tm's suffolk hide away

[Tractorman810]

well just come back from my regular week in suffolk, staying on a working pig farm called athelington hall, a 350 acre arable and 1600 on average pig herd

familly owned since 1990 but run before that on a manageral staus by the same family

first up his tractors

ford 4000 owned from new, doors still with it ect, now used for grass topping arround the lodges and grass areas

next his ford 2000 ,again from new, and like the 4000 untouched mechainicy bar brakes and clutches  over the years, only change has been the loader, she was fitted with a ford one?? but that broke one season bale moving so a mf 80 loader has been fitted

as long as our familly has known them they have been ford men as was his dad before him, so no surprise that he also runs a 03 plate nh tm140

and sadly one i didnt get to see, a superb 2wd 6640, which was on loan to his brother doing his garden

and until 3 years ago he also ran as his main draft work tractor a early nh tm190, however it became very problematic, so he traded it in, and in  a real shock, after 3 test drive week of a jd 6930 (broke down 3 times which my uncle confirmed as he had a callout on one of them) a nh 6060 which he couldnt get on with despite his love of all things blue, and a mf 6480, he bought this new 6485 as his main tractor

[Tractorman810]

the ford nh theme goes on with his ford back hoe again ernest doe supplied from new

and his lovely tx34 combine owned from new

and in the bottom shed is his sons mk 1 mf 165 awaiting resto as hes become smitten by mf since they bought the 6485

[Tractorman810]

he also runs a matbro ts280 telehandler

and owns 2 bunnings spreaders that he hires out, they were down his neighbours awaiting their summer service ready for atums run out

something unusal now, as far as he knows the only one the renault dealer ever sold, a 16 ton grain trailer

he used to have a thing for ransomes kit to although bar these two thats all gone now

along with the plough thats still used on the tm as a extra set of hands, the main being the mf and a 6 furroiw dowdswell

[Tractorman810]

he bales everything in small bales with his claas baler and a browns flat 10 sledge, and still uses the bamfords wuffler if needed to turn straw

klongside i belive harrows

no idea what make this is, but its a fair size machine for a non folding type, has transport wheels the other end

his new sulky spreader

[Tractorman810]

a few shots on his neighbours place, runs 2 belarus tractors and this very well kept mf 525 super 11 combine,

[Tractorman810]

one of the farm its pretty unusal layout wise for that way, was built on the old dispersal area of horam usaf base from ww2, mai nsite was grass, but they left the strip of concrete down which they built along, as its tight width wise infront  he has a clever system of gates ect down the back of the pig units, which he moves stuff arround in, and a purpose built loading area in the top end where trucks can turn easier, and his barley crop thats well away, he said hes been pretty lucky in getting very heavey dews overnight despite the lack of rain, althou the sunday and last night he had real good rain, so much so his water supply was 1/3rd full when we left ,

[jordantaylor]

very nice, two great farms with some real machinery, the combines are probably my favorite, love the well looked after working classic machinery

its nice to see farms like this as all i work with is lots of modern kit, i almost miss the days of trundling up and down my uncles fields on the mf 35x turning hay

keep the photos coming

[Jdeere6910]

Nice photos Sean, well kept fleet for a pig farm too. The orange and black thing is a prescision drill for sugar beet, kale etc I think its made by Stanhay that paticular one, not too sure though 

[Tractorman810]

it is jordan, theres a good few gone mind since last year , did also see a big tracked jd with horsch drill on, but that was to far away to get a pic, intresting thing is, hes talking about trading the tm in now, for another mf either a top end 54?? series, or a smallish 64 series, hes that taken with them,  which to turn a life long ford familly takes some doing, he just doesnt get on with the current nh's for some reason, cant put his hand on hwy but the mfs hes well taken with, but he did say the combine and old girls will never go, inc his 6640

[Deere-est]

There's a lorry load of gear or more for me to collect up there, Sean!!! Digger, 2x Belarus, 2x Fords, Claas baler. .. I'll be up next week!!  :laugh:

Nice lot of machinery up there, Sean. I take it the MF has a puncture - hence a good reason NOT to leave the header attached as you can twist the feeder house like that  Plenty to see there, do you get a little drive in anything or are you purely paying guests?

[Tractorman810]

dont get to drive usally, although he has said if i am there harvest time any year i can help, he does also have a pair of 8 ton marstonsas well ,one in better nick than the other, ones on the tm every year, the others the backup for the 6640 if needed or a muck trailer, the mf165, well bar the missing badge one side, is mint nearly penny style if not better, again they have the doors for the cab to no punctures on it either

as for the 625 ,no she is ok, just thew barn floor is basicly soil so very pitted, its not the best kept farm i must say,

[Lord Ferguson]

Some nice kit there mate... It's good to see a real time example of MF's comeback to dominate the tractor market.. just a pity they don't make combines like that Super II anymore though  :'(

Look like you had a good holiday then mate

[Tractorman810]

i know mate, saw a good few 5 and 600 series working to,great week actually, sunny every day at first, then grey thursday wet yesterday afternoon / this morn when we left

[Lord Ferguson]

Good or you mate.... must be nice to get away from it all... and you were well lucky with the weather as well 

[Tractorman810]

it is mate, smell of the pigs was amazing, just like the old days, only hitch was sues dad was taken into hospital on wednesday sadly, awaiting the results for monday

[Lord Ferguson]

Oh bloody hell mate.... Not good... fingers crossed that