Kubota to start field testing robotic tractor
Kubota has announced plans to start field testing the autonomous hydrogen powered fuel cell tractor it recently unveiled at Expo 25 in Osaka Japan.
Arriving in New Zealand in 2014 to go sharemilking, by 2020 he and wife Manuela had started their own company, Green Farm Ltd. Today, the couple own a 40ha run-off block and sharemilk 480 cows on a 200ha farm near Riversdale.
In 2020, with the farm’s 12-yearold, 90-hp tractor, past its prime at 13,000 hours, they decided it was time for an upgrade.
“We wanted a bigger tractor, as the gear we are using has gotten bigger and heavier. We do our own regrassing, so we needed a tractor that could handle cultivation equipment and our 12-tonne trailer,” Wendel says.
He went shopping and, to his surprise, opted for a 150hp Kubota M7152 – a decision led by the quality of the machine, its price and the warranty package.
“We received quotes for some other brands, but we ended up purchasing the tractor from the Kubota dealer in Gore, who, unlike some dealers who only let you test drive a tractor for a few hours, left the Kubota with us for a week, so we had 30-40 hours with it,” Wendel says.
Some of that hard work includes a pasture renovation programme, seeing 20ha re-grassed annually, using transition crops that include springsown turnips, autumn-sown wheat or spring-sown oats and peas. The crops and new pasture are established using a range of implements, including a plough, speed discs, power harrow and Cambridge roller.
“Sometimes we use a contractor to do the ploughing, or sometimes I do it myself,” says Wendel.
The drilling is taken care of by a Krummenacher air seeder (made near Wendel’s home in Switzerland) that is attached to the roller or the power harrow.
“The Kubota runs all of these heavy cultivation tools, and it pulls our big feed-out wagon for baleage and hay and the trailer, which we use to carry gravel,” says Wendel.
Wendel notes the M7152 has a strong front axle and German-built ZF gearbox, while also singing the praises of the hydraulic system, brakes, and tyres.
“The tractor is built in France and fitted with an engine made in Japan, has a big cab and massive console. It has a tight turning circle, so it’s easy to get in and out of gates; even with the feed-out wagon attached, it can go from a lane into a paddock as easily as the little tractor we used to run. There is excellent all-round vision and we appreciate little touches like the handbrake warning buzzer.”
Up front, a Quicke front-end loader connects seamlessly to the Kubota’s console-mounted joystick, and with over 400 hours work completed confirms the decision to upgrade to the brand. So much so, they have also bought a KX080-3, 8-tonne excavator, which be used for cleaning out drains and powering a mulcher to remove gorse from several gullies.
