Machinery news: Crops & Cultivation and TAMS II update

In this week’s machinery section, I look back at a massively successful Crops & Cultivation event in Oak Park last week and pick out some of the interesting pieces of kit from the show both from the demonstration plots and from the static displays.

In the vintage section, Peter Thomas Keaveney went south to Cork to the first-ever working day of the Irish County Tractor Owners Club and found a field full of seriously impressive classic old blues. The club ran a very successful event and it was great to see so many old county variants at work.

In motoring, I report on a week I spent at the wheel of the Skoda Kodiaq seven-seater SUV. I found it to be a really good option for people who need the extra seating.

With the arrival of the second tranche of TAMS II Tillage on Saturday and the first sight of the specifications and reference costings early this week, we look at the main change – the inclusion of full fertilser spreaders with GPS control. It seems that the new specifications and costings for these machines will work in the main.

Full fertiliser spreaders in TAMS II

Under the second tranche of TAMS II, full fertiliser spreaders have come under the scheme. Both mounted and trailed spreaders are eligible.

Mounted spreaders from 1,000 litre capacity up to 4,500 litre capacity are covered under the scheme. These machines may be mounted on a bogey if desired. The reference cost for mounted machines is calculated in a similar way to the sprayers as the hopper/tank size is used to work out the reference cost. The equation is y =1.06x + 17,600.

For a 2,500 litre spreader the reference cost would be €20,250 ((1.06 x 2,500) +17,600).

For a trailed spreader, it is specified that the spreader must be over 5,500kg and the reference cost is a fixed €67,500.

This change to the scheme is a great improvement but there is still an issue in that spreaders between 4,500litres and 5,500 litres, either mounted or trailed, are not included.

Competition winner

Congratulations to Paul Noonan, Co Longford, who was the winner of the recent mower competition in the Irish Farmers Journal. Paul is pictured along with this father Larry receiving his prize of a brand New Kverneland TA 2624 mower from Allan Hetherington of Kverneland Group Ireland and John Mc Dermott of D&E McHugh, Paul’s local Kverneland dealer. Well done Paul and happy mowing for many seasons to come.

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FTMTA news round-up