Ireland has, proportionally, a large number of machinery dealerships. It is a network that is constantly expanding either through new firms joining the fray or via existing companies growing in size, as is the case with Atkins Farm Machinery.
Having opened a new depot in Birr, Co. Offaly, five years ago, the company has now moved into the combine harvester market which it sees as step towards offering its customer base a more complete range of Fendt products.
No small fry
Trevor Richardson, general manager for the Birr branch, believes that progressing towards a one-stop shop for all agricultural machinery is important in maintaining customer loyalty towards both Atkins as a dealer and Fendt as a brand.
Combine harvesters though, are big-ticket items and it is not a market segment that can be adopted overnight or on a whim; it’s more a question of easing oneself into it.
Atkins is not rushing into combine sales by filling the yard with shiny new machines and selling them cheap to establish a foothold. Instead, it brought in an ex AGCO demo machine from the UK and it is with this that they have been testing the waters over the last two seasons.
The machine in question is a Fendt 5255, part of the L series of mid-sized combines. When painted red it becomes the Massey Ferguson Activa.
160t/day
It is a five-walker machine which Trevor describes as being the ideal choice for farmers with between 300-450ac that they want to cut themselves.
He goes on to suggest that 40ac/day is a comfortable work rate in Irish conditions and has himself managed 45ac on a farm demo during one particular day last year.
This is not a combine for covering vast acreages, for that type of machine he would suggest the Ideal range, AGCO’s clever marketing ploy in creating an entirely new brand to cater for the top-end users and compete with the likes of the Claas Lexion.
For the immediate future, Trevor indicates that it is the mid-range series that Atkins will sell. These are the smaller E series of 218hp and the larger C series which have either a 306hp or 360hp engine.
Quality sample
The Fendt 5255L itself has a six-cylinder 260hp AGCO Power engine which matches the five walkers and twin drum system of the machine well, according to Trevor.
He adds that it is the cleanliness of the final sample which has attracted a good deal of praise from farmers and merchants alike.
A large part of the machines efficiency can be traced to the Powerflow header which does a neat job of directing the cut crop head-first into the augur, which then delivers it to the elevator and drum still in the lateral orientation.
This type of header is an optional extra but Trevor is a huge enthusiast of it, especially in lodged crops, and it is unlikely that he will be selling any machine that is not so equipped.
Two separators better than one
The main drum is 134cm in width on the smaller L series machines and it is followed by a faster turning, but smaller diameter secondary separator before being fed to the straw walkers.
All the various settings can be managed from the cab console. It is a matter of selecting the factory-installed settings for each crop and then fine-tuning them to match conditions.
There is no yield monitor fitted to this combine; grain loss is measured by the number that get through the system per square metre cut, rather than as a percentage of total yield.
Up for sale by Atkins
Having done three seasons on demo – the first of which was in the UK – and with around 200 hours on the clock, this machine is now up for sale at €185,000, plus VAT.
It is the first of many combines that Atkins Farm machinery hopes to sell in the coming years as it moves into providing customers with combine harvesters.
Trevor is adamant that the company is not out to specifically target any other brand or dealer, it simply wants to be in a position to supply its customers with a combine harvester from the same outlet that they are buying their tractors.