Innholdsfortegnelse for April 2025 i Profi

DEAR READER A bit of a stretch in the evening and writing and reading about silage kit — it’s almost enough to put a pep in my step. And then there’s the Six Nations on the tv, too. Things are starting to look up; I could just do with a bit of warm sunshine to shrink the puddles, which seem to be growing bigger, not smaller of late. It has been a tad breezy here on the Emerald Isle since I last sat here and jotted down my thoughts. Luckily we escaped the brunt of the storms, but it has spurred me on to get some roadside ash trees taken down. With every storm more branches were falling, and the lacklustre leaf was a good tell-tale that ash dieback had…

KUBOTA M FOR HUNTS ENGINEERING Hunts Engineering has taken on the full range of M-series tractors for Kubota (UK), covering Warwickshire, Worcestershire, Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire. Located on the Fosse Way at Halford near Shipstonon-Stour, Warwickshire, the family-run business is no stranger to the Kubota brand, handling sales, service and aftercare for the ground care range since 2017. The firm has gradually expanded its portfolio to include R0 compact loaders and KTH telehandlers. And that offering now includes the up to 175hp M7-174 KVT Premium. SDF TO MAKE TRACTORS FOR MASSEY Same Deutz-Fahr (SDF) is to supply Massey Ferguson with a range of low-mid horsepower tractors. The result of a supply agreement between AGCO and the Italian SDF Group, the refreshed Massey portfolio is expected to help boost market share in…

With tractor and combine sales down by a third in Europe last year, and global markets down 15-20% (tractors) and 20-25% (combines), everyone is feeling the pinch in the current economic climate. While New Holland Agriculture brand president Carlo Lambro believes that we have reached the bottom in Europe and the markets will recover, the company is looking hard at ways to further shave costs and increase investment efficiency. One example of this affects both Basildon and St Valentin. Basildon is about to recommence production of all Maxxums and short wheel base Pumas (140-175hp) for the European market. But it is not just Case IH that is impacted, their Steyr equivalents are also moving from Austria to Basildon. T7 HD (270-300hp) tractors that were built in Basildon from 2015 until…

One of the most notable robots in the indoor exhibition was the first four-wheeled version of the battery-powered and autonomous Maverick robot (previous versions all three wheels) from Dutch company Odd.Bot. Having four wheels allows it to weed on beds and track width is manually adjustable from 1.50-2.25m. Described as a simple, lightweight and low-tech machine, weeds are pulled out of the ground by grippers at the end of a robotic arm (max. of three per machine). It was not at FIRA, but the Dutch company has developed a newer version of the robotic arm with a heat dissipation system for improved cooling of the electronics. Picking up to two seeds a second, the two robotic arms on the 400kg machine at the French event are said to be capable…

In just over three years, our featured longtermer 6120M has toiled its way to 4,657 hours, not only filling the tub mixer but also doing its share of fieldwork with machines that are anything but light loads. Impressively, the tool list includes a Kuhn plain triple mower combi with a working width of 8.70 metres. The owner is extremely satisfied with his 6M’s performance. The engine is both lively and quiet. The other four tractors on the dairy farm are also four-cylinder models. “We remain true to ourselves in this matter,” points out the 6M’s owner with his buying strategy, so it’s no surprise that a 6R150 is now on order. The 4.5-litre John Deere motor within the 6120M impresses with its smooth running and fast power delivery. The fact…

A four-model range runs from the Axos 3.95 (93hp) to the 3.120 (120hp), and continues the implementation of Claas’s new numbering system introduced with the Xerion 12. It slots into the lineup above the Axos 200, effectively replaces the SDF-derived Atos which went out of production in 2021, and although overlapping with the Le Mansmade Arion 400 offers a lower-spec alternative at a more attractive price. Although unique to Claas, Axos 3 production has been outsourced to Carraro Agritalia in Italy which also makes the Axos 200. Power for all models is from a 3.6l, fourcylinder FPT (Fiat Powertrain) unit, the basic block and radiators being taken from the Axos 200, with DOC, DPF and SCR. The bonnet level is quite high and straight, not ideal for maximising visibility but…

