Chris's blog - June 2010

Posted on Tuesday, June 8 2010 by Chris Jacques

Well then whats been going on this month ?

Most of the grass crops in Cheshire have now been flattened (that roughly translates to mown if your from Lancashire). With the ever growing trend towards triple mowers the John Deere 381 and John Deere 388 triple mowers shouldn’t be overlooked. They offer cutting widths of 8.1 and 8.8m respectively and the rear butterfly unit works in harmony with the well proven John Deere 131 front mower. Features include rear hydraulic breakway with auto reset (ready for when that unsuspecting telegraph pole suddenly jumps out at you the middle of a 40 acre field, as they sometimes do !), hydro pneaumtic adjustable float to suit all conditions and, yes forward speeds. There’s also an integrated side shift to help on slopes and twisty headlands, and in transport the whole lot will fold in to just under 3 metres. With just two double acting spools required there is no need for a tractor with masses of spool valves either.

One of the major advantages of owning and using a set of John Deere triple mowers, and come to think of it any John Deere mower, including  the old faithful 1365 moco is their amazing durability, resale value and all importantly they benefit from the same level of parts backup and availability as any other John Deere machine, and I don’t think I need to tell you how good that is.

So if you’re thinking of a new mower for now or next season and are looking for excellent cutting quality in all conditions, good durability and high resale value coupled with an unrivalled parts back up and distribution system – go on give us a go and you’ll not be disappointed, there’s plenty of mowers out there to choose from but how many can truly offer all of the above?

The grass crops have been unusually dry and light this season leading to some horrible looking swaths especially when they’ve been tedded out and then re-rowed with rakes as large as 15m - you know what I mean don’t you, you’ve seen them. Couple these swaths with your stereotypical stick happy forager driver (we’re all guilty of this, even myself), and we’ve had some unusual challenges this year when trying to set PUR’s up to match the high forward speeds and inconsistent swaths – high header speed is a must, for your 630B headers your gonna need the 33/15 auger drive sprocket fitted, the 630C’s will need the red 30 T auger drive sprockets. The auger paddles seem as though they need to be fully extended, certainly when working at chop length’s of 19mm and above, and sometimes even turned from the flat to the aggressive side in a really light crop. We’ve even made some of our own tine drive sprockets to speed up tine speed and help in picking up short crops at high forward speeds which have worked well. There’s no hard and fast rule for these conditions – it’s just whatever works and not being afraid to try something unusual, give us a bell if you’re struggling, we’re happy to share our experience.

The baler’s have been flying out of the doors and are going well with little attention, but if you’re getting one out of the shed (or the nettles!) and setting off to bale some grass it’s well worth just cleaning and drying the net drive rollers – nothing abrasive or oily just a soft dry cloth for the rubber roller and a quick clean and polish for the steel rollers and the net tray, I’ve found John Deere Dry Silicone Release Spray absolutely ideal for this, the other thing that works is Mr Sheen if you can manage to get it past the wife and out of the house (there are other brands of furniture polish available !) Couple this with some good quality net like John Deere Xtranet and you’ll be well away.

For those of you with new John Deere balers for this season don’t forget there’s a free roll of Xtranet for you if you buy 4 you’ll get the 5^th free.

You can all have a free sample roll of Xtranet (enough for approx 40 bales) whatever round baler you use, if you just fill in a quick questionnaire, there’s sample rolls in the showrooms at both depots and a few in my van – don’t be shy give it a go. And for those of you with wrappers we can also supply John Deere XtraFilm stretchwrap.

The demo forager is out and performing well, she’s a 560Hp 40K John Deere 7450 c/w 630C Header, feel free to get in touch with any of us (whatever make of forager you currently run) if you’re interested in a demo, I won’t rattle on too much about this because I’ll get carried away – there’s a bit more detail in previous blogs if you look back, or just give us a bell and we can answer your questions/discuss your requirements.

Just quickly before I finish, this years demo combine arrived yesterday – a John Deere T550, which is effectively a 5 walker machine with 6 walker capacity thanks to it’s unique separation system. Again bookings are currently being taken for this so feel free to shout up and get your name down – we’ll have a right good look at John Deere combines next month especially the T-Series.

Just before I do go, with all this talk of new equipment don’t forget us when looking for quality used equipment, it’s turned out with the same pride as the new stuff and can if required be supplied with the same field installation service as any new machine – we’re here to supply machines new or used that are right for your job and your budget, and were happy to set them off in the field with you the customer. So why not call in or give us a call and see what we’ve got for you.

Chris Jacques

Cornthwaites  Agricultural Ltd

Agricultural Machinery (Nantwich) Ltd

Tel 01270 624141/07881 461132

E-mail    chrisj@agri-mac.co.uk