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BALERS AND WRAPPERS

Ultimate guide to buying a big square baler 2025

Having forged a partnership with Kuhn for a range of big square balers launched in Britain in 2013, John Deere has now quietly withdrawn from this market sector to concentrate…

TELEHANDLERS

On test: Stacks of power in diddy JCB 530-60

JCB’s engineers have successfully completed telehandler themed Tetris by cramming almost all the components from the largest Loadalls into a package condensed in all dimensions. That makes the diminutive 530-60…

BALERS AND WRAPPERS

Ultimate guide to buying a round baler 2025

Tougher build and technology updates for faster and easier working are among the features of the latest round balers and baler-wrappers featured in our 2025 Ultimate Guide. We look in…

WORKSHOP SKILLS

Lincs grower’s bespoke harvester lifts 70k pumpkins a day

Each autumn, millions of pumpkins are plucked from their fields, carved into ghoulish lanterns and displayed with tealights flickering at their core. The process of getting these orange gourds from…

COMBINES

Ultimate guide to buying a combine 2025

Some major updates are included in this year’s combine buyer’s guide, not least New Holland’s all-new CR top-end machines. Existing CR Evolution and CX combines have also gained some improvements…

100HP

More lift and hydraulic flow for simple CNH loader tractors

New Holland and Case IH have overhauled their entry-level, 80-117hp loader tractor ranges, giving them higher lift capacity, greater hydraulic flow and new styling. Blue versions are dubbed T5 Dual…

SLURRY TANKERS

New Tramspread nurse tank offers 90cu m capacity

Tramspread has introduced its first range of nurse tanks, available with capacities of 45, 70 and 90cu m. Rather than trying to thread a standard axle through the slurry box,…

Baling

NAAC contractor price guide 2024-25

See the latest NAAC latest survey of contracting prices.

Read now

TRACTORS

Fendt's four-cylinder, 224hp 620 – small engine, big power

Four cylinders? 224hp? It’s hard to believe just what can be wrung from a relatively small engine these days – one that finds itself propelling the successors to Fendt’s uber-popular…

4X4S

Czech 4x4 specialist toughens up MAN and VW vans

What do you get when you let a MAN TGE van slip into the hands of a military-grade, off-road specialist? The answer is the Terrastorm – a four-wheel-drive load lugger…

ROOT CROP EQUIPMENT

Better stone protection for beefed-up Grimme bed formers

Grimme has revamped its range of bed formers, toughening up their framework and adding the option of hydraulic reset stone protection. The three models in each of the BF and…

MACHINERY

Buyer's guide: 7 UK-made mole plough options and prices

Even the fanciest field drainage system relies on a periodic pass with a mole plough to keep it performing at its best. Never is this more apparent than a wet…

MACHINERY

Tractor sales 'less bad' in livestock regions

Tractor sales in the main livestock-producing areas of the country appear to have had a “less bad” year than in the main crop-growing areas, according to latest data from the…

WHATS IN YOUR SHED

What's in Your Shed? visits Barnes Contracting

Devon-based Barnes Contracting buys predominantly used or ex-demo kit and then hangs on to it... unless the purchase turns out to be a pup. Andrew Faulkner is given a yard…

BALERS AND WRAPPERS

McHale revamps fixed-chamber round balers with new F5 series

Isobus electronics feature for the first time on McHale fixed-size round balers as part of a host of upgrades that warrant a change of identity from F5000 to F5 series.…

COMBINES

Michelin develops huge Cerexbib 2 harvester tyres with CNH

Twenty years after Michelin introduced the Xeobib, heralding something of a revolution in traction tyre performance, the French manufacturer has produced its most heavyweight low ground pressure VF design yet.…

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What's in Your Shed?

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WHATS IN YOUR SHED

What's in Your Shed? visits Barnes Contracting

Devon-based Barnes Contracting buys predominantly used or ex-demo kit and then hangs on to it... unless the purchase turns out to be a pup. Andrew Faulkner is given a yard…

WHATS IN YOUR SHED

What's in Your Shed? Worcestershire farmer reveals all

An eclectic mix of modern and classic kit is proving a reliable ally for Worcestershire farmer and contractor Rob Collins. See also: Fendt tractors: Common problems and how to fix them…

WHATS IN YOUR SHED

What's in Your Shed? Somerset farmers spill the beans

Working to a tight budget, Somerset farmers Martin and Michael Waldock aim to buy their kit well … and sell it even better. Andrew Faulkner gets the measure of the…

WHATS IN YOUR SHED

What's in Your Shed? visits Massey-mad YouTuber Tom Lamb

Farmer, digger fleet owner and budding YouTuber Tom Lamb gives us the lowdown on his business. See also: Owner rates Massey Ferguson 8S.265 tractor with Dyna E-Power transmission Farm facts A…

