August 2000

Jeff Sutherland

Tulloch’s Engineer

Jeff has worked for the company for 14 years in total, and he is our number one design-build engineer. Jeff is a competent all-round engineer and he enjoys a good challenge. He has come up with some smart solutions to engineering problems, often in close liaison with Dave Tulloch.

aug2000jeff
 
Most of Jeff’s work these days is one-off engineering jobs, and some recent examples include a special silage crate with hydraulical side and tailgate, a roller drill modified to end tow, and a 6m culti-leveller with crumbling rollers. Jeff also helps out with general repairs, preseason maintenance and, in times of need, deliveries of new machines.

Jeff had a break from the company for 6 years between 1990-1996 when he bought and managed an apple orchard. We are pleased to have Jeff back on board. Jeff is pictured right in the Tulloch’s workshop.
 
Ian Wells, Takaka

Ian Wells tubes balage with his Pronovost P6300E Silatube in the Golden Bay area -Takaka. He tows the machine behind his trusty 4x4 pictured on the right, and the spare tyre cover acts as a good spot for his advertising.

Last year Ian broke a record for tubing bales with the Pronovost. Ian and a friend managed to tube 132 bales in just 60 minutes!!

Ian did say that it was threatening rain, so they had to get a hurry on!

aug2000ian
 
Steve Ambler, Oamaru

Steve Ambler is a progressive contractor from Kauru Hill near Oamaru. He takes pride in delivering contracting services including high quality silage, balage and cultivation work. In the past he has offered hay, balage, mower conditioning and cultivation work, but last year he has also expanded into pit silage.  


Silage

Steve bought a Mengele SH40N second hand last year after seeing the trend to more pit silage. It has been a new service for Steve to offer, but he is still mainly servicing his existing customers, not wanting to go beyond the “on time” service that he has been able to offer in the past.

Steve employs 4 other staff during the season. By using a 4 ton tipping trailer behind the forage harvester, Steve is able to save a truck, because the trailer is used as a buffer while he waits for the next truck to turn up. With the tipping trailer set-up, Steve is able to unload the trailer into the truck and load the truck at the same time. Steve says that it is a “fine art”, especially to avoid blasting grass at the air cleaners on the trucks. They never thought of that application when designing trucks!

The other advantage with the tipping trailer is on the hills where trucks cannot always go. “There is some pretty steep country around here, and it can get quite greasy at times” he said. The Mengele has performed well, being capable of effectively utilising the horsepower of the MX170.

aug2000steve

Steve in front of his new CASE IH tractor MX170 rated at 170 hp.
This tractor will be used to run the Mengele SH40N forage

Mowing Acreage

In order to keep up with the increased mowing acreage Steve has just ordered a new Krone AMT4000CV end-tow mower conditioner from Redline Tractors in Timaru. He will be running the mower conditioner behind a 160 hp Ford TW25. Up until now Steve has used a Krone AMT283CV mower conditioner (2.8m).

When asked the reason for choosing the AMT4000CV Steve said, “I like the principle of the Krone and I have had a good run with my 2.8m machine. The big square frame is strong and I have had no cutterbar problems. It has stood the test of time. The 4m cutting width with double swath also fits well with my raking operation. In a heavy crop I will put 6m into one row, and in lighter crops I will put 8m into one.

The new mower will effectively be doing the same job, just with fewer hours on the tractor seat. I am presently averaging 8 acres/hr at 12.5 km/hr ground speed (in good conditions), and with the new mower conditioner I expect to be able to average 11 acres/hr”.


Balage

Steve has owned a Krone 10/16S round baler since 1996. He will be using the MX170 this year, which is a bit of an overkill, but suits the rest of the operations. Steve plans his work so as not to clash with the forage harvesting. Normally the forage harvesting is a little earlier than the balage, and it works out OK.

Steve says that he has been happy with the Kr10-16S variable chamber baler with cutter. “I have tried other balers but they weren’t up to it, balage is too hard on them. The 10-16S makes nice dense bales, it has a good pick-up, and the chain/slat system is better for balage. There is always someone with a wet corner, or someone who wants it done despite it being too wet. The Krone will do it.”

