AgriLand paid a visit to Co. Kildare to meet the owner of a New Holland CX8.70 – a machine which is in the throws of its first harvest (but is the latest in a long line of New Holland combines on this farm).
We spoke to Derek Jordan (from Celbridge) on Saturday (July 27); he was busy cutting barley when we dropped by. John W Anderson produced this video (below).
Derek explained: “Our history with New Holland combines goes back to 1984; when we bought our first 8060.
“We’ve had six combines since. Next up was a TX32; then on to a TX64; and then we went to this design of a combine in 2004 – with a CX860. Our last combine was a CX8080 and I think that she – probably – was the best so far.
“You often hear the term ‘never had to put a spanner to it’. That’s exactly what we did with that machine – a fantastic combine. So this one has a lot to live up to!”
He continued: “Every eight years or so, we look at changing. Usually, we start with New Holland but we’re always open to new ideas.
“A John Deere dealership was pushing us to take on a ‘demo’, which we did. She was a fine machine. There was nothing wrong with it, but we just found ourselves going back to New Holland.
“One of the reasons is reliability; we always want somebody at the end of a phone. Armstrong Machinery – who we deal with – have always done that for us. That is the real reason we stay with New Holland.
It’s always about the back-up [service].
Derek went on to note that, when speaking to other farmers who have other makes, he finds that the New Holland is “a much cheaper combine to maintain, when you hear their stories…and what it’s costing them”.
He added: “We’ve already noticed that this combine is faster; she’s at least a kilometre-an-hour [1kph] quicker than the last model.”
He went on to describe some of the subtler changes that he’s noticed – thus far during the 2019 harvest.
He did bemoan the machine’s road-going width, however, saying: “She’s a little bit wide on the road. The cars are getting faster and people are less tolerant when we come out on the roads in July and August.
“I know the CR machine is narrower – the rotary combine. So maybe the six-walker machines could go that way in the future.”
He concluded: “The weather so far has been absolutely brilliant. We’re going to oats [next] from the barley and, then, straight into wheat. Let’s hope it all stays blue until the end of the harvest.”
