with a 12m boom. Light, simple and easy to look after, it was the precursor of all subsequent Agribuggy models, culminating in the A280 we look at here
Livestock equipment
Robots work alongside a conventional parlour
Soft-play area for cows
Doubling cow numbers might be one route to ensuring financial success through scale, but it also necessitates some pretty meaty investment. One Dorset dairy farm has made the move to a multi-million pound robot milking set-up while at the same time helping to spread the cost by continuing to milk late-lactation cows through its old herringbone parlour
Used machinery
Polaris Ranger UTV
“I’d love one, but I’d struggle to justify the cost,” is a common response from an ATV owner who aspires to the cabbed comfort of a UTV and seating for three . . . or, in some cases, six. Fall into that category? Then why not consider the used option?
Polaris Ranger 900 Diesel UTV
Affordable repairs critical to used Ranger value
When Polaris launched its Diesel Ranger 900 at the end of 2009, the machine joined established competition to include the Kubota RTV900 and Kawasaki Diesel Mule. A key Ranger attraction was its light weight and off-road ability, two points that saw it go on to be a big sales success. Now superseded by the Ranger Diesel 1000, the 900 model is increasingly available as a used buy
Workshop
Tyres: Removal and refitting Part II: Drive tyre fitting
Back home the easy way
In part two of this three-part series on working with agricultural tyres, B A Bush’s fitter Mervyn Gorman shows how to persuade a tubeless drive tyre back on the rim with minimum effort
Machine management
Traffic management
Future proofed
Over the past three seasons Courteenhall Farms has adopted controlled-traffic principles on a fair scale. The resulting 12m system might just have future-proofed machine purchasing dilemmas across the 1,150ha that the business currently farms
Around the world
Cogeneration of power in Mauritius / Aussie tractor sales holding up / Partnership for tracked planter / Clever mobile weighbridge
Report
Electric drive developments at Agritechnica
Shock waves
Electrically powered farm machines are not as far away as you might think. Proving the point, the atmosphere at the world’s largest farm machinery show, Agritechnica, was heavily charged with electrifying exhibits when it was staged back in November at the Hanover Exhibition Centre
Vehicles
VW California SE camper van
My van, my wife and I …
… along with a couple of friends, travelled to the Peak District last summer — to find out whether a VW camper should be added to a farming family’s Christmas wish list
Under the hammer
Bristol Sales Centre
Good end to year despite the challenging kit trade
November’s collective at the Cheffins Bristol sale ground attracted a good crowd, and, despite the currently tough export and machinery trade, many items exceeded the seller’s expectations
Contractor price guide 2016
UK contractor charges
This is the National Association of Agricultural Contractors’ (www.naac.co.uk) charge guide, based on info supplied by its members last spring. The figures are only a guide and assume a red diesel price of 60p/litre. Prices will vary according to UK region, size of job, type of equipment used etc