Steve also has a Case 8455 belt baler for straw and hay, however he finds that more of his customers are asking for the Krone because of the net wrap and the neater bales made.


Krone VarioPack

When asked about his impression of the Krone VarioPack Steve said “For me it would be ideal to have essentially 2 balers in one (one machine for balage, hay and straw), and the extra knives in the cutter would also be an advantage to me. I find that in the shorter crops, the material can pass by the knives in the Kr10-16S with 100 mm between the knives, but this would not happen with the Multicut system (64mm between knives).”


Pronovost Silatube

Steve bought a Pronovost P6300E in 1995, and finds it to be a good system. Customers are generally very happy with the quality, although Steve feels that some of the material tubed has a tendency to be on the overmature side. “In this area the dry can come on really quick, and it is a very narrow window of opportunity to make good quality balage” said Steve.

When it comes to tubing, Steve chose the Pronovost system because of it’s simplicity and ease of use, and the better sealed environment created by the tube. “I like the concept of the whole machine. In the 5 years I have owned the machine I have had no major maintenance, all you need to do is grease the main stretcher arms. There are virtually no wearing parts, and the machine is simple to use. This is a huge advantage when employing staff who may not be familiar with the machine.”

“It also suits my operation because I try to keep staff costs down, and involve the farmers where I can, whether that be with mowing, carting or tubing.” “I guess I achieve an average of about 40 bales per hour normally, but that is not limited by the machine, but by the speed of carting the bales to the machine. Farmers carting bales are not always perfectly organised!!”

“I use the 4’ bale tubes and the longer tubes which take 50 bales at a time.”

McLaren Machinery Ltd. is one of our newer dealers who joined up in October 1999. They have had a good start with the Tulloch range, having already sold a number of machines including Mengele forage harvesters, Krone mowers and Krone balers.

McLarens are also CASE IH dealers for Otago, and they have branches in Mosgiel and Ranfurly. McLaren Machinery have just sold the first Krone RoundPack baler in New Zealand.

The RoundPack is a fixed chamber baler which produces a high density bale but uses less horsepower than other fixed chamber balers and has a very low running cost. More RoundPack balers will be arriving soon!

aug2000dealer

David Dungey, Sales Manager and Paul Stumbles, Parts Manager in front of the
new branch in Mosgiel with the Krone RoundPack 1250MC baler on display.
 
BIG-M Launch in NZ

Tulloch Farm Machines announces the arrival of the BIG-M self-propelled mower conditioner in New Zealand. The machine is the biggest mower conditioner of it’s kind in the world. The machine was first displayed at the National Fieldays at Mystery Creek near Hamilton in June where it attracted a great deal of interest.

“This model completes the extensive range of mowers and mower conditioners from the Krone company, widening the gap as a world leader in grass harvesting technology” said John Tulloch, Manager of Tulloch Farm Machines. Using a 300 hp engine, the machine has enough power to drive 3 mower conditioner units each 3.2m wide. The result, allowing for overlap, is an effective working width of 9.1m.

The machine recently broke a world record by cutting an astonishing 787 acres in one 24 hour period. The hydrostatic drive has 2 speed ranges, 0-17 km/hr for work, and 0-40 km/hr for transport. “Obviously the market for this type of machine is very limited, but we have done some calculations to show that above 4000 acres of cutting a year, it becomes a viable alternative to running tractors with mower conditioners. The number of contractors cutting this acreage in NZ is still only a handful, but is growing significantly each year” said John Tulloch.

aug2000bigm

The BIG-M tastes NZ grass for the first time in June

“The machine signals the commitment from Krone to lead the field in grass harvesting technology, and there are already spin-off benefits for the whole range of mowers and mower conditioners, like for example the quick-change knives”. These were introduced with the BIG-M and will now be available in the entire range of disc mosers and mower conditioners from the Krone range.