Weekly Specials

Brendon's view

Brendon Hargest farms 360ha on a family partnership sheep and beef property near Gore which varies from rolling to some steeper terrain. Brendon says the rocky terrain is very hard on gear but the discs have Brendon’s endorsement. “They’re really, really good. We’re pleased with how they’re going – they’re robust and simple to use. They were pretty competitively priced too. “They dig in well and leave a nice, level finish. We’re getting a good depth out of them.”

- APL Offset Discs

Jonny's View

Jonny Elder, and wife Michelle, farm 460 ha’s of fairly heavy, clay soils on rolling country near Balfour in Northern Southland. They run ewes, fatten lambs and have a mix of beef calves and Friesian bulls.

Jonny’s focus, in choosing implements, was cutting down on passes. While fairly happy with his Falc Rotoking, (“They’re good for breaking up turf and lumps and coping with rocks”) he decided to trade it in and upgrade from his F model to the wider, heavier G model.

Jonny says the heavier G model is better at dealing with the rugged terrain and achieves a good seed bed – after just one pass.

He uses the Rotoking either directly behind the plough, or for a second pass after discing-up winter crops. Brassicas are typically in the ground for 1-2 years, and then back into young grass.

Jonny says the Rotoking cuts down on the tractor use, considerably. And it’s not too hard on the tractor itself either.

“In our situation, it saves a fair bit of time. And anything I can do to save on time is valuable.”

- FarmChief Falc Rotoking

Scott's View

Scott Croft farms 250 ha of crops, 650 Perendale sheep, and Angus cattle in heavy country at Lakeside, Canterbury. His crops include wheat, barley and grass-seed, Watties peas, and radishes.
Scott says his previous plough was simply getting a bit old for the task of turning over more than 80ha a year.
A fan of ploughing; “It’s a good way of breaking up the ground here, especially where there’s a bit of compaction”, Scott says he got his 5 furrow Agrolux from FarmChief for a demo to see what it could do. “It ended up staying here.”.
Scott says he’s had no problems with the plough and it has proved its worth, burying stubble and crop residue and giving a clean finish.

- Agrolux Ploughs

Grant’s view

Grant and Nikki Kearins have a 230 ha dairy farm at Kairanga, on the outskirts of Palmerston North on flat, heavy to medium country.

Grant said he’d been looking around for some power harrows and thought FALC had a lot of good features. That initial impression has been confirmed by their performance. “It goes really well. The big diameter packer roller just keeps working through.”The 5 metre power harrows are currently used across around 50 hectares of the farm. “I had the horse power, so I decided to go for it. It certainly covers the ground.” “It seems well built and reliable.  All around, a nice, reliable machine.”

- Power Harrow

Colin's view

Colin Molloy runs a 420-sow piggery, along with 130 hectares of cropping and livestock, in Sheffield, Canterbury with two large effluent ponds.
Although it was the advanced hydraulics that first drew Colin to his Veenhuis Profiline 16600 litre Slurry Tanker, he is also acutely aware of the need to successfully manage environmental issues and soil fertility. The tanker enables him to recycle the nutrient-dense manure and reduce odour in one go.
His tanker injects the effluent back into the soil providing a great start for barley, wheat, and pasture and removing the nuisance normally associated with conventional “broadcast” systems.

- Veenhuis Slurry Tankers

Andy’s view

Wheatstone Farms Ltd is a well-established 500Ha cropping and store stock property based 10 minutes from Tinwald. Andy has chosen to buy his last three augers from FarmChief including, most recently, a 1370 Backsaver: “I wouldn’t have done it if they were no good!” “The brand is awesome and the back-up is brilliant. They even brought us out a part when we broke down on a public holiday.” Andy says the beauty of the Backsaver is that you can just pull up beside it, making unloading easy and improving safety: vital at busy times and at night.

- Backsaver Grain Auger