Last year, New Holland introduced the new, completely inhouse-developed UltraFeed pick-up, which is manufactured in the former Kongskilde factory in Kutno, Poland. The main aim was to achieve a high throughput of up to 500t/hr, allowing the bigger-capacity FR models to reach their potential in grass. The new pick-up is available in three working widths — 3.00m, 3.49m and 4.00m — and these will also fit the previous FR models. In other markets the pick-ups are available in two versions, but in the UK and Ireland it only comes in the higher spec. This version has additional, replaceable wear strips, a connection to the forager’s auto-greasing system, work lights and heavy-duty tines among other things. Smooth running New Holland has dispensed with the chain drives on the UltraFeed, it relying…

Another Disco has joined the Claas mowing party. Where the plain mower triple 9300 Direct Swather is different from the rest, is that it uses augers on the back units for merging crop into a central row. This new addition is primarily targeted at farms that like to do their own work and operate smaller tractors. Tipping the scales at 3,000kg for the back mowers, it is around 400kg lighter than the conditioner model with a belt-based grouper. Yet another advantage of the DS is that the compact design moves the centre of gravity much closer to the tractor. The Max-Cut beds are familiar Disco mowing hardware. Spare blades are usefully stored in a portable toolbox. The two mowers are suspended by load-sensing hydraulics, with a gauge located by the…

Most loader wagon manufacturers can now offer a pivoting headboard, although it’s usually on the larger, top-end models. That‘s why I decided to convert our Krone Titan R48 GD, which I bought second-hand. I removed the existing front wall and cut it to the right size. It was then re-welded and the pivoting hinge added before eventually being re-painted and fitted with hydraulic rams. This modification has a number of key advantages, such as more capacity from a relatively short machine and better compression of the forage load, which adds up to around 5.0m³ more loading volume. The loader wagon can now hold atotalofaround36m³, and, with a tare weight of about 8 tonnes, it is very light for the amount of silage it can hold. The complete conversion job took…

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There are five big names when it comes to fertiliser spreader manufacturing in Europe; Amazone, Bredal, Bogballe, Rauch, Sky (Sulky) and Vicon/Kverneland. There is a very good reason for this, comments Michael Lond, export sales and product development at Bredal and Bogballe. “It looks simple, but is very difficult to do right.” Having previously worked for Bogballe for 23 years, the friendly Dane now covers both brands following the purchase of Bogballe in 2017 and Bredal in 2023 by Erhvervsinvest who also owns Danish slurry specialist Agrometer. The two brands give the Danish investment company an enviable production capacity for fertiliser and lime spreaders. With a total production area of 38,600m² spread over three nearby locations, the area is known as the Silicon Valley of fertiliser spreaders. The combined workforce…

Held in dry weather conditions with some sun on occasions the place to be over 4-6 February was the 65th Doe Show held at their HQ site at Ulting, Essex which was just full of machinery new and second hand and so much more. This was the place to see the latest agricultural technology, but Does do not forget their glorious past with a ‘Tractors From Yesteryear’ working display. It was staged by Essex Ploughing Champion and now retired Doe second hand combine manager Paul Wylie and visitors were greeted at the entrance by the still fresh paint smelling Doe Tripe D no. D154, which everyone was enjoying. The company is now under the leadership of Angus E Doe who has brought a breath of fresh air since he has…

Just in, H J Pugh has recently announced a fine classic and modern farm sale with lots of gems at Ullcombe, Honiton on Saturday 5 April. Besides the John Deere 6920S with front linkage and an immaculate 6920, again with front linkage the rest of the fleet is clean classic time warps. It includes a raft of Fords from 7810 III four-wheel drive and two-wheel drive examples, Ford 7610 MK1 two-wheel drive, Fiat 100-90 four-wheel drive, Ford7710two-wheeldrive, Ford Force 5000 with Sekura cab, Ford Pre Force 5000, David Brown 1200 Selectamatic, Massey Ferguson 135 and MF 35. All are very clean and straight tractors and very honest at that. See H J Pugh website for full details.…

