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Photo competition
Entries are starting to roll in, with the first to arrive showing an EasyCut 320CV mower-conditioner with a fence wrapped around it!
Although this type of photo will be accepted, it is pictures suitable for media advertising that we are really after. There is plenty of time to prepare and get that ultimate shot, as submissions are being accepted up until 29 February, 2008. Remember… the first prize is a trip to Europe and the UK for the Grasslands Tour, valued at over $7000.
Full details of the competition rules appeared in our June newsletter. You can also see them at www.tulloch.co.nz under News, June 2007, or you can phone 0800 88 55 624.
Happy snapping!
McLaren Machinery
McLaren Transport has been providing the Otago rural community with transport services from its base in Ranfurly on the Maniototo Plains since 1960.
The McLarens team at the Mosgiel branch: from left Paul Stumbles, John Stumbles, Joel Hennessy, Paul Bennett, Dave Smith, David Dungey, and Doug Ross In 1970, the firm was appointed an International Harvester dealer.
The first International tractor they sold was a 634 in 1970. A new tractor repair workshop was built in 1972 and this started a long association with the red brand. In 1999, farming was beset by drought in inland areas with low stock values. Forming the subsidiary company McLaren Machinery Ltd and setting up a branch in Mosgiel in that environment was a bold move.
The small country dealership wasn’t going to survive the costs of running a franchise unless turnover was increased. McLaren Machinery today employs ten people in Ranfurly and seven in Mosgiel. Although the company’s services have remained the same, taking over the Balclutha CaseIH sales area and introducing some quality lines of machinery such as Krone have necessitated expansion in the service/sales & parts team. In 2000 McLarens decided to take on the Tulloch line of equipment to gain access to the Krone line of grass harvesting equipment, a line it saw offering a wide product range and quality build, not to mention the fact it complemented the Case tractor line well.
There was also a personal connection, as John Tulloch’s father Graeme was well-known to Dennis Stumbles, father of the present McLaren directors John and Paul, from the early International Harvester days. In 2002 McLarens sold a record 43 tractors in the one calendar year, a significant milestone for the business. In May 2007 McLarens had an in-house Tulloch operator training day in Mosgiel. The company was very happy with the turnout of clients, and the “… very positive feedback.” They add that the Ranfurly Team had a very merry trip home, with plenty of comfort stops!
Grasslands tour
The itinerary has been set for the 2008
- Grasslands tour: 18 May Depart Auckland for London via Singapore.
- London (2 days) then depart for Grasslands Field Days, 21–22 May. (For those interested the Chelsea Flower Show is on during this stay in London.)
- 23 May Depart London for Vienna.
- 24-29 May Touring/sightseeing through Vienne, Linz, Cesky Krumlov, Prague, Dresden and then to Rheine. During this trip, factory tours of Einbock in Vienna and Walterscheid in Dresden are planned.
- 30 May Morning: factory tour of Rabe; afternoon: tour of the Krone factory.
- 31 May Head for Amsterdam and tour.
- 01 June Depart for home.
- The cost of the package is $7,185 + GST. $1,000 deposit per person is required by 30 September 2007. A better way to pay, perhaps, is to send in a photograph for the competition - you might go for free!
Picture: Tulloch customers take a break during the 2005 tour at Stoneleigh Park Lodge.
Staff profile: Brian Faulknor
| Retail Sales Representative Brian was born in Masterton. After leaving school and working at a couple of jobs he joined the New Zealand Army and was posted to Singapore, spending nearly three years there until the Army was withdrawn. Brian started with the company in 1994 assembling and painting Gehl round balers. He stayed in the workshop for 11 years, working on assembly and servicing as well as instructing on Tulloch imported machinery at customer and dealer service schools and attending field days around the country. In his time in the workshop he has witnessed strong growth and development in the Krone machinery business. |
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Brian made the change into retail in 2005.
His interests outside work seem to keep changing too - from jet-skiing to mountain biking, trail bikes, back to the mountain biking and now combining that with road cycling. He completed his first Taupo Lake Challenge ride (160 km) in 5:24hrs. His goal for this year is to break five hours.
Waitohi Partnership
| Contractor Profile Waitohi Partnership Based near Hawarden, this business has been in existence since 1974. It consists of six partners; Roger Marsh has been their manager for the last 11 years. They have a client base of about 120 customers who use them for hay and silage in rounds from their Krone VP1500MC and squares from the Case 85/75 and Massey 185. The partnership runs three John Deere 6000 series tractors with a range of cultivation gear including a Rabe Raven 5-furrow reversible plough, a Duncan renovator, a KRM disc drill, a 6m Accord Plus drill and others. |
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They service a radius of about 40km. On average they bale about 23,000 bales but last season (06/07) they managed 28,000 bales. The Krone produces up to 6,000 bales a year. Wrapping is done by another contractor.
Roger says the reason he bought the Krone VP 1500MC in 2003 was he got tired of watching his opposition baling in the paddock next door and continuing into the night because he could, while himself having to pack up and go home because his baler would not cope with the conditions. He also liked the robust construction of the Krone.
Asked about the Krone AMT 323CV mower purchased in 2002, he said the price was competitive, it looked robust, easy to operate and to work on. He has subsequently realised the advantage of the swath spreading fins, which shorten drying time considerably.
The Rabe Raven plough, bought in 2005, replaced a very old and tired one-way. Again, he liked the solid appearance and could see that it had much fewer moving parts, especially for the turn-over sequence, and could see it being easy to work on.
He says he has realised the European-designed board has made such a tremendous difference to the finished job that some farmers in the area still using conventional ploughs are gradually noticing it as well and asking for Roger to plough for them.
Roger has the services of a No.2 driver for 6–7 months of the year and during the season a further two drivers are employed.
They service a radius of about 40km. On average they bale about 23,000 bales but last season (06/07) they managed 28,000 bales. The Krone produces up to 6,000 bales a year. Wrapping is done by another contractor.
Operator training
Operator training programme keeps us all up to date
We recently embarked on a countrywide training programme for operators.
This involved just over 100 operator/owners at nine different locations in in one-day events hosted by our dealers, discussing operation and servicing aspects of Krone mowers, tedders, rakes and balers. Sessions were run in Hawera, Huntley, Paeroa, Masterton, Hastings, Timaru and Mosgiel. Two more have yet to be run, in Palmerston North and Waipukurau.
Picture: an operator training session underway at McLaren's in Mosgiel Attendees were split into two groups to enable one to focus on balers in the morning and the second on mowers, rakes and tedders, with a swapover after lunch. The mower discussion included a special feature on the servicing of, and problems with, PTO slip-clutches and shafts.
The idea is to get operators, dealer staff and our staff into a discussion on operation and servicing, and exchange experiences at the same time. Reading through an operator’s manual will get you started with a machine, but specific conditions in different countries, and in different regions within them, will dictate occasional slight fine-tuning of any machine for optimum performance.
If we can acquire this knowledge and pass it on to other regions and our suppliers, then we believe we are doing the best for our product and its users. So far the response has been tremendous and the result has been very pleasing. Our end objective is to hone operator skills, which in turn should improve efficiency and reduce downtime. This exercise also enables us to keep in touch with the end-users and maintain a good flow of communication.
These programmes which may be run every second year, together with our annual service schools in Masterton during spring, are a vital part of our operation to keep up to date with the ever-changing technology in our industry.
Big-M still going strong
Big M still tidy after seven years
The first Big M self-propelled mower-conditioner to arrive in New Zealand was in the Tulloch workshop for some minor work recently as part of its winter service.