WHATS IN YOUR SHED

What’s in Your Shed? visits a Cumbrian farming family

Tractor paint colour matters little to Cumbrian farmers and contractors Vaughan, Karl and Ryan Hodgson, who run a mixed fleet of Fendts, JCBs and John Deeres. See also: Direct drills revisited:…

WHATS IN YOUR SHED

What's in Your Shed? Dorset contractor Will Box reveals all

This time What's in your Shed heads over to Dorset to visit contractor Will Box. We hear how he built up his business and customer base and why hiring in…

contractors combining

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TELEHANDLERS

On test: Stacks of power in diddy JCB 530-60

JCB’s engineers have successfully completed telehandler themed Tetris by cramming almost all the components from the largest Loadalls into a package condensed in all dimensions. That makes the diminutive 530-60…

TRACTORS

Fendt's four-cylinder, 224hp 620 – small engine, big power

Four cylinders? 224hp? It’s hard to believe just what can be wrung from a relatively small engine these days – one that finds itself propelling the successors to Fendt’s uber-popular…

4X4S

Czech 4x4 specialist toughens up MAN and VW vans

What do you get when you let a MAN TGE van slip into the hands of a military-grade, off-road specialist? The answer is the Terrastorm – a four-wheel-drive load lugger…

ATVS AND UTVS

On test: Electric Corvus UTV shows batteries have a way to go

Farmers have roughly the same appetite for electric vehicles as they do a vegan nut roast. Which is why battery-powered UTVs such as Corvus's Terrain EX4 need to knock the…

Driver's view

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COMBINES

Combine app allows drivers to share and view threshing setups

Trevor Scherman, inventor of the Schergrain grain pan, now not only has a means of alerting combine operators to excessive crop losses, but the ability to suggest threshing settings that…

TRACTORS

Driver's view: Why Norfolk grower runs trio of Deutz 7250s

Deutz-Fahr tractors are now the go-to prime movers for Norfolk-based potato grower Ian Mason Farms, primarily because of their keen up-front costs and driver-friendly controls. The business runs four of…

201-300HP

Driver's view: Leics farm rates McCormick's 240hp X7.624

Shifting fewer than 100 tractors a year at the last count makes McCormick one of the lowest volume tractor brands selling in the UK. But what the Italian marque lacks…

TRACTORS

Driver’s view: McCormick X6.413 P6-Drive

Fitted with a 4.5-litre FPT engine and an in-house six-speed semi-powershift transmission, the X6.4 is McCormick’s premium offering in the four-cylinder sector. This means buyers have access to a host…

Contractor Comment

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CONTRACTOR COMMENT

'Laughable' tractor prices force expensive switch to hiring

Eye-watering tractor price inflation threw Derek and Linda Keeble’s purchasing regime into disarray this season, forcing them to re-examine costs and bolster their fleet with costly hire machines.   For years,…

CONTRACTOR COMMENT

Contractor Comment: Is Covid to blame for kit breakdowns?

Long Covid seemingly isn’t an ailment exclusive to the human race, with mounting evidence that pandemic shutdowns are to blame for a ruck of mechanical maladies among the nation’s farm…

CONTRACTOR COMMENT

Contractor Comment: Holding on to tractors until prices drop

Rain, rain, and more rain. No prizes as to what’s dominated the Cropmech calendar since our previous visit back in March. “In May we ended up calling in two diggers…

CONTRACTOR COMMENT

Contractor Comment: Warranty dilemmas and pricey pickups

High lamb prices, new kit and plenty of silage in the stack have lifted spirits at Daniel Freeland-Cook’s family-run farming and contracting business, following a dismal winter that hampered lambing…

Video

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HARVEST

Video: Classic machinery brings in the spring barley harvest

A fleet of British-built classic machinery dating back to the early 1970s was bringing in the spring barley harvest at a farm on the Hampshire/Wiltshire border this week. Two Ransome…

WEED MANAGEMENT

Video: Leicester farm trials weed seed unit on Fendt combine

Europe’s first Redekop seed control unit (SCU) fitted to a Fendt Ideal 10T combine, aimed at controlling weed seeds, is being put to the test this harvest in Leicestershire at…

FORAGE WAGONS

Video: Lely revolutionises zero grazing with autonomous Exos

Dutch firm Lely has put the finishing touches to its self-propelled grass harvester and feeder, which is set to go on sale in the Netherlands next year. The battery powered…

WHATS IN YOUR SHED

WIYS: Contractor ditches new kit for retro fleet

Mark Bowran, 2003 winner of Farmers Weekly’s Tractor Driver of the Year competition, opens the doors of his MBC Services contracting business. Machinery editor, Oliver Mark asks the questions and…

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