REVIEWEDFarmchief Express 3000 speed disc

TESTEDAmazone Cenius 3002 cultivator

TESTEDMcCormick X7.660 tractor

farmtrader.co.nz ONLY $6.50 incl. GST

SELL YOUR MACHINE AT

THE LANDTAEGE MACHINES ON THE WEST COAST

TAMING

2015 RURAL CONTRACTORS' SPECIAL20152015201520152015201520152015201520152015farmtrader.co.nz ONLY $6.50 incl. GST

2015 RURALRURAL CONTRACTORS' SPECIAL2015 2015201520152015201520152015201520152015

TECHNOLOGY:THE MAGIC OF DRONES

10 AUG – 7 SEPT 2015 Issue 221 $6.50 incl. GST

Drills – Tyre rollers – CulTivaTors – PosTDrivers – snow Plows – CusTom BuilDs

Trevor Goodeve 027 222 6050 sales@taege.com www.taege.com

A Ground Breaking Company Since 1923

TAEGETAMED BY

Brent Lilley heads to the West Coast to meet a couple

who have transformed some wild land into lush pastures

with the help of a team of Taege machines.

COVER STORY TAEGE

farmtrader.co.nz | 2120 | farmtrader.co.nz

TAEGETAMED BY

Brent Lilley heads to the West Coast to meet a couple

who have transformed some wild land into lush pastures

with the help of a team of Taege machines.

COVER STORY TAEGE

farmtrader.co.nz | 2120 | farmtrader.co.nz

Travelling far and wide across the country for Farm Trader not only takes me to some stunning locations, but also gives me the opportunity to

meet some great farming families. On a recent trip, I headed to the wild West Coast of the South Island and into Haupiri, a stunning valley at the foot hills of the Southern Alps. There I caught up with Murray and Gaye Coates who have developed an impressive property in a somewhat challenging environment.

Back in 1998, the Coates bought 420 hectares of the family farm with only half of that land in grass. The couple were running sheep, beef and deer so there was plenty of scope for expansion. They began developing the flats alongside the Ahaura River which were covered in scrub and gorse and hiding some seriously stony country.

By 2008 they had made the decision to convert to dairy and since then there has been a major development programme of fencing and regrassing which has seen the milking platform grow to over 330 hectares and the herd up to 800 cows this year.

Cultivator As Murray was breaking in new ground he

began looking for a cultivator as an economical way to work up his turf, but it had to be able to handle the tough conditions found in the Haupiri Valley. After trying several brands that couldn’t quite handle the pace, it was by

chance that he stumbled across the Taege cultivator. Murray was driving across the Canterbury Plains when he spotted the cultivator at work. He was immediately impressed, by the machine, so impressed in fact that I’m told he almost ran off the road trying to get a good look at it. Convinced it was the machine for him, he didn’t muck around and was soon the proud owner of a Taege six-metre cultivator which was put to work immediately.

The machine ticked all the boxes for Murray – it was simple and easy to set up, yet very effective. The heavy-duty galvanised box section frame is incredibly robust, the outer wings can be folded up to keep the transport width under three metres and uses a simple slotted hole system which allows the wings to float and follow the contours. When it comes to the tines on the cultivator I always feel like I’m giving away a trade secret, but I’m pretty sure the secret must be out by now, the box

section cross members that the S-shaped spring steel tines are mounted to, are rotated to the front of the machine which causes the tip to follow behind the mounting point. This has two key effects, firstly it sets the tip of the tine at an aggressive angle causing it to pull itself into the ground, and secondly it allows a greater distance of travel for the tine to follow the ground regardless of the contour. A row of spring steel harrow tines across the back of the machine do an excellent job levelling and further breaking up clods.

Post driver Murray willingly admits it’s not an easy life

for a post driver on his property. “I’ve destroyed a few in the past. At one point we used a rock breaker on a digger to spike the holes in front of the post driver just to get the posts into the tough river gravel.”

For Murray it was a no brainer to consider a Taege post driver after his experience with the well-built and robust Taege cultivator. He wasn’t disappointed by what he found and settled for the Taege Contractor post driver.

