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.
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.”
BNZ says it is backing aspiring dairy farmers through an innovative new initiative that helps make the first step to farm ownership or sharemilking a little easier.
LIC chief executive David Chin says meeting the revised methane reduction targets will rely on practical science, smart technology, and genuine collaboration across the sector.
Lincoln University Dairy Farm will be tweaking some management practices after an animal welfare complaint laid in mid-August, despite the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) investigation into the complaint finding no cause for action.
A large slice of the $3.2 billion proposed capital return for Fonterra farmer shareholders could end up with the banks.
Opening a new $3 million methane research barn in Waikato this month, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay called on the dairy sector to “go as fast as you can and prove the concepts”.
New Zealand’s trade with the European Union has jumped $2 billion since a free trade deal entered into force in May last year.

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