phil phoenix

Not sure what caught my eye in this picture😄

Another selection of pictures from the Cereals Event.

I took quite a few on the 2nd day as it was much quieter. I spent fair time in the Fendt 728 cab, have to say I can see why people rave about them, really nice fit and finish, even the arm rest is covered in a nice suede material. Took a few pics too. Did the same with New Holland T7.300 which was also nice but not as impressive as the german tractor in the cab. The Fendt Rep I spoke too said that 250 tractors are on order for the first year starting with around 30+ demonstrators arriving now. Then the rest start being built after August's Fendt holiday complete's. 100+ customer orders rising every day coupled with stock machines makes up 250. Interestingly he reckoned only 8 were smaller machines than 728, six were 726's and two were new shape Gen 7 724's. Everyone wants the flagship.

More pics to follow in part 2.

I visited Cereals today, beautiful day and some great kit to view. Some old stuff and lots of new gear😎

After a hectic and late Maize planting campaign due to wet weather, we got finished in very late May. However once it finally stopped raining it now wont start again and I am pleased I kept the order for a new irrigation drum open when it seemed the rain wouldn't stop! That will be our only purchase until the autumn once we have properly evaluated the new Fendt 728. We liked the Valtra Q but need to demo the Fendt to compare. Our dealer TNS informed me that first deliveries had taken place of the 728 and that in total they had 21 of them on order with just 2 delivered!! Our three existing 700s are doing just fine and plenty of digestate has been delivered by them to farmers fields. This coming week we will be recovering the final off site maize crop from 2022 which is stored in poly tunnels and not accessible by articulated lorry. One of our Fendts and our main contractors new Massey 8S will be undertaking haulage duties. Bill decided to part with his 7726S which had 6000 hours on the clock & buy a second 8S.265 to improve efficiencies. The 8S is considerably more fuel efficient and with the security of a long work contract with us Bill decided to get another. This one will be doing both trailer work and in furrow ploughing in the late autumn & winter and so has been specced on 650/65/R42s for those tasks. Its also an eco shift version with the dual clutch and although other users have had issues Bill's tractor has been fine, also MF have made mods to the new machines leaving Beauvais so all should be well. Next month baling will start on our customers barley fields and the new New Holland baler will be let lose, probably behind Bills MF8740S as it will need plenty of grunt on some of our steeper land.

Well a few years ago I would have agreed with you sean, but everything changes. Certain colour changes look very good, like NH Blue Power colour. Black looks good on most brands, just like the 8S below which has finally surfaced, but in most case's the traditional colour has the edge. To my surprise I must say that the white/grey cab on white body colour Massey 8S looks nicer than the black cab on the black body 8S 225 tractor below.

I say well done to MF, and to be honest when their stable mates are Valtra & Fendt who both produce tractors in many colours i'm not surprised they have jumped on the bandwagon. Even so I have seen very few different colour Fendts at the local dealers over 10 years so I don't expect MF to emulate Valtra any time soon in these parts.

Made up another MF 8S model, I wanted to put this on different running gear to the first one so I used local dealer TNS's brand new 8S.305 demonstrator for inspiration, which for some reason was put on 650/65 R42s which seemed a little small for 300hp, but probably ideal for in the furrow work. I used rear wheels & weights off a 7726S, kept the front rims and put the lovely detailed trelleborg 650/65/R42-----540/65/R30s off a New Holland 7.225 Also picked up a beat up 8740S on the cheap and transfered its smart marker warning boards to the 8S just like the real thing.

Can't tell you Paul, you would pinch my plans for it😄

If you scroll up Sean, you will see a black one on TNS lorry in their yard, no sign of that one at the show. I will be investigating at the dealers tomorrow. I've only just got to liking the reds ones!! Always the same when something radical follows after a very familiar machine design. Most aren't ready for it, especially me😁 But the 8S has finally arrived on local farms and once again looks nicer in the fields than on the internet. The white one looks really nice too.

The JD4450 is mostly good, and what,s not can be changed, corrected or improved.

Very nice model, evokes memories of watching Dalham estates 4 machines working together in the early 70s.

But why paint it green? Theyve gone from the most visible colour going for hedgecutting on potentially hazardous roads, to least visible?? Makes no sense to me.

Hey Guys, Look whats just arrived in my local MF Dealers yard. Photo taken through the fence. Massey 8S in black, black cab, wheels and Nokian tyres. Someone must have bought it for me to just drive on the roads as a pimp mobil😎

Heres Agribales lineup of tractors for 2023 baling season. Wish I hadn't sold my MF big baler now.

Valtra are part of the AGCO group and are the most individualistic brand on the market. Fendt also offer choice but are reknowned for the quality and innovation of their machines.

The biggest Fendt farm in my locality were back in my village yesterday completing spud planting in a field that had gotten to wet finish 2 weeks ago. So one by one they departed the outlying field and passed my front window on the way out of the village. First went the three big machines handling ridging and bed forming duties, a new shape 936, an older gen 5 936 and then the mighty MT943 tracked. Up next the newish JCB 542-70 th pulling one of the flat trailers with spud boxes, then the new 722 pulling the other. About 30 minutes later a 720 on very wide wheel settings with a 3 bed destoner or similar brought the village to a standstill as motorists drove along the sidewalks to get by!! And finally a 4yr old 724 pulling the Grimme trailed planter...............phew!!

In response to CASE's planned 700hp futuristic looking Quadtrac......

And the latest adition sat in the dealers yard a month ago waiting delivery.

G Shropshires known as Gs Salads have multi thousand acres of land with many different makes of tractors, owned & hired in. On one farm near Wissington Beet factory they have a fleet of at least a dozen green Valtra's, Ns & Ts, here are some of the photo's from recent years.

Just copied this picture of John Bownes Q305 Demonstrator at work, very smart colours😎

Pull off the front hubs with pliers to reveal screw heads Joe. Then get a small flat head screwdriver and ease it under the the rear wheels grey hub cap and it will just pop off. The rears are screwed on as well, so unscrew and remove the wheels. Heat the wheels in hot water to easily remove tyres and fit something else😄

Heres a Valtra T just pulling into TNS yard whilst I was checking out the new machines.

Hopefully UH will bring out a metallic red one next or blue or both😁