New Hollands are gradually superseding Zetors at Jonathan Hutchinson’s growing Yorkshire dairy business.

Farmers Weekly’s machinery editor, Oliver Mark, heads over to Whitby to check out what farm kit is in Jonathan’s shed.

See also: Driver’s view: Sisto family’s 7-year-old New Holland T7.210

How did you get started?

We moved from my grandad’s 20ha holding to take on the 80ha tenancy at what is now our main farm in 2004 and, since then, have just kept growing.

Now, we’re farming 480ha spread across three sites, with most of the land within two miles of our base.

The expansion has allowed us to increase the herd from 90 dairy cows and 90 youngstock to 500 milking cows, 350 following heifers and 300 store cattle.

We milk here, keep the dry cows and stores at another farm, and the heifers at an 80ha block that runs as an almost self-contained unit.

It is a retirement home for our older machinery, as it’s too far away to be ferrying kit back and forth.

How brand loyal are you?

It’s as much about dealer as brand, and my dad got on well with George Agar – hence the number of Zetor tractors we’ve had.

However, I’m gradually phasing them out. Our last new Zetor was a Forterra 9641 in 2005, which stayed for a troubled five years. We still have two – a 7711 and 7745.

They have done us well, but they’re not as cheap as they used to be and I’d rather buy a second-hand New Holland. Plus, we need more horsepower.

Things started to change in 2007 when we first went looking for a bigger tractor; we were open minded about the brand until it came to the £10,000 price difference between a John Deere and New Holland.

We still have that 2003-plate TM155 – we were its third owner when it had done 4,000 hours; it’s now on 17,000.

As for the other stuff, we’ve always run JCB handlers and most of the grass kit comes from Pottinger.

Favourite dealer?

George Agar for Zetor – it used to be on our doorstep but is now 20 miles away in Scarborough – and Russells at Malton for New Holland and Pottinger. We do the servicing, they sort the breakdowns.

Favourite piece of kit?

A 20-year-old Househam Air Ride, which we bought in the winter.

We did have a 21m mounted Hardi, but I was keen to go to 24m and a straight upgrade was out of the question when we were quoted £32,000 plus our trade-in.

I was well narked, so I started looking for a self-propelled that would also allow us to free up the T6.155 it ran on.

Chandlers came up with the 5,000-hour Air Ride that, with its 2,500-litre tank, is the perfect size.

It has sprayed 600ha so far this year and has proved a great buy.

Plus, it only cost us £9,000 to change, which won’t take long to claw back, and it has sets of row crops and flotations.

The latter is ideal for backend spraying given our farm gets pretty wet.

And your least favourite?

That would be an old 120t Howard corn silo, which we recently took down and will be glad to never see again.

It was the worst-designed thing ever. The sweep auger was always snapping and, though we resealed it several times, we could never keep the moisture out.

One winter I had to empty 80t with a shovel.

We started tipping grain in a new shed last year, and it was the best winter we’ve ever had.

The scrap was weighed in, but the cash doesn’t come close to repaying the aggro it caused.

Another slightly problematic machine is the five-year-old Pottinger six-rotor tedder, which won’t stop smashing tines.

We’ve probably bought it twice over with the number we’ve replaced, and it has also had two headstock repairs due to cracks in the metal.

And a Polaris petrol UTV was a bad buy four years ago. It drank oil for fun, seized a couple of engines and just wasn’t up to the job – it spent more time with the mechanic than on the farm.

We kept it a year before going back to Honda ATVs. If we’d had a diesel version then it would probably have been fine.

Latest purchase?

A £21,000 Storth 9m Mega Mix slurry stirrer bought following a £130,000 investment in a new 3m gallon lagoon.

I saw it at the Dairy Event and initially thought it was too big, but I’d rather be over capacity; we don’t know where we’ll be in a few years’ time.

Its predecessor was 20 years old, so will be moved down to the heifer farm for semi-retirement.

It’ll probably manage another decade there.

Oldest machine still at work?

A 53hp Universal tractor that my grandad bought in 1980 when it was just a few months old.

It came from a neighbouring farmer who decided it was too small for him and was one of our front-line machines in those days.

It’s been mint and still scrapes out the heifer yard. I’ve no idea of the hours – the clock stopped at 3,000 but it must be on at least 20,000.

We recently put a fresh alternator on, but it rarely sees a spanner and, when it does, it’s mainly due to neglect.

I reckon it’s got another 10 years in it – provided we can still get the parts.

Another old-timer is the 7,000-hour, G-reg Zetor 7745, which carries a straw chopper.

Money was tight at the time as we’d just bought the heifer farm and also needed a mixer wagon and straw chopper.

But at £6,000, you can’t go too far wrong.

And it’s the same with the M-reg Case 5150. It cost £12,000 13 years ago and is now nearing 16,000 hours, primarily clocked running a Hi-Spec mixer wagon.

It used to be a main tractor but, as mentioned, the machinery eventually works its way down to the heifer unit for an easier life.

No doubt the same will happen to me one day.

How long do you keep your machines?

Until they’re knackered or we have a change of direction.

As you can tell, we’re not afraid of running machines to high hours.

