Innehållsförteckning för September 2025 från Profi

No, you’re not going mad. We already tested the 6R250 in our 08/2018 issue … or the 6250R as it was back then. So, seven years on, has this best-seller managed to mature still further since our initial assessment? Read our exclusive tractor test on page 14 to find out. Last month I was questioning whether grants or subsidies on machinery are a good thing. Yes, everyone likes to have a little extra off, yet the resulting short boom in demand is a double-edged sword, as explained at last week’s Kuhn press launch for the firm’s new products due to debut at Agritechnica. One of the people tasked with looking after our press group is the sales manager for Italy and Scandinavia. When chat turned to the current state of…

The Minsk Tractor Works (MTZ) has developed the prototype of what is claimed as the world’s most powerful conventional rigid chassis tractor; the Belarus 542hp Titan 5425. Under the bonnet, the 13.5-litre Chinese Weichai Stage IIIa six-pot turbocharged block develops 2450Nm of torque at 1,500rpm. Mated to an 18x6 speed hydromechanical box with electro-hydraulic control, the result is said to provide uninterrupted gear changing up to the top speed of 40km/hr, and the 900-litre fuel tank is said to be sufficient for 10 hours of operation. The engine, hydraulics and tyres are outsourced, but more than 80% of the parts used to make the 5425 are of Belarusian origin. These include the frame, powertrain, cab, electronics and precision farming systems. Still in tests, and there is no information as to…

The Xtra name is back at Massey Ferguson as it freshens up the 8S series. It is more about refinements than a complete revamp, with no changes to the quoted power outputs of the six models, which still span a nominal 205-305hp. Instead, there have been improvements to the software, to give better performance from the Dyna-7 and Dyna-E transmissions, and the introduction of self-preservation into the mix as well, where constant flicking between gear ranges and working through powershift steps led to unnecessary ratio movements. Now if you operate Dyna-E in auto mode, it will look to miss out overlapping powershifts so, rather than stepping through the total of 28 powershift steps, (four ranges, sevenpowershifts) it will only utilise 21 in field and 22 in road mode. For instance,…

While there’s nothing new in the practice of shallow ploughing, it’s a technique that has never really taken a grip as a mainstream cultivation approach. Consequently, manufacturers of these niche inversion tillage tools have come and gone but a few players remain steadfast in the game. French manufacturer Bugnot continues to have a decent following in its home market with its RapidLab skim plough but due to the small numbers shifted this side of the Channel, importer ArbForest doesn’t run a demo machine. So, that leaves just two others - Ovlac and Kverneland. Last spring we asked each to supply us with their most popular shallow ploughs to assess just how well they work and how easy they are to set up. From the south Located in northern Spain, Ovlac…

The UK grass drill market has been bubbling away over the past few years as farmers look to boost their pasture performance and meet the needs of establishing herbal leys and SFI mixes. Wanting in on the action, KRM has had a word in the ear of drill maker Sola, for whom it’s the UK importer. The Spaniards have listened, coming up with the GS300. While it is a new machine, it does make use of a lot of the Spanish drill maker’s tried and tested seed sowing components. We caught up with one of the demo units a few weeks back in the Yorkshire Dales. This particular machine has 24 coulters and the smaller hopper capacity of 300 litres. While there may just be one working width of 3.00m,…

Farm workshops, very much like farms themselves, range wildly in both size and the levels of equipment available, often ranging from a small workbench tucked away in a quiet corner somewhere to a purpose-built unit full of metal forming gear. Regardless of which particular scenario you find yourself in, given basic tools, and, with a little patience and skill, even reasonably complex fabrication is possible. Talking from experience, armed only with a drill and grinder, I too have employed the ‘hillbilly lathe’ to shave a few mil off the occasional oversized pin. As proud as I may have felt, having snatched victory from the jaws of defeat, there is still nothing quite like having the right tool for the job, facilitating both precision and timeliness. One such fellow to have…

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Coombe End Farms is part of a diverse estate near Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, with enterprises including a 6000 tonne commercial grain store and Elkstone Studios, a new office park which offers the leisure facilities to make it a weekend destination too. The office park was built on the old farm site, so farming operations and the grain store have transferred to the former dairy 300m up the road. The 800ha estate has 450ha of combinable crops in hand, plus 160ha of land in SFI agreements. Contracting is an important strand of the business, on another 650ha, with all arable services offered. It is run by a small team of farm manager Martyn Thorn and operator Ben Harris, with help coming from Chris Thorn and Kevin Bullock as the season becomes busier,…

