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Tobias Prien, Krone service department, visits
Tobias Prien hands over a commemorative watch to Graeme Tulloch…
Tobias Prien, Krone service engineer, arrived in New Zealand on 22nd June 2009 with a mission. He was scheduled to make some important customer calls, but Tobias’s itinerary also included a number of very important tasks. As reported elsewhere in this newsletter, he was a key presenter at our inaugural Big Line meeting in Wellington where he made two presentations and fielded questions on the Big X and Big M from owners and operators.
Amongst his customer visits Tobias was introduced to rural New Zealand, even trying his hand at a bit of shearing in South Wairarapa under the guidance of Mike McCreary. Assisted by our service manager Allan Taute, Tobias implemented the new on-line warranty programme from Krone for our dealers. This will reduce the amount of paper work required for warranty applications and speed up our warranty response time from lodging to resolution.
Training for staff is always a priority and with the launch of the Comprima, the necessary training was conducted by Tobias. Tobias’s final commitment was to present special commemorative Krone watches to Graeme and David Tulloch, in recognition of a relationship with Maschinenfabrik Bernard Krone GmbH that started 39 years ago with the importation of the first ever disc mower-conditioner into New Zealand - a milestone that was instrumental in taking the quality of silage in New Zealand to the levels being achieved in Europe and the USA.
Tobias Prien gets some shearing instruction from Mike McCreary
STOP PRESS
To bolster our retail coverage of the Wairarapa, we are pleased to advise that Tulloch Farm Machines has accepted an offer of the region’s AGCO dealership.
This will involve the addition of two new service staff. More detail of this development will appear in the December edition of Grass & Grit. Please phone 0800 88 55 624 with any enquiries.
Big Line meeting
John Tulloch addressing the delegates at the inaugural Big Line meeting.
Tulloch Farm Machines convened a meeting in Wellington on 26th June 2009 for owners of its Big Line equipment Krone Big X forage harvesters and Krone Big M self-propelled mower conditioners.
A senior representative from the Krone service department, Tobias Prien, was present. The idea was to allow an opportunity for owners and/or operators of Krone Big Line machines to meet Tobias and each other, and discuss any aspect of their machines, whether it was operation, maintenance, service or future developments.
Our main goals were to take on board any issues that had not been raised previously and to demonstrate to the owners of Big Line machines that we, together with Krone, are firmly committed to the importation, servicing and maintenance of these machines.
Tulloch Farm Machines is established as a major player in the mower and baler market. From the mid ’60s through to the late ’70s the company was the dominant player in tractor-drawn forageharvesters in New Zealand. Our goal is to expand our business platform by becoming a major player in the self-propelled forager business.
There are over 1000 Krone Big M self-propelled mowers around the world today and more than 1200 Krone Big X forage harvesters.
Krone Finance scheme expands
As part of this year’s marketing strategy we introduced at the Mystery Creek Fieldays a subsidised finance scheme for certain models of Krone mowers and mower-conditioners. Thanks to a special programme implemented by Supreme International we are pleased to be able to include Supreme feed processors in the Cut Rate Krone Finance package.
The scheme can be tailored to your individual requirements. For example, we offer a sixmonth interest-free period and then 24 equal monthly instalments for only 5.35% interest subject to a 30% deposit and GST paid up front (conditions apply).
Contact your local dealer or our office on 0800 88 55 624 for a quotation or any enquiries.
Rural Contractors Conference Invercargill
We took the opportunity to be a sponsor to the Rural Contractors Federation conference last month to enable us to keep in closer touch with the rural contracting industry.
Held at the Ascot Park hotel in Invercargill on July 19 - 22 the hugely successful event attracted a record number of delegates. The association now boasts membership of more than 400 and growing. Its objective is to keep contractors profitable in a safe and compliant environment - something we are only too pleased to be associated with.
John Tulloch hands over the donated Big X to George Yeatman, whose parents bought
it in the charity auction for St John’s at the Contractors Federation conference.
Aerial view of our site at Mystery Creek
Mystery Creek 2009
The weather was typical for Fieldays with periods of rain and sun, but this year it was pleasantly warmer than usual. Our team put on a good display of machines to cover as much of our product range as possible.
Unfortunately we were not able to show off a Big X or Big M, but we did have a Krone EasyCollect 6000 maize header which drew a significant amount of interest. We noticed a reduction in visitor numbers against previous years, however those who did come were there for business and quite remarkably we recorded 19% more enquiries than last year.
We are very grateful to readers who took the time to visit our site - thank you for your interest in our product lines.
“Don’t Shoot Me, I’m Just the Messenger”
Delegates packed into the showroom for the meeting with Constable Duff and his colleagues.
Over the last couple of months CVIU officer Geoffrey Duff, new to Carterton, has been causing some consternation amongst the local farmers and contractors. Constable Duff realised the conduct of his duties had rattled a few cages and decided to hold a meeting to give the farmers and contractors the chance to air their grievances and for the police to explain the position regarding loading, signage and hitching.
John Tulloch offered the Tulloch showroom as a venue and our staff duly set about extending invitations to interested parties. From the feedback we expected about 40 participants. Possibly because of the atrocious weather we ended up with close to 100 contractors and farmers from as far as Hawke’s Bay and Manawatu.