But we’re always keeping an eye on the second-hand market and are slowly building up the fleet.

One of the challenges has been that we haven’t stopped growing for 20 years, so we’ve had no real chance to consolidate and get the kit properly sorted. Long may it continue.

Next on your wish list?

A rotary parlour. It would be a serious investment – probably the best part of a million pounds – and, as the dairy farm is tenanted, we’d first need to have a longer commitment from our landlord.

It wouldn’t be straightforward either, as this site is hemmed in by road and hill and there’s no easy way of fitting it in.

However, it would transform the operation. For starters, it would gain four hours in the working day compared with our current 19-a-side GEA Westfalia.

That alone would go a long way to paying for it, reduce labour pressure, and free up more time in the afternoon to get other jobs done.

I love working, but our work-life balance has been creeping the wrong way.

It would also open the opportunity of increasing cow numbers on our current acreage.

Biggest machinery mistake?

Cracking the rear axle on the Universal tractor 15 years ago. I turned the same corner in the shed that I’d done hundreds of times before but somehow managed to hook the wheel rim on a girder.

There was an almighty bang, the wheel was cocked at an angle, and oil was dripping underneath, so I knew it was trouble.

Fortunately, George Agar found us a second-hand axle and had us back up and running in two weeks – albeit £2,500 lighter.

My lad has also had some clangers. The stand-out was when he unfolded the trailing shoe on the NC slurry tanker to grease up while filling.

He then jumped back in and drove off between two silage pits, bending both sides backwards.

He called his mum to tell me the bad news – and asked if she’d come with me to inspect the damage. I kept calm.

Most expensive repair bill?

Too many to mention. Fortunately, my wife deals with most of the outgoings, so I don’t have to see them.

Most overpriced spare part?

The one that took my breath away was £1,700 for a BKT TR-137 tyre on the 2,750gal Conor tanker.

I didn’t know what to expect, but it certainly wasn’t that. Hopefully it sees me out.

What couldn’t you live without in the workshop?

The MIG welder. A couple of us are handy with it – or not afraid to give things a go, at least – whether it’s making gates or mending kit.

One of my more recent successes was repairing the cracked tedder headstock, which I managed to do in three hours while laying on my back and working practically blind because of a mucky helmet screen.

Russells charged £1,000 to repair it the first time, and they dissembled it all to get it on a work bench, so I’m pretty pleased with my bodge. All it’s missing is some Pottinger-red paint.

What’s your everyday transport?

A 15-plate, 3.2-litre Ford Ranger, which I bought five years ago and is currently on 70,000 miles.

The air-con has given up, but it has otherwise been a good truck and does plenty of towing between sites.

It will gradually work its way down the fleet; bottom rung is currently occupied by a Mitsubishi L200 and a Nissan Navara.

Best tractor you’ve had?

It would have to be the 18-plate T7.210, which cost us £63,500 four years ago when it replaced a T6080.

It’s so comfortable and nice to drive you barely know you’ve been at work after a day’s drilling or ploughing.

We put a Chipboost map on it and three other tractors soon after it arrived.

It’s something we should have done years ago – what a difference. It’s now putting out 210hp.

But it did have us worried for a bit. Two weeks after the remap it stopped dead.

Fortunately, it turned out to be a failed plug seal somewhere between the engine and ECU, which had caused the electrical connection to rot. No major troubles since; it’s now on 6,500 hours.

Two other tractors run it close, though – purely because of their value for money.

The first is a 35-year-old Zetor 7711, which has had little more than a couple of clutches.

And there’s our first New Holland, the TM155, which has now clocked 17,000 relatively trouble-free hours.

And the worst?

The Zetor Forterra 9641. It was never right from new and regularly failed to find a gear: we’d drop a cog while dragging a load of corn and the transmission would drift into no man’s land.

George Agar managed to sort it eventually, but it continued to eat clutches every 1,000 hours and sheared something in the engine while on its way to Whitby.

We kept it five years, which was five too long, before swapping to the TM. It was a reluctant switch given our relationship with the dealer, but we wanted a bigger, heavier six-cylinder to get on top of the field work.

Most surprisingly useful feature on a machine?

Maybe not surprising, but grease nipples on the sides of universal joints. If only they came 30 years ago.

You no longer need three hands to get at them and, with the shafts that much easier to grease, they should last a bit longer.

Most pointless piece of technology?

Plate meters for measuring grass. I used to use one, but I find my eyes do a better job.

Biggest machinery bargain?

The £4,500 we paid for an M-reg Frazier Agribuggy 4D Turbo, plus £1,700 for the 20-year-old Bogballe L2Plus spreader it carries.

It’s a simple-as-you-like outfit that will walk on water in a wet year.

As well as being a handy insurance policy, it allows us to put some fertiliser on at the end of February.

We used to have to wait until the end of March to get on the corn.

Biggest bugbear?

There isn’t enough space around the top of pto guards to get your hands in and press the button.

An extra inch would make a world of difference.

And the spool blocks on New Hollands are right knuckle rippers, as they’re too close to the lift rods and leave no room to push the ends in.

Thankfully, the ones on the T7.210 are much easier to get at.