Not unlike a paramedic arriving at a crash scene, I have been prioritising what potentially life-threatening problems my Fendt has. There are those that are perfectly visible, with trails of vital fluids spilling everywhere, and those that the patient will tell you about by lighting up the dashboard. Falling firmly in the former category, the radiator has taken to holding its drink like a teenager — not well, leaving a mess and a headache. Stripped of its loader and tinwork, work could begin on dismantling the cooling pack, consisting of the removal of six other radiators/heat exchangers before I could get to the culprit. Years of operating in a dusty environment had created a substantial amount of debris to build up, eventually getting damp and allowing corrosion to set in.…

4 July Live Online Retirement Auction on Behalf of Heathland Management Services. Tractors, Machinery & Sundries. Yateley. Wellers Auctions, www.wellersauctions.com 5 July Monthly Live & Online Machinery Sale. Holsworthy Livestock Market, Holsworthy, Devon EX22 7FA. Kivells, tel: 01409 253253. Dispersal Auction. West End Farm. Vintage Tractors, Equipment, Barn Finds, Bygones, Workshop Tools, Mowers, Signs, Cars, Gates. Barry L Hawkins, tel: 01366 367180. Farm Machinery Sale. Brattleby House, Brattleby, Lincoln LN1 2SQ. Perkins George Mawer, tel: 01673 843011. 7-8 July Cambridge Machinery Sale. The Saleground, Sutton, Ely, Cambridge CB6 2QT. Cheffins, tel: 01353 777767. 7-10 July Monthly Online Machinery Collective Auction. Voyce Pullin, www.voycepullin.co.uk 10 July Onsite Auction of 8 Agricultural Tractors, including 5 Caterpillar Challengers, 2 Telescopic Loaders, Self Propelled Sprayer, Implements & Machinery. Lincolnshire PE24 5NS. Cheffins, tel: 01353…

The Canadian-made Versatile Nemesis will make its European debut at Agritechnica in November. The Cummins-powered range comprises five models from 175 to 255hp. According to German dealer magazine Eilbote, the arrival of the Nemesis this side of the Atlantic is part of a push by the Canadian manufacturer, and its new owner, European ASKO Group, to grow its European presence. A 30fx15r powershift is standard on the 175, 195 and 210, and the ZF CVT on the 235 and 255 is optional on the three smaller models. Rear lift capacity of the 175, 195 and 210 is 7.05t. This increases to 7.4t on the 235 and 255 (8.8t optional). Versatile sees the addition of the Stage V tractors to the European portfolio as a way to target new customers, and…

The six- to eight-furrow Lemken Diamant 18 is believed to be the only single-wheel semi-mounted plough on the market that can be combined with an integrated furrow press as standard. The inclusion of the furrow press on the new in-furrow plough was made possible by tweaking the design of the transport wheel and moving it behind the base frame. The FlexPack furrow press can be hydraulically pressurised to adapt to different soils, and each pair of rings is suspended individually from spring steel elements. It can also be used together with the plough’s OptiStone hydraulic overload protection system. Designed for tractors of up to 650hp, the Diamant 18 is available in small numbers this year. Full series production will start in 2026.…

Seven years have passed since our last JD 6250R tractor test in profi 8/2018. Back then we went with the headline ‘That Vario feeling’, as it wasn’t hard to see who Deere was targeting. And it has had some considerable success. Yet those crafty folk from Marktoberdorf have been doing some hunting of their own of the Mannheim-created deer, and, should the rumours be true, more hunters are soon to be added to the pack. Anyway, the 6R250 is fundamentally still the same tractor as it was then, but John Deere has learned a few lessons. So let’s take a look at the arguments put forward for the 'experienced' 6R250. Under the bonnet is the familiar six-cylinder, 6.8-litre motor armed with two turbochargers and a rated output of 250hp, which…

Stoll has packed a whole host of operator-friendly features into its ISObus Connected system. While none are absolutely essential, half an hour into using a ProfiLine FZ46-29 on the nose of a JCB Fastrac 4220 it was clear there is more to the set up than the features that come as a package with this ISObus system. Even a ham-fisted joystick jockey can become a smooth operator. ISObus Connected can be set up to operate in different ways to match specific tractor models, but for most the loader will be operated via the secondary joystick that is part and parcel of many modern tractor controls. A few tweaks and operating the loader in its simplest mode will have most operators up and running with very little in the way of…