Everything about the Taege Contractor is built tough. From the bottom up some seriously heavy-duty steel has been incorporated into the design. A hydraulically folding 4.6-metre hinged mast is built from a double box section beam for greater rigidity and the hammer is a single piece of solid steel. The shaft runs up the centre of the mast between the box section beams. Hydraulic side shift gives up to 300mm of sideways movement and a unique end shift system uses a large steel cylinder as the king pin allowing the mast to not only tilt side to side hydraulically but also move front to back which makes lining up the post a breeze. By far the

most valuable feature for Murray has definitely been the heavy-duty 90mm diameter rock spike which is fitted to the machine and he uses on almost every post.

Drill and tyre rollerThe Coates’s saw a great opportunity to

lease a 220 hectare property just down the road from the farm as a runoff to grow their replacement heifers and winter cows. However the land was in less than ideal condition with most areas of grass overrun with rushes and weeds along with plenty of gorse. To make the opportunity work for them, they needed to find an economical and efficient way to get new grass and crops established. As you’ve probably guessed, they turned straight to Taege and this time it was a 3.6-metre twin box drill and matching tyre roller that was added to their growing collection of Taege machines.

Murray says his Taege drill and sprayer (not a Taege – they haven’t started building sprayers yet) are a dream team and are currently the two most important machines on the farm. On the run off he can simply spray out the paddocks and drill them with consistently impressive results. Paddocks that were sown with Agriseeds Shogun last spring and autumn have transformed into lush, healthy, green sward that according to Murray

Taege 3.6m twin box drill

Renewed pasture

Murray and Gaye Coates with their Taege drill

BEFORE

AFTER

COVER STORY COVER STORY

22 | farmtrader.co.nz

TAEGE

farmtrader.co.nz | 23

TAEGE

just won’t stop growing. He says cows are being wintered on healthy crops of swedes and also oats. When comparing an undeveloped paddock of clumpy patchy grass with rushes it’s plain to see the gains that can be made.

So why does the drill perform so well? It’s built on the same principles as with all Taege machines – simple and strong. It has a robust galvanised frame that will stand the test of time and a simple yet very effective gravity seed box which uses an electronic metre system for ease of operation and accuracy. Once again the real secret to the success of the drill is with the tines. As with the cultivator, the box section that the S-tines are mounted to is rolled to the front providing excellent ground penetration and contour following. A thin yet incredibly tough tungsten tip is used on the seed boot and this setup opens a thin slot, just as a knife would which seed is sown into. It is the tilth that is created in this process that is key in the early stages of plant establishment, again a row of steel harrow tines follow behind the drill to insure all seed is covered.

Interestingly Murray never really thought he had much of a slug problem until it was suggested that they might be causing more damage than he imagined to his new grasses. Once again the team at Taege had the answer with a small slug bait box fitted to the back of the drill to distribute pellets while drilling. The results where immediate and the establishment rate of his crops improved remarkably. He also firmly (pun intended) believes in the matching width tyre roller towed behind the drill. Seed to soil contact is important in the establishment of any crops and the unique Taege roller with tires in two rows mounted on bogey axles enables impressive ground following while delivering a firm flat finish whether direct drilling or on cultivated ground.

SummaryFor me, it was great to get out and actually

meet the people on the ground using the machines. In my non-biased opinion, farmers tend to be an honest bunch and are usually more than happy to point out the merits and faults of any machine. Murray was quick to point out that regardless of what brand of machine you use, you always need good back up service and the Taege team have always been there, whatever his request. The results on the Coates property speak volumes and it was great to see it for myself. The Taege machines have had some fairly tough ground to contend with and have stood up to the challenge. The seed drill in particular has provided a very effective, yet economical solution to developing a challenging property.

It’s built on the same

principles as with all Taege

machines.

The Coates’s Haupiri Valley farm

Taege postdriver

Grazing on winter swede crop

Taege 6.0m Cultivator resting with West Coast stones

Healthy crop of oats for winter grazing

WWWFor more

machinery tests, visit

farmtrader.co.nz

COVER STORY TAEGE COVER STORYTAEGE

farmtrader.co.nz | 2524 | farmtrader.co.nz

Drills – Tyre rollers – CulTivaTors – PosTDrivers – snow Plows – CusTom BuilDs

Trevor Goodeve 027 222 6050 sales@taege.com www.taege.com

A Ground Breaking Company Since 1923

want the best results? renew your pasture with

- Flexible ‘S’ tynes with hard wearing tungsten tips for excellent penetration.- Strong, hot dipped galvanised framing, protecting your investment.- Creates outstanding tilth for higher strike rates.- Computerised sponge metering system providing fast, easy and accurate calibration.

drills