Back in 2011 we visited this MC115 as a long-term test subject when it had just 3,095 hours, now, 15 years later it has amassed 14,188 hours. Good reason to go back and see what the cost of ownership has been over 18 years.

In 2008 John Gowling decided to follow the dealer when A T Houghton lost the Massey Ferguson franchise and made the move to McCormick. To hammer their dealer confidence point home, they soon had a MC115 sitting in the yard. 

Having been predominantly Massey Ferguson for the previous decade, the farm had run Case IH Maxxum 5100 series tractors, so the MC115 wasn’t a complete unknown to them, sharing many components from the bell housing back.

Tim Gowling is a big fan of the MC115 which was the subject of our long term test in 2011.

The three-man team of John and sons Tim and Fred are self-sufficient in equipment, running tillage and grassland kit. They tend to run machines for as long as economically possible, not covering many road miles their tractors seem to age well, and they’re happy to operate a more mature fleet for low demand jobs.

2008 when three spools were becoming common, of course one was tied up with the push out hitch.

Currently the farm has a mixed fleet – there are three Massey Fergusons from a 2024 8S.225, back to a 5445, and a 6480. The obvious standout is a green- from Claas, in the form of an Arion 530 with Hexashift, so shares the same oil spinning Gima gearbox bits as the Massey so is less of a leap into the unknow than you’d think.

To get the grunt out of the Perkins 1104D-44T it was inter-cooled, the Stage III model did get warm early days.
To keep the tractor cool, the viscus fan was removed, and a different fan cowl was fitted at the same time.

Odd one out

The McCormick really is the stray in the tractor shed, sharing only the Perkins engine with the smaller Massey’s. It was a well spec’d tractor back in the day; three spools, front axle suspension and 600/65 R38 rear tyres, which for a 123hp tractor were big boots in the 2000’s.

Familiar to MX users as well as McCormick pilots, the side console was leanly laid out and user friendly.

Under the bonnet is a 4.4-litre Perkins 1104D-44T electronically managed motor meeting Stage III exhaust regs. Connected to this is the tried and tested MX backend which was a 16 forward, 12 reverse semi powershift that topped out at 40km/hr. There were some casting changes to make the four-cylinder tractor a bit longer, to take it closer to a six cylinder in balance. 

Like the link arms, the hitch is original, and it barely looks worn with the hook and latches in good order.

The MC115 was never a frontline tractor, it was bought for many of the jobs it still does today, albeit at a slightly lower capacity, that said it’ll still clock 600+ hours a year and is counted on daily for feeding the suckler and beef herd. Which is no small task as the 19m3 Shelbourn Reynolds takes every bit of effort from the MC115, a marked increase of demands compared to the Keenan 140 from 2011.

John Gowling has put many of the field hours on the MC115, but these days often opts for the more modern and slightly more comfortable and refined 2022 Claas Arion 530 if he’s got a few days work ahead of him, though at 84 he’ll still put a shift in ferrying silage with the McCormick. “The combination of dad and the McCormick are incredibly fuel efficient,” points out Tim Gowling. 

Compared to a 2010 Massey 6480 using 118 litres hauling its portion of 34ha of silage, the MC115 was down below 100 litres, which took 12 hours- equating to a whisker over 8 litres per hour. It’ll still come out for top work too, some rolling and Avadex application.

With no heavy tillage, the link arms are hardly worn, the mower and some topwork haven’t taken much steel.

Farming operation

With 300 hectares of owned land and some rented, there is plenty for the family to do, they run a mixed enterprise with anywhere from 500 to 600 head of Salers crossed with Limousin. The model is a suckler herd which finishes every animal sold. The same goes for the Sheep, running 850 Mule Texel cross, and finishing fat lambs.

During the winter all the cattle get a ration from the Shelbourne Reynolds as well as the ewes at lambing time, the feeder workload doesn’t drop dramatically through the warmer months with a constant cycle of finishing cattle.

Over 200 cattle rely on the McCormick for their daily nutrition, the 19m3 tub mixer takes nearly all it has.

The farm has about 160 hectares of combinable crops, as well as servicing some stubble-to-stubble contracts for neighbours. They also harvest their own silage, making about 100ha with a trailed Kongsklide 1260 chopper – pulled with the newest machine on the yard, a Massey Ferguson 8S.225.

Being self-sufficient does come at the cost of needing every machine, and in a mixed enterprise this means grass and arable equipment. Thankfully there are usually enough drivers to cover the workload with the only exception being at the busiest times when some outside help is needed.

The McCormick will still carry out mowing, the Tarrup 307 from our first visit has been replaced with a Krone EasyCut TC, a 3.0m wide mower conditioner with grouper. This saves any raking and because the farm isn’t looking for rocket fuel silage, they typically leave first cut a bit later, due in part to the sheep getting across the grass crop before the silage equipment. 

