Handling the lot! How one farmer can’t do without his most precious asset

Richard Albutt and his family run a 500-acre mixed stock unit at Postlip Hall Farm, Winchcombe, near Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, UK. In addition to 300 store cattle, there are 1500 breeding ewes, 400 ewe lambs and 1000 store lambs. Maize, fodder beet and barley are grown for the farm’s own use.

Clearly, a telehandler is a ‘must have’ piece of machinery for such an enterprise. Two years ago Richard decided to invest in a new MF 9306, trading in his older MF model.

“We quickly found substantial improvements in almost every department, most noticeably in the amount of power available,” Richard reports. “Also, we’ve got some pretty tight working areas here, and, being the smallest model in the current Massey Ferguson range, the MF 9306 gives us very good manoeuvrability, together with brilliant capacity and good reliability. In short, it handles everything.”

When all the cattle are in, and with the ewes to follow, the crucial task of delivering feed means the MF 9306 is a very busy machine over the winter, when loading the Keenan feeder and clearing muck out of the sheds represent the main tasks.

Richard is also very pleased with the quality of service he receives from his local Massey Ferguson dealership, JJ Farms, at nearby Gretton, which he describes as “excellent.” Reliable back-up Is high on his list of requirements and he believes he gets this.

“Unlike some other machinery manufacturers, that appear to be moving towards dealing direct with the customer nowadays, Massey Ferguson’s network of dealers is becoming even more highly-valued,” Richard observes. “I like to know that in the event of a problem arising, I can go to ours 24/7.

The MF 9306 is the most-used machine at Postlip Hall, running up an average of 1300 hours a year. “Out of all the machines here, it would be the last to go!” Richard comments.