At the Auctions: Clean kit still in high demand

With a herd of milkers to feed, bed and look after, plus a significant arable acreage, North Hinton Dairy’s recent dispersal sale near Christchurch in Dorset had plenty of kit on offer.
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On the tractor front, there was pretty much something for everyone, from 300hp heavy hitters to a lightweight scraper tractor and everything in between.
There were also acres of cultivation kit and implements. Topping the bill was an immaculate 4m 2005 Moore Unidrill which made £13,800.
That was closely followed by an eight-row Kuhn Maxima maize drill, which was six years old and had sown about 2,225ha (5,500acres), it went for £11,200.

This 2014 Massey-Ferguson 8730, one of the smallest models in the range, made £66,500 © Nick Fone
Meanwhile a 6m 2011 Vaderstad Aggressive spring-tine cultivator sold for £11,000 and a 5m, 10-leg McConnel Shakaerator with Guttler roller, also from 2011, fetched £10,200.
A five-year-old, 6.3m set of HE-VA Tip Rollers went under the hammer for £7,400 and a 2009 4m front press from the Danish manufacturer sold for £3,700.

With well-worn tyres and just shy of 6,500 hours on the clock, this Merlo P40.7 went for a sensible £16,200 © Nick Fone
Looking particularly good value, a 4m trailed Sumo 4-in-1 cultivator with Opico Air16 seeder was knocked down for £5,000.
Perhaps the most eye-catching lot was a monster eight-furrow Kuhn Vari-Manager semi-mounted plough. The well-specced model had auto-reset bodies and slatted mouldboards and made £9,100. A smaller four-furrow unit from the French company went for £4,200.

This fully-loaded Multidrive 6195 with 4,000-litre Chafer spray pack sold for £55,000 © Nick Fone
Meanwhile a well-used 11-year-old Major LGP 2600 vacuum tanker with loading arm and new 800mm tyres managed £6,300. In the hauling department, there was a pair of Griffiths (Marston) 14t grain trailers, both with 500mm wide flotation tyres, sprung drawbars and eight-stud axles.
The younger model made £7,300 while the older version came in at £5,350.