Kubota joins forces with Hurricanes
Japanese agricultural equipment maker Kubota will have its stamp on the home jersey for the Hurricanes.
A NORSEWOOD farmer whose used Kubota tractor (bought 17 years ago with five years service to its account) refuses to lie down, has relented and bought a new one.
Andrew Young is “pretty confident it’s got at least another 10 years in it,” says Kubota marketer CB Norwood Distributors.
Young still feeds out silage and hay with this tractor. “That first Kubota came with the job when I was share milking,” he says. “I got to like it because it is simple and reliable.”
Five years ago he bought his second farm, buying another second-hand Kubota, an M9580. Then he had one Kubota for the 80ha dairy farm and another for the 170ha beef farm/run-off.
He deals with tractor supplier Trevor Stephenson from Firth and Stephenson in Dannevirke. “The service has always been good and one of the reasons I got the new one was the back-up service. Trevor’s always gone the extra mile.”
The new tractor is a Kubota M110GX with 24 gears. “If you’re mowing a paddock, you have more gears to choose from and it makes it more efficient.”
The M110GX does the mowing, baling and direct drilling of crops. It came with a Kubota loader, designed and matched for the tractor.
The size of the new cab was important. “It’s the biggest cab in its class and it has the option of an instructor’s seat.” Young’s son Jacob (10), who loves tractors, gets to sit there.
“It’s also got a quiet cab…. You can hardly hear it running and you can easily hold a conversation in it.”
“At Central District Field Days I hopped into other brands of tractors and none were better for the size and visibility.”
Power and stability is said to impress Young. “It’s well balanced. I did some topping two to three months ago and on steep slopes the traction was good.”
Dairy farmers are set to benefit from the radical sweeping changes the Government is planning to make to the regulations that form part of the Resource Management Act (RMA).
The reported surge in interest in dairy conversions should be put into the context of falling overall cow numbers and improving environmental performance, says DairyNZ.
New Zealand's top trade official has told dairy farmers that their sector faces the most trade barriers internationally.
Waikato sharemilker Matthew Zonderop had no inkling that one day he would become a matchmaker for cows.
The coveted post of Federated Farmers' national dairy chair will see a two-way contest at the Federated Farmers annual meeting later this month.
Research lending to the production of dairy products that benefit the elderly and improves the overall wellbeing of all people is a key focus of Fonterra's Research and Development centre, based in Palmerston North.
OPINION: The Greens aren’t serious people when it comes to the economy, so let’s not spend too much on their…
OPINION: PM Chris Luxon is getting pinged lately for rolling out the old 'we're still a new government' line when…