Shearing legend hooked on CanAm
Sir David Fagan, world-renowned competitive sheep shearer with 642 shearing titles worldwide and a knighthood to his name, now runs beef and dairy operations near Te Kuiti with wife Wendy and son Jack.
There can't be many heavy metal fans who haven’t heard of Basildon, situated about 40km east of London and originally created in 1948 to deal with the population boom after the Second World War.
At the heart of its industrial area, the Basildon tractor plant this year celebrates its 60th anniversary, and to mark the occasion New Holland has made a special, one-off version of the T7.300, that will be on display at exhibitions throughout the year.
Following a tradition that began with the Silver Jubilee 7810 in 1989 and the Golden Jubilee T6.180 and T7.270 tractors in 2014, the graphics on the T7.300 were created by CNH Centro Stile.
The livery is inspired by the colours and patterns of ‘Swinging 60s’ London, the time of psychedelia characterised by vivid hues of blue, yellow, maroon and pink across the hood and interior upholstery.
Setting out to modernise the production processes possible at its existing car and tractor plant at nearby Dagenham, the company was encouraged to develop a dedicated tractor facility on a 40ha greenfield.
Work began on April1960 to be completed in February 1964, with the opening coinciding with the launch of the 37-65hp Ford 6X tractor series, to be followed over time by the 7A1 ‘600 series’ tractors in 1975, that delivered the 2600 to the 7600 models, and the similar new quiet ‘Q cab’ the following year.
In 1981, these were updated to the Series 10, with later Force II (1986) and Generation III (1989) evolutions. Late 1991 saw the launch of the 40 series that would later be sold with new branding when Fiat purchased the Ford New Holland agricultural equipment business that year and adopted New Holland as its brand for the future.
Subsequently the plant produced New Holland TS, TM, T6000 and T7000 tractor lines, and today manufactures the T6 and T7 ranges, spanning 125-300hp. Today the plant is the only volume tractor producer in the UK, with a completed tractor rolling off the production line every five minutes, with over 10,000 different specification possibilities and around 85% exported around the world.
Farmers appear to be backing the Government's recent Resource Management Act (RMA) reforms announcement.
For the first time, all the big names in agricultural drone technology are being brought together under one marquee at the National Fieldays.
Fonterra has announced an improved third quarter performance – with a profit after tax of $1.15 billion, up $119 million on the same period last year.
The Fieldays Innovation Awards competition has attracted a diverse and impressive array of innovations from across the primary industries, highlighting the growing importance of technology shaping the future of farming.
Coming to the fore following the carnage of Cyclone Gabrielle, Starlink became well known for providing internet access even in NZ's most inaccessible places.
From this winter farmers will have a greater choice of feed types and blend options than ever before, thanks to Farmlands' purchase of animal nutrition company SealesWinslow.
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