Last year the Unimog celebrated its 70th birthday, testament to a well-thought-out design and solid engineering. Yet despite this longevity the ‘Mog’ has never really taken off in the UK, at least for agricultural purposes. Daimler-Benz wants to change this, and, as one key step, has recently appointed Farol in the South and Lloyd in the North as main ag dealers. Here is what two Mog users have to say
The sheer versatility of the Unimog is both its strength and, funnily enough, its weakness. The machine can do everything from ploughing a field to transporting three operators to a remote hillside. And that’s not including the myriad of non-farm uses, which range from providing support to fire and rescue teams to mending railways. The trick to getting the best out of it is to settle on a few of its capabilities and then fully exploit them.
One Bedfordshire firm to master this art is L E Barnes. Contract farming 2,000ha for 25 customers, the company was set up by the father of current boss, Robert Barnes. So where does the Unimog fit in? For Mr Barnes, with previous experience in the haulage business, it is all about logistics. From its base at Roxhill Manor in Marston, the firm carries out work across a 25km radius. First, however, some background on why efficient logistics has become so important for the company.
The approach to husbandry has changed dramatically. Six years ago Mr Barnes ran four crawlers, a mix of Quadtracs and Challengers. Ploughing was the order of the day on the heavy Bedfordshire clays. Fast forward, and now it is almost all no-till. So why the change?
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