Assisted by officers Neil McAlpine (Vehicle Standards, Wellington) and Lynn Williams (Licensing, Palmerston North) Constable Duff delivered a Power Point presentation covering all the main issues regarding the on-road transit of farm machinery. Tulloch Farm Machines together with Wairarapa Machinery, Norwoods and James brought tractors and equipment hitched up for scrutiny by the officers.
Despite the weather and the fact that the numbers attending far exceeded our expectations, the whole event went off extremely well in a forum where there was little evidence of anyone trying to be politically correct.
There was some heated debate plus a heckler or two, but the message came through from Constable Duff: “Don’t shoot me, I’m just the messenger.”
Some of the equipment up for inspection at the Police presentation.
Some disgruntled contractors and farmers with recently lightened pockets were in attendance, but the position of the Police was clear.
There was discussion on some of the ambiguities of the regulations and it was noted that there needs to be some degree of understanding that the regulations were developed for the trucking industry.
Executive Director of the Rural Contractors Federation Roger Parton was at the meeting and assured the gathering that his association is working relentlessly with government to sort out these obscure regulations that are causing such unnecessary tribulations.
The day finished on a lighter note when we turned on the BBQ and opened some refreshments.
Grasslands Tour 2011
Those interested in being a part of our Grasslands Field Days tour are reminded that the trip for 2011 is already in the planning stage. We need to make firm bookings by December 2010 but would need to know numbers by at least June 2010 to book the tour bus, hotels and flights.
The proposed itinerary at this stage is:
- Krone factory
- Grasslands UK
- Supreme factory, Canada
- Grand Canyon
- Contractors running BiG-X foragers in California
INTO THE ARCHIVES
Tulloch contracting division, circa 1966.
Continuing our series of short historical items mined from the memories of Dave and Graeme Tulloch.
It is interesting to note the progress of silage making in New Zealand to date because the rapid growth of the company in the ’60s and ’70s is directly related to that improved silage quality. Until that time there were few people who knew the science behind making good silage.
The original process before the war involved cutting the grass with a horse-drawn mower when it was reasonably mature because the old sickle bar would block up too often if the crop was wet, and backing up the horse to clear the blockage was not only hazardous but almost impossible. This system enabled about one acre to be harvested per day with about five men.
After the Second World War the introduction of the tractor made no real difference in terms of silage quality because the sickle-bar mower was the weak link but it did increase productivity to about one and a half acres of silage in a day with as little as three men. In the mid- to late 1950s the direct-cut harvester was introduced and all of a sudden we were able to harvest 8–12 acres per day with about four men.
However the grass was now cut greener and wetter than before, and the quality of silage deteriorated. The reasons behind this were that the machines were rear-mounted and the grass behind the tractor wheels was invariably contaminated with dirt. The grass was able to be cut much greener (+/- 20%DM) and often wet with rain or dew. This enabled butyric acid to form, and silage pits began smelling and attracting flies swarming around the pools of runoff.
The problem was that these machines were developed in Europe and the USA primarily for green feed but were being incorrectly used here for silage production. Despite this a new industry blossomed and there were numerous variations of flail harvesters being manufactured around New Zealand. Shortly after the introduction of the flail harvester, additives such as proponic acid were introduced which reduced but did not eliminate the problems of mould and butyric acid formation.
D.W. Tulloch and Co was formed in 1963, combining the farm machinery services of Dave Tulloch and the contracting business of William and Graeme Tulloch. The company was making a small range of cultivation gear such as levelers and embarked on expanding its business by setting up a network of dealers around the country.
Dave Tulloch had been selling New Holland grass harvesting equipment but a decision was taken to drop this range and become a dealer for F.W. Smith which gave them access to the Gehl range of equipment. The Gehl 72 direct-cut harvester had a significant impact on the silage quality for a number of reasons. The machine was side-mounted, so there was no chance of tractor wheels pushing grass into dirt and contaminating the feed. The machine was a double-cut harvester, reducing the length of cut to about four inches so the ensiling process was much better and operators were encouraged not to harvest too early or when there was too much water/dew on the crop.
Silage was now beginning to smell more palatable as quality was improving and by 1964 silage was successfully introduced to sheep which had the effect of increasing lambing rates. 1965: The company started assembling kit-set feed-out wagons from Gehl. The feedout wagon was an important machine for the dairy industry www.tulloch.co.nz 0800 88 55 624 • PO Box 200, Masterton 5840 at this time. It allowed the dairy farmer to give large volumes of feed to his cows in the paddock at a relatively low cost of time and labour and thereby giving him the option to expand his operation.
1967: The first drum mowers were introduced onto New Zealand – PZ and Wizzler 5’6”. These mowers increased mowing capacity considerably. 1968: F. W. Smith closed down its operation and D.W. Tulloch became the New Zealand distributor for Gehl Company. The company also secured the franchise for International Harvester for the Wairarapa. IH offered exceptionally good training programmes which helped the company tremendously - in accounting, parts management, sales and workshop management to name a few.
Later that year Graeme Tulloch went to the USA, compliments of Gehl to learn how to make silage.
By the end of 1968 the contracting division of D.W. Tulloch was running five Gehl 72 forage harvesters.
D.W. Tulloch office and yard, 1971.