Claas has expanded its Arion 500 range with the addition of the new Arion 570 Cmatic which becomes its most powerful four-pot model to date. The 180hp tractor, and it is always 180hp without any boost facility, uses a similar 4.5-litre, four-cylinder DPS engine as its lower-powered siblings but with different injectors, fuelling and engine management as well as a larger cooling pack. At the front a heavier-duty Dana D50 suspended front axle has been specified to cope with the more powerful tractor’s anticipated higher demands. The transmission and rear axle remain the same as on the smaller Arion 500s. Tyre equipment is also uprated, taking a 1.95m rear tyre rather than a 1.85m of the smaller models, which means that a VF710/60 R38 can be fitted at the rear…

Held at the Agrobiopole agricultural education and research campus at Toulouse, farmers accounted for roughly a third of the 2,000-odd visitors. Vineyard robots were popular, and fruit growers were also interested in the grape and apple picking robots, but the four field-working machines on cultivation and hoeing duties were the icing on the cake. None of them are new, but FIRA (International Forum on Agricultural Robotics) provided the unique opportunity to not only see all four in action in the same field, but also catch up with some recent updates (all detailed on the following pages). Just as manufacturers continue to ‘tweak’ their tractors, autonomous vehicle makers are evolving their offerings. The demonstrations took place several times a day. While some of the commentary was in English, many others were…

There are a few AgXeed AgBots in Australia and Canada, but most of the total global population of around 90 tracked 5.115T2s supplied to date work in Europe. Germany is a big market with 20 units and there are 14 in France. Powered by a 156hp four-pot Deutz engine, the machine at the French show was paired with a 4.0m Amazone power harrow. Numerous software updates improve operation and routing, and the implement kit is a new option. Driven by customer requests, the implement can be fitted with up to four sensors to allow the AgBot to ‘talk’ with these sensors (we touched on this in profi 03/2024). “We expect it to be a popular option and a must for a drill,” said Jonathan Muller, who is responsible for setting…

There’s a lot of choice in the two-rotor rake market, with McHale being one of your options. It has two models, the R62-72 and wider R68-78, which not by coincidence make a suitable size row for a baler as well as a forager or wagon. So that should appeal to plenty of farmers and contractors alike. For our season-long practical test we opted for the larger of the two, which, according to the brochure stats and equally pointed out by the model name, covers a working width of 6.80m at its narrowest, out to 7.80m at its widest setting. Likewise, hitching up to the rake is equally straightforward. The R68-78 is towed by the lower links, with a Cat II spacing; then there’s a single-acting service (for folding) with a…

The new Swadro TC1570 rake is easy to distinguish from other four-rotor models on the market. Rather than have separate front and rear arms, it adopts the V-shaped frame concept from Krone’s six-rotor rake. Mechanical drive The rake is hitched on to the tractor with a cross shaft for Cat. II or III couplers. Drive to the rotors is completely mechanical, with all the drivelines kept as straight as possible through a unique central gearbox. This eases the burden on universal joints and aids with maximising efficiency. The front rotors spin 25% faster than those at the rear. Each rotor also has its own overload protection. This V-shaped layout is currently novel in the four-rotor rake market. But it is not just about being different, as this layout allows the…

The industrial version of Weycor’s AR680 wheeled loader has been kicking around on construction sites and quarries since 2016. Now it is gearing up for a bigger push into the silage clamp sector with a custom package just for the job. The demo AR680 surprised us, and not just with its maize pushing ability. Engine, transmission Under the bonnet is a six-cylinder, 6.0-litre, Deutz engine that develops 160kW/218hp. It ticks the box for Stage IV emissions with the help of SCR and a diesel particulate filter. A large radiator with a reversible fan is part of the agricultural package. Drive is hydrostatic up to 50km/hr with two drive motors. Both work up to 14km/hr, at which point one motor swings out enabling stepless driving up to maximum speed. For €1,400…

