Field Queen that is. Probably very few in the UK are familiar with Field Queen, although I might be wrong about that. Field Queen made one of the first self propelled silage cutters in America. I don't know when they quit making them, quite a few were made carrying the Hesston name after they bought Field Queen.
Part of farming here on the border between the cornbelt and the Great Plains with all our tempermental weather is I think without a doubt we run much older equipment on average than you do in the UK. I bought my Field Queen Standard several years ago from a neighbor, it had cut a jillion tons of silage when I bought it. I bought it cheap, to replace a pull type Gehl that had merely cut a billion tons of silage and was actually alot newer than the Queen. I can't say the Queen was a reliable cutter, but we managed to cut most of the silage I wanted. This year however right out of the chute the Queen was problematic, as in she would only cut six loads of silage then quit. It has Murphy switches on it, that shut it down if it has low oil pressure or gets too hot, and a really bad feature of Field Queen is they for the most part relied on a throw away Cat engine, either a 3160 or a 3208. Finally, after several days of attempted diagnosis, much swearing, and 41 loads of silage cut, I blew a head gasket. After some deliberation and prayer, along with phone calls to the Maize corporation in Maize Kansas(the company that makes parts for Field Queens,we are sort of a cult) it was decided by me that it was time for the Queen to simply die, and perhaps donate a few of her vital parts so that other Field Queens might live a more productive life. I was very sad, because I was not getting my silo filled, and buying a different cutter was not on my list of 2008 or 2009 priorities.
Then, just when all appeared to be lost, a phone call from Roger at the Maize corporation. The widow of a fellow Field Queen owner wanted to sell his cutter, and it was only 30 miles from me, what luck. He had looked at it and told me it appeared respectable. It was about 10 years newer than mine, and quite advanced compared to the old Standard. Without hesitation I loaded my friend Bobby into the pickup(Bobby did alot of my chores while I was in the UK, and is the chief silage truck driver and coon killer on my spread). We raced to the farm, and were pleasantly surprised to find a very usable cutter. I was uncomfortable negotiating with a recent widow, especially considering her husband had died just a month ago of cancer, but we managed to agree on a price without much difficulty, and Mrs. KF was surprised to find me roaring into the yard tonight, with the announcement I decided to give her her Christmas present early this year......what a lucky woman, a new hoe for her birthday, and a vintage silage cutter as a 3 month early Christmas present, that I have already agreed to run and care for for her. She is so lucky she found me. God save the Queen!!