Sometimes our driving impression articles are rigorously planned; other times we just happen to stumble upon a machine in a dealer’s yard that we think looks an interesting tool. This is one of those occasions, having seen the Agriweld Min-Dis outside the door of Irish distributor, Cooney Furlong Machinery. Over the past eight or so years, Agriweld has been honing its compaction alleviating minimum disturbance leg design, so it now has a broad variety of pan-busting tools to suit different scenarios. These include the following: ● Mantis: front-mounted soil loosener. ● Assist: rear-mounted, positioned between the tractor and cultivator. Also available as the ASL, which previously lacked the ● Assist’s leading discs, making it closer coupled. This is now available with row cleaners. ● Prevent: Another variation on the Assist,…

was looking for a cultivator that I could use for seedbed preparation, fighting the European corn borer beetle, the sowing of cover crops and for carrying out regular rolling work. Since I couldn’t find a machine that ticked all of these boxes, I decided to build one myself. To begin with, I bought brand new prisma rings, a new seeder and several hydraulic rams. The axle, the 13.0/75-16 wheels and the knife roller, which was cut down to the required size, are used items. I made the frame myself using 800 x 800 x 10mm box section. I also cut out all of the plates for the chassis, the fold system etc., with a plasma cutter. After welding and painting the frame I assembled the various parts. The crossboard and…

Tyre specialist Herwig Kühne is a fountain of knowledge, because for around 50 years he has been been advising customers on suitable tyre combinations. We also spoke to Stefan Rössler, of Michelin, who’s responsible for product and application technology for the firm’s agricultural tyres. The challenge — getting the lead ratio Perhaps the most important point about swapping or fitting new tyres is to ensure that the front wheels have the correct lead. Lead means that the front wheels cover the same distance slightly faster than the rear wheels when four-wheel drive is engaged. This configuration enhances the tractor’s drawbar power in the field and protects both the tyres and driveline. Each tractor maker specifies the maximum lead amount as a percentage that relates to the number of rotations of…

When Derbyshire livestock farmer and contractor Neil Green and wife Sarah gained planning permission in 2018 to convert one of their farm buildings into their home, the pair believed that bringing power to the farm through the local utilities supplier would be simple and straightforward. Not so. Bringing power up from the nearby village of Tansley, over a distance of around half a mile to reach Oxclose Farm was going to set them back an eye-watering £100,000. An alternative supply route, running across a neighbour’s two fields from an existing pole was thought to be a more favourable solution. That was until the neighbour’s land agent sought to leverage an easement of around £60,000 for the privilege of accessing power. “The greed involved actually did us a favour,” explains Neil…

If you have a story, or an event, please do get in touch: peterlove@madasafish.com, TEL: 01323 833125 As I write this in mid-June the weather has been just wonderful as I have visited various sales and shows up and down the county. Tractor Fest at Newby Hall, Ripon, North Yorkshire on 7-8 June was superb with 1,300 tractors attending. For those of you who like steam engines, can I recommend The Weald of Kent Steam Engine Rally at Woodchurch, near Ashford, Kent on 2-3 August. This year the event sees the Lambert of Horsmonden Gathering as its main feature. Chris had over 200 engines through his hands during his lifetime and over 50 are in preservation today. See more on this below. CHRIS LAMBERT AND HIS ‘OLD GENTLEMAN’ As editor…

The increasing success being enjoyed by English wines has seen a huge increase in the amount of land given over to vineyards across the South East. For farmers, the temptation to look for a piece of the action by taking a suitable area of gently sloping, south-facing land and converting it to growing grapes can be strong, but it’s not an easy decision. Establishing the vines and caring for them for the first few years comes with a significant cost, and while the future rewards may be temptingly high, the first few years can be expensive, not least in terms of the specialist machinery needed. Step forward Vitimech, a relatively new player in the world of viticulture but one with a mission to ease the transition from farmer to grape…

AGCO AND TAFE SETTLE DISPUTE The long running dispute between Agco and India’s Tafe (Tractors and Farm Equipment) is over. Terminating all outstanding agreements between the two parties, in short, the new one gives Tafe exclusive ownership of the Massey Ferguson brand in India, Nepal and Bhutan. Agco will sell its stake in Tafe back to the Indian company for US$260 million. Tafe remains a shareholder in Agco but has pledged not to increase its 16.3 percent share. The agreement has been submitted to the American stock market watchdog SEC. KRAMP-BRANDED PTO SHAFTS Manufactured by Comer, and marketed under the Kramp brand through its distribution network, the new range of pto shafts (T10 to T60 series) includes both with and without clutches. The black guards are said to provide higher…