Before looking at the DTS, it is worth taking a step back to the Sumo Versadrill. At launch, some described these drills as ‘just’ a Moore Unidrill with a different hopper and a Sumo soil loosening toolbar up front. Not quite the whole story but near enough. As the name suggests, the 3.0m and 4.0m mounted and 4.0m to 6.0m trailed Versadrill was and remains a versatile bit of kit, suitable for both ‘min-till’ and direct drilling. The caveat is that this versatility can be compromised in certain soils and conditions. Hence the development of the Sumo DTS, early prototypes of which had been undergoing field trials from as early as 2007. The DTS drills we consider here were joined by the Sumo DD disc drill sibling around the same…

Lely was one of the few milking machine manufacturers who attended EuroTier. But its new product focus wasn’t on the Astronaut milking robots; instead it was showcasing three new products with a further focus on incorporating technology and automation. These were the three key innovations: ● Juno Max feed pusher ● Discovery Collector C1/C2 vacuum robot with Sand Flush ● AI system Zeta AI Barn Monitor The Juno Max feed pusher was developed for larger dairy farms, and the Collector C2 slurry sucking robot with optional sand flushing function for farmers who use sand in their cubicles. The third innovation, the Zeta AI Barn Monitor system, is an AIsupported monitoring system. This is a kind of offshoot of the Zeta AI Calving Monitor technology (which we will look at in…

Each year the UK imports around 2.4 million tonnes of soya for use as animal feed. For health reasons we wouldn’t advise delving too deeply into the maths, but scarily that equates to some £1.1bn going out of livestock farmers’ pockets each year and generally landing in South America. So what if we could cut that figure in half? A project funded by DEFRA through Innovate UK is looking to do just that. Set up in 2022, the Nitrogen Climate Smart (NCS) initiative is looking at ways of reducing our reliance on bought-in protein and artificial fertilisers. On paper the scheme’s aim is primarily to cut farming’s carbon emissions, but in doing so it is hoped it can also help underpin UK agriculture’s bottom line. Part of that is a…

With the focus on cultivating, drilling and then harvesting sugar beet, the David J Black and Sons contracting business evolved out of a small mixed family farm at Great Bentley, in Essex. In the mid-80s, the farm bought a used self-propelled Matrot harvester with a neighbour, which the family eventually bought the machine outright and started looking for contract work. Two other Matrots followed at different times. The last was replaced by a Vervaet 617, and the contracting business went on to run two of the Dutch made harvesters. One of 617’s is still used to lift the family farm’s beet. The second was swapped for the firm’s first Ropa in 2009; a 2005 machine bought from Norfolk-based CTM Harpley Engineering. The German manufacturer had fully refurbished the 4,800-hour MAN-powered…

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Firstly, a few technical differences between the Precea 6000-2FCC (Amazone), Maestro 9RX (Horsch), Optima F8 X 75 (Kverneland) and TPV 8WSX (Väderstad). Kverneland, for example, is the only one here to use parallel folding, so the seeder units remain horizontal when in their transport position; the other three machines fold vertically. This has pros and cons, as the Optima never has any seeds stuck in the hopper lids and it can be stored in its folded position — without the need for a separate frame as with Amazone. But the frame designs of the Maestro, Precea and Tempo are better suited to different row widths — Amazone and Väderstad, for instance, also offer nine-row models with 75cm row widths, just like the Horsch submitted for this comparison test. The transport…