So, the farm doesn’t have high moisture content to wilt out of the grass. Grouping works well for the workflow on the farm, and presents a nice uniform swath for the forage harvester.

Side on, only the discerning tractor person would be able to age this MC115, it’s condition doesn’t reflect it’s years.
For a tractor with 14,000 hours on the clock, there’s little evidence it hasn’t been parked up since 2011 when we last saw it.

Real world costs

After some searching around, we located a used 2008 MC115 at Alexander Mills in Northern Ireland with 8,700 hours for £21,000, with no suspension. And for balance a 16,000-hour model in the Netherlands for £15,995, also 2008, without front suspension.

Sensible valuation for the Gowling’s tractor might be £16,000 with its hours and spec. So, if it were bought for £34,000 the depreciation is £18,000. £1,000 per year, or £1.26 per clock hour. The equivalent new McCormick X6.413 these days is about £65-75k on farm, and will depreciate more in three years than the MC115 has done in 18. 

Tim says they have the tractor serviced at A T Houghton every other year which costs about £1,000, with in-between services done on the farm at £500 per year, taking servicing to around £750 per year. It has averaged 788 hours per year in its life, so a dealer service every 1,200-1,600 hours, with engine services at 5-600 hours clearly doing the tractor no harm whatsoever.

The alternator has been replaced, these are listed at £495 and easy to self fit on farm.

Not wishing to curse it, but the MC115 has not been split, neither for gearbox or brakes, it’s had a couple of starter motors (which are listed at £295 from a dealer) and an alternator (which is in the region of £495) as well as the battery (£200 from a retailer) even with a conservative £500 per year for repairs on top of servicing, it’s still very cheap motoring!

Tim confessed to causing an engine ECU failure, the battery had gone flat, after the sidelights that power the feeder weighing system were left on. Subsequently the tractor was jump started from another, and at some point, a surge or short caused the ECU to blow, probably the MC’s most expensive repair with an ECU just north of £1,100.

The rear cluster is in great order, all of the external buttons work and the lights are original.

With an averaged figure of £10,000 of repairs in it’s life (£550 per year on repairs), and £13.500 (at current prices, it will have been cheaper) of servicing and £18,000 depreciation, the tractor has cost £2.92 per clock hour. Which in this day and age is economical to carry out daily feeding and silage haulage during the summer.

Mirrors get smashed on new tractors, these have been in place since 2008, not even fogged yet.

Unbelievably the tractor is still on it’s original Michelin Multibib tyres,. This tyre preference actually caused a delay in delivery due to supply chain issues. But they were definitely worth the wait, the side walls are starting to perish, but they are still 30% good tread on average and there’s no sign of deep cracking.

Original Michelin MultiBiB 600/65 R38 tyres are still serviceable for grassland and yard work.

Everything works as it should in the cab, the controls look like a tractor half its hours, even the pedals are in good shape. The cladding at boot level has been covered in plastic to prevent the spread of fraying from traffic, the passenger seat has seen a few bums as it’s appearance shows.

A welding job had to be done to the bottom of the exhaust, the stack is still original though.

Externally, the MC has hardly aged since we saw it in 2011, there was a small welding job done to the exhaust, where it meets the upsweeped section. And one of the front fenders has a nick out of it, hardly worth writing home about! 

Keeping tractors under cover when not in use, part of the Gowling tractor longevity secret to retaining condition.

The only area of concern is the front suspension, the Carraro individual wishbone suspension was one of the most comfortable systems of the time, these axles were used by Claas and others, it provided incredible ride comfort. But there are a lot of moving parts, and Tim Gowling reports that some of the grease points are no longer taking lubrication, which means there will likely be some new bushings needed at least.

The Carrero front axle still provides excellent ride comfort, a few grease points are not taking lube, so some spannering will be needed soon.
A few patches to the cladding, where boots have frayed the fabric, but all controls and dials are preserved. The buddy seat fabric and cushion are original, no surprise really as the rest of the tractor is so well kept.

Summary

The Gowling Family have had sixteen years of service from the MC115 which cost £34,000 when it was new. The running costs have been incredibly low- spread over the time of ownership, and while service costs have gone up due to inflation, the tractor needs no more parts or oil than it did 10 years ago. 

The MC115 doesn’t do much roading, indicated by the tyres and condition, but it works every day.

And to have a tractor that is still turn key reliable, and carries out daily feeding chores with a tub mixer that would test a modern tractor, for less than £3 per hour is a bit of a head turning figure, with a modern tractor costing north of £65k to essentially do the same job, is it time for some farms to consider alternative strategies on second line tractors?

This is a daily job for the MC115, it spends a couple of hours every day mixing and feeding.

Ken Topham

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