Recommend manufacturer (e.g Caseih, Fendt)

[daijd]

Ahhh fantasy farming as an assignment.

I guess you have to pick your machinery carefully with justified reasons. At the current state the dairy market is, i dont think any dairy farm could justify a brand new fendt let alone a brand new tractor.

Can you go for secondhand tractors?

With that size of farm i would go for a large tractor (170hp) to do the summer field work and to power the feeder wagon. A small tractor to scrape out and bed down. And a jcb pivot steer to do the feeding and being capable of buckraking.

The large tractor would be able to handle the forage wagon as this is the cheapest form if harvesting silage if yiu were to do it yourself as 2 of the staff will handle silage and the other 2 can carry out your usual herd duties. But a wagon does limit you to 50acres a day of carting.

With the forage wagon a front and rear moco set is required and a twin rotor rake should have plenty of output to prepare the grass ready for colecting.

A slurry tanker is a must, probably with a dribble bar or injector to save any loss of nitrogen.

A fertiliser spreader will be the most used machineover the summer if your not organic!

To talk about which brands for any of the above machines i would choose according to my local dealer back up and demoing the interested machine.

 

[DrDunc]

Feeder wagon is the priority. A good TMR will be the difference between making a big loss slowly and going broke overnight. I'd have a Kuhn or strautmann.

Crucial thing is dealer backup rather than manufacturer. They all break at some point and if the dealer hasn't got spares the cows don't eat.

I'd have a 180hp Vario tractor. My analysis of brands indicates the lowest cost of ownership is Deutz(6190ttv in this instance), again with the caveat that there's a good local dealer. This is something much of the UK does not have.

Forklift would be merlo. Good machines with again, good backup locally here. Within the limitations of the exercise, a bucket, muck grab, and pallet forks will need to be part of the forklift. Ideally there would also be a straw bedder attachment.

Slurry tanker would be 2500 gallon hi spec, possibly with trailing shoe, but weight might be a factor if the ground is steep.

Fertiliser spreader would be four bag Amazone. They are accurate, well designed, and mid priced. Kuhn is also very good.

Mower conditioner would ideally be front and rear mounted , but this may count as two, so one trailed. I'd choose krone units. The gearbox and driveline are the best engineered to clear the crop. The gear bed may take a few more HP to drive, but doesn't break. The metal conditioner fingers are the best for fastest wilt, and have greater longevity.

Rake would also be krone, simply because bought at the same time, a better deal could be screwed out of the dealer.

However it could be argued that if it's only six implements, a set of flat rollers would be more important than a rake to ensure clean silage fields? Raking would then have to be done by contractor.

Forage wagon would be whatever I could find good second hand.

I'd have an old 12/14 tonne trailer with hydraulic back door for carting shyte, a Stewart or a Bailey.

Muck spreader would be hired in and driven by farm tractor. All cultivation would be contractor.

Lastly, I'd have a Suzuki quad to save walking for those cows twice a day, but that's not in the project rules

 

[Mike6120]

Just buy 7 DB 1594's

Yes! And hopefully one of the seven will work the day you need a tractor...

 

[RimmerF140]

Out of interest as I will be going to ag college this next year, where are you studying and what course?

 

[FonterraFarmer]

Just buy 7 DB 1594's

Are there 7 Case 1594's still running in the UK?

 

[Pheasant Surprise]

TFF: Join the conversation....and get folks to do your homework

 

[eagleye]

The fastrac 4000 was partly "imaginery" as I dont know when you could ever buy one as they are not planning mass production! as a paper exercise it would be perfect as you are going to spent a lot of time in transport - silage wagon! slurry! muck carting and its also super for mowing as we have found with our current fastrac. Fendt suggested as others have said they can get cheap buyback deal to beat any others, good fuel economy (deutz engine).
Dr Dunc answer above gives good answers for just about everything. Just remember not everything has to be new.
Your telehandler will put on the most hours of any machine as it will be used every day of the year for something.

 

[combineguy]

TFF: Join the conversation....and get folks to do your homework

This really surprises me that this is allowed to happen, as your lecturers are trying to learn your understanding of topics covered on your course.

I hope that you are at least going to reference all the people who have contributed in your assignment.

 

[Chae1]

I think its called research. I just copied peoples assignments from previous year and never got caught so he's doing better than me.

 

[Bloders]

I think its called research. I just copied peoples assignments from previous year and never got caught so he's doing better than me.

I got caught... we were doing computer programming and I did not have a clue.to be fair, the lecturer was generous. on mine he wrote "do you know adam...." on Adams he wrote "do you know Peter ..." on ln Peters he wrote "do you know Alastair ..."
And he gave all three of us a pass.

I think using a forum like this is a very valid method. the person won't be able to just copy down what has been written here, he (or she) will need to understand it properly in order to re write in their style. this is what I didn't do.

 

[combineguy]

Hi

It is getting harder, they scan the internet now for similar phrases and also with other assignments

 

[DrDunc]

TFF: Join the conversation....and get folks to do your homework

And then pish off down the pub for Hogmanay

 

[Pheasant Surprise]

I think its called research. I just copied peoples assignments from previous year and never got caught so he's doing better than me.

Don't get me wrong, research is fair enough and the OPs opening post fair enough, he wasn't hiding anything.

There are some excellent, detailed answers here; enough to fulfil the "research" quota and enough to build up into his own ideas and expand more completely with his own reasoning.

I'd draw the line at post 13. Taking a photo of the actual question and posting it on the net is sailing pretty close to the wind, imho and is asking for a bit more than simple research if you catch my drift.

Happy New Year to all and hope you had a good Hogmanay!

 

[eagleye]

as with all questions where you don't know the answer for sure, seek further information from sources who should know, sift replies and then assemble relevant information in a form that reaches conclusion (or answer).
It was the late '70s when i did last dissertation on transport and materials handling, then i was told it was to be a literary review.
This exercise could get a lot more detailed, i remember doing workrates and potential available days due to weather etc for a more recent study to see what machinery was needed on a particular size enterprise to justify decisions.
There is way too much land for the stock numbers detailed in the brief IMO unless fertiiliser use is low or grass productivity low. Real point of the fantasy farm is picking necessary reliable equipment with good backup locally.
I did 12 years as mechanisation advisor some years ago, now putting it into practice farming, might get it near right some day

 

[clbarclay]

I think you are making a mistake starting with which manufacturers.

Focus on the jobs the implements will be doing and define the roll and requirements for each implement. Draw up a minimum/ideal specification for each, then select example makes and models of implements showing that their specifications will meet your requirments.

 

[Rimjob]

You would need:
A David brown 1594 for the BIG jobs
County 1174 for scraping out
Matbro for loading
Star 1100g tanker
Kidd mower
Vicon acrobat
Deutz fh900 drag chopper
Shawnee Poole trailer
Howard rotovator
These manufacturers are all providing modern machinery and are at the top of the game so should be around for back up/parts for many years.
(Feel free to directly copy this and hand it in)

 

[JD-Kid]

ummmm kinda intresting replys
i would have thought looking after cows would have been number one on the list so feeding out and grassland mangerment would have been high on the list that needs to be done each day
2 tractors 130-150 Hp both should be able to feed out if needed with FEL to suit both
sprayer for weed control applying bloat oils grassland renewal
grassland drill that can also do whole crop drilling
fert spreader to apply ferts when needed after grazeing etc
mower that can be used for topping as well if needed
bedding kinda machine
TMR for feeding
all the rest contract out
all of it would not need to be overly high speced so eazy to use lower cost to buy eazy to work on

 

[cvx175]

Feeder wagon is the priority. A good TMR will be the difference between making a big loss slowly and going broke overnight. I'd have a Kuhn or strautmann.

Crucial thing is dealer backup rather than manufacturer. They all break at some point and if the dealer hasn't got spares the cows don't eat.

I'd have a 180hp Vario tractor. My analysis of brands indicates the lowest cost of ownership is Deutz(6190ttv in this instance), again with the caveat that there's a good local dealer. This is something much of the UK does not have.

Forklift would be merlo. Good machines with again, good backup locally here. Within the limitations of the exercise, a bucket, muck grab, and pallet forks will need to be part of the forklift. Ideally there would also be a straw bedder attachment.

Slurry tanker would be 2500 gallon hi spec, possibly with trailing shoe, but weight might be a factor if the ground is steep.

Fertiliser spreader would be four bag Amazone. They are accurate, well designed, and mid priced. Kuhn is also very good.

Mower conditioner would ideally be front and rear mounted , but this may count as two, so one trailed. I'd choose krone units. The gearbox and driveline are the best engineered to clear the crop. The gear bed may take a few more HP to drive, but doesn't break. The metal conditioner fingers are the best for fastest wilt, and have greater longevity.

Rake would also be krone, simply because bought at the same time, a better deal could be screwed out of the dealer.

However it could be argued that if it's only six implements, a set of flat rollers would be more important than a rake to ensure clean silage fields? Raking would then have to be done by contractor.

Forage wagon would be whatever I could find good second hand.

I'd have an old 12/14 tonne trailer with hydraulic back door for carting shyte, a Stewart or a Bailey.

Muck spreader would be hired in and driven by farm tractor. All cultivation would be contractor.

Lastly, I'd have a Suzuki quad to save walking for those cows twice a day, but that's not in the project rules

Agree with most of what you say here, however id be buying a tedder instead of the trailer to cart shyte as you could do that with the spreader if needs be and you're only having a limited number of machines getting silage right is more important so wouldnt want to be held up waiting for a contractor when you have restof silage gear sat in the yard. Or as you say flat rolls would be a hood alternative.
For a tanker I am on my second joskin injector tanker now and would rafe thrm as far and away better than the hi-spec cost more to buy but worth the extra.