Which is your go-to brand for farming machinery?

[Crawfords12]

With so many brands out there, it can be hard to pick one. Which is your go-to brand

 

[ColinV6]

Surely this is impossible to single down?

What dealer is nearest and more importantly offers best backup is probably the most important.

 

[Tim G]

One that gets spelt correctly on their dealers websites.

 

[ollie989898]

Valtra.

There. I win.

 

[Andrew]

No one makes a complete range of farm machinery, those that come close, in my opinion, are the worst of the lot. The saying Jack of all trades master of none comes to mind.

A machine is only as good as it’s backup too, the salesman sells the first machine and the workshop staff sell the later machines.

So a fairly pointless question really?

 

[Boysground]

I don’t have one, 3 different makes of tractor, loaders from another dealer and combine another. Buy the right machine at the right price for the job colour is not the first thing I worry about . I am lucky being able to buy about 10 different makes of tractor within a half hour drive of here.

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[Chae1]

Don't think we have 2 bits of machinery the same brand. Amazon drill, kv plough, vaderstad rollers, kuhn fert spreader, claas mower, mchale baler, landquip sprayer, stewart and smyth trailer.

 

[HarryB97]

Merlo for the telehandler then a mixture of Horsch, Kuhn, KV & Terratech for the rest of the kit.

 

[Jdunn55]

As much as I would love to have a new fleet of machinery all the same colour sitting in my yard, I couldn't afford it for one but secondly would never do it because every brand has an Achilles heel those with more products tend to have more of them. It's one of the reasons I actually admire valtra, they have tractors and nothing else to worry about which is why I think they are actually a very good quality product (from what I've heard) whereas fendt although good tractors whilst working, all I hear about is little electrical problems here and there which mess everything up.

Having said all that, if I was to buy a new piece of machinery tomorrow my john deere dealer would have the advantage (before price came into it) just because they have the best backup and service imo

 

[balerman]

We tend to use a few trusted brands,Marshall trailers and muckspreaders,Hardi,Lely/Welger and just lately Kuhn,whose products I think are strong and well designed.

 

[mo!]

Whatever our two favourite dealers sell.

 

[nick...]

I’d buy of anyone who did what they say and are reliable and courteous.allways seems dealers far away are more interested in your needs than local dealers.only got one person like I mentioned above locally and he sells new Holland’s which I don’t use
Nick...

 

[Nearly]

Britains?

 

[Tim G]

I’d buy of anyone who did what they say and are reliable and courteous.allways seems dealers far away are more interested in your needs than local dealers.only got one person like I mentioned above locally and he sells new Holland’s which I don’t use
Nick...

So why don't you use him?

 

[nick...]

So why don't you use him?

I do sometimes
Nick...

 

[bovrill]

Britains?

In the past I was always a Britains stalwart, but I must admit to having my head turned by what I've seen of Universal Hobbies' recent line up.

 

[Flat 10]

My go to brand is whatever everyone else was going to 20 years ago

 

[Spud]

Choices driven by backup, ability of the machine to what we require effectively at the right price, British where possible, local dealers & operator choice. (Not nec in that order)

Eg JCB loaders, Standen, Tong & Johnson taty kit, easterby & barraclough trailers, McConnell shakerator, chafer sprayer, Moore drill, dowdeswell plough etc etc.
Tractor choice is predominantly MF, driven by local support, British heritage, track record & operator choice. And price (though there's cheaper options)

New stuff generally from one of 3 local dealers, or increasingly direct from factory, second hand from wherever the right machine can be sourced.

 

[Tarw Coch]

There was a time when most things seemed to come from the MF dealer but with successive reorganisation of the dealer network the dealers have being getting further away so machinery purchases have been more diverse although mainly but not exclusively through a couple of other dealers who are both closer and good for backup.
There was a time when there was hardly a month goes by that I wasn’t in the MF dealer for bits and bobs, my account has been in credit there for at least 18 months after a double paid invoice and I haven’t been back since so dealer reorganisation isn’t allways good for buisness......... or maybe it is for others.

 

[Munkul]

I look out for good condition second hand equipment for our farm, usually 10 years old or more. The best bits of kit I've bought regarding longevity have been Kuhn, recently.

i.e.
Kuhn/Rauch made stainless steel bottomed fertiliser spreaders long before anyone else.
Kuhn HR3002 power harrow way overbuilt and can always be fixed
Kuhn/JD mowers well designed and wear well
Been eyeing up a Kuhn plough as well, they look decent bits of kit.

Not saying everything else is rubbish, there's loads of good gear out there, it just seems that they make or rebadge a lot of very good kit, that lasts long enough for me to get hold of it at my budget! And parts aren't horrendous to get hold of.

The other one would be John Deere, just from observation. They always make or rebadge good quality equipment suitable for a lot of hours work, and I was reflecting the other day, no other brand these days seems to have the "whole package" sown up quite as nicely - i.e it's not uncommon to see JD tractors pulling/pushing JD implements... no-one else seems to bother with it any more.