First things first, the New Holland Zedelgem engineering team hasn't made any changes to the chassis or chopping unit on the FR forager. But what has changed on the five-model range is the ‘Natural Flow’ styling that was first introduced on the brand’s CR11 combines. Rather more relevant for the operator are the various detailed changes aimed at improving driving comfort. More CANbus While the engine (670kW/911hp in the top model, the featured Cruiser FR920) and the drivetrain remain untouched compared to the outgoing models, New Holland has gone one step farther in terms of data: instead of two CANbus lines, a total of four CANbus lines on the new range guarantee a high performance in this area. This “LIN bus” communication line (use of LIN actuators) offers a glimpse…

ry air, the sun is shining in the sky and the weather forecast says no rain in sight — it can’t get any better than this for getting hay ready to go in the barn. To ensure that every single step — from mowing, tedding and raking to storage — runs smoothly, many farmers have tweaked their kit for optimal performance. Obviously, the best ideas often bring a mid-field machine bang into champions league shape. AIR AT THE KNIFE BANK In order to make blade changes easier on this Claas Quadrant, the baler’s contracting owner decided to route and fit a hose from the air tank to the knife bank. From here, the user can connect a 2.0m long hose with an air gun to quickly remove any crop residue…

Around 10 years ago, Claas had a big push on introducing shredlage to the market. One thing that stuck with those who attempted it, is that kernels are crushed or ground as much as possible. While the debate on longer chop lengths goes back and forth, the level of shredding from the special crop processor in Claas foragers has made everyone aware of the so-called Corn Silage Processing Score or CSPS for short. Some farms will do checks using shaker boxes to asses the quality of the chopped material, but, on many more farms, silage is only analysed at the lab once harvest is complete. But then it’s too late to make any adjustments to the forager that could have improved the quality. Analysis in the field Claas is now…

Considering the unbridled levels of stardom this position with profi has afforded me, you would be forgiven for thinking that my letterbox would be stuffed with invitations to swanky do’s and calls for me to turn on half the country’s Christmas lights. Nope, this is far from the case. To date, reader interaction has been sparse but positive, the latest of which was from a fellow who, when considering last month’s issue — making tools from old spanners — said he just didn’t think he could bring himself to do it. I understand, especially when you may have a limited number of spanners, all too good to butcher. My personal response to this problem has been to amass a plethora of nut-shifters from every source imaginable, that way ensuring I…

Barry Hawkins have secured the Jim and Mel Wakefield horticultural tidy up sale which is going to be live and online, Saturday 5 April near Wisbech, Cambridge and it is going to be an interesting day that’s for sure. Jim was born into horticultural machinery as his father had a nursery business in the area which featured Honda powered machinery. Jim set up his landscaping business with his wife Mel which continues today. Over the years they have built up one of the most original, cleanest and best restored horticultural collections in the UK which is very desirable indeed. You always notice their display when you walk around the horticultural sections of the better shows in the UK – it just stands out. The machines that I like best are…

1 March Retirement Sale of D & K Tonge. Fen View Farm, North Kyme, Lincoln LN4 4DP. Will Barker & Co Ltd, tel: 01529 414555. Dispersal Sale of Implements & Machinery. Prospect Grange Farm, Corbridge. Harrison & Hetherington, tel: 01228 406200. Dispersal Sale of Implements & Machinery. Abbey Park Farm, Bleatarn. Harrison & Hetherington, tel: 01228 406200. Auction of Vintage Tractors & Engines, Tool Boxes, Cast Iron Plates, Massey Ferguson & Other Literature, Tractor Spares. Hazle Meadows Auction Centre, Ross Road, Ledbury, Herefordshire HR8 2LP. H J Pugh & Co, tel: 01531 631122. Monthly Live & Online Machinery Sale. Holsworthy Livestock Market, Holsworthy, Devon EX22 7FA. Kivells, tel: 01409 253253. 3-10 March Online Farm Dispersal & Reduction Sale. Burnmouth Farm, Newtyle PH12 8SG. Pentland Livestock Ltd, www.pentlandlivestock.co.uk 3-11 March Online…

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