Spread-a-Bale has extended its M range of straw spreading machines with the Mega. Designed to handle the largest bales, complete with Hardox wear plates to the front floor section and 1.3m high rotors, the Mega has the capacity to spread all bales - round up to 1.8m diameter while it also includes the XL body option giving it additional 300mm bed length to accommodate up to 2.8m-long rectangular bales. Requiring a handler with a minimum lift capacity of 3.0t, the Mega is able to load one bale in approximately one minute followed by a further minute to discharge and spread. The 2VR (two vertical rotors) head delivers an arc spread pattern up to 9.0m.…

Not only has Pöttinger got a beefy front tank/rear power harrow drill combi in its line-up, but it also has the Aerosem VT, a semi-mounted machine pitched at farms with medium to heavy soils. Subject of this month’s practical test is the 5.0m version, the VT5000 DD, which, along with the 6.0m combi model, was introduced in 2021. 5.0m and 6.0m machines It’s not just the hopper capacity that differs on the two Aerosem VT DD drills (the 5.0m is 2,800 litres, the 6.0m having 4,600l), but also the power harrow. Our VT 5000 was paired up with a Lion 503C, rated for up to 320hp. This has since been superseded by the Lion V5040 — still with four rotors per metre, but this now has a two-speed gearbox that…

There are several variations of Catros in the Amazone disc harrow range. Newest addition off the rank is the Pro, which is pitched at farmers and contractors wanting an off-the-peg slurryincorporating cultivator from the factory. It comes in working widths of 5.0m, 6.0m and 7.0m. Vogelsang supplies the macerator/distributor for these mounted units, which also benefit from special disc bearings to better match the corrosive nature of slurry. Less weight Last year, we went to see a Catros+ 7003-2 Pro in action with German farming business Althausen Agrarservice, in the Rhineland region, working down cereal stubble ahead of oilseed rape. The 7.0m wide disc harrow was mounted on a Kumm 16m³ tanker. The farm opted for the double following harrow, which allows it to evenly distribute chopped straw and still…

When discussing used ‘first generation’ Axion 800 tractors back in 2014, it would be fair to say we found used models could be more ‘affordable’, pro-rata, than competitive alternatives. Does this apply a decade on to second gen Axion 800 tractors? Bad news used buyers. Axion 800 Stage IV and Stage V models command stronger money. This is partly due to new tractor prices, but these second generation FTP engine Axion 800 tractors have earned their spurs in the market, with a proven dependability record. Where problems with these tractors have arisen, (there doesn’t seem to a general big expense problem area), Claas dealers have typically been quick to resolve them, the factory also having made detail changes to resolve any recurrent troubles. Users suggest Axion 800 tractors are solid…

Over nearly fifteen years, Brookside Farming has transitioned from a low-input New Zealand style setup to a high-input, high-output herd. Located outside Chester, on the edge of the Cheshire and North Wales border, the herd varies from 850 to 900 cows, with between 740 and 750 milking at any one time. “The investment we’ve put into the farm drove the change, it’s a productive space, and needed the approach to match,” points out owner, Peter Cope. As part of its move to higher yielding cows, the farm has been using World Wide Sires throughout to shape the Holstein Friesian base herd to an efficient genetic line that has resilient health, good breeding and high milk yield,” that Peter is happy with. Heifer replacements are contract reared off-site due to space…

If you thought the four-pot 620 was expensive in last month’s issue, then hold my beer. Fendt’s all-electric, 70hp E107S starts at an eye-watering £198,000 for the boggy-basic Profi-specification. And that’s before you tick your way through the options list, or choose the Profi+ model. Adding front linkage and pto, plus a host of other goodies, including a loader that was sat on its parking stands, cranks the heat up to £236,720 for this featured example. For those concerned about the reliability and longevity of the EV tractor’s components, there’s some security in the knowledge that Fendt will provide an eightyear, 8,000-hour warranty. Extended warranty costs £2.46/hour, pushing the ecofriendly tractor’s price tag over £250,000. Let that sink in. Model choice The E100 series comprises two models – the full-size,…

Let’s get straight to the point, because a lot is happening in here: the office accommodation we are talking about is the cab of the Valtra S280. Indeed, the huge cab was a key talking point when the S-Series was launched in 2002 — things like the back window, which wrapped around the corners for a less interrupted view, or side console with its colour screen that was also ultra-modern at the time. To see how it has aged, we’ll also take a look inside the cab of the current Valtra Boss. But let’s take one detail at a time. Admission to the upper class For tractor maker Valtra, which was still part of the Partek Group in 2002, the S-Series was a real landmark. This was the first time…

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