With more grass cut and picked up this week, registrations of new self-propelled forage harvesters are beginning to gather pace. Figures released by the FTMTA indicate that 22 such machines had been registered by the end of April.

One point which is interesting to note is that the current level of registrations is the same as the total number for the full year of 2012

Last year was a bumper year for foragers, with just shy of 60 new machines registered. Numbers were expected to fall this year, but to what extent is still unknown as May is always a strong month for forager registrations. One point which is interesting to note is that the current level of registrations is the same as the total number for the full year of 2012.

Teleporter registrations

The current coronavirus pandemic seems to be heavily affecting teleporter registrations. The 50% year-on-year drop in March escalated even more in April when the level of monthly registrations fell to just seven units, a drop of 75% on April 2019. This brings the total number of teleporters registered during the January to April period to 196 units, a drop of 20% on last year.

Most tractors are registered online

“While it is likely that an effectively suspended construction sector is impacting on these numbers, the fact that the NCT centres have been closed since the end of March is another contributing factor.

“Most tractors are registered online but an element of teleporter registrations would be done physically at NCT centres”, explained Gary Ryan, chief executive of the FTMTA.

There were 12 wheeled loader registrations in April, a drop of five units on April 2019.

Despite this drop, total loader registrations in the first four months have increased by 21% on last year to 57 units.

Meanwhile, there were no registrations of backhoe loaders during April, leaving the total for the year to date at 19 units, down from 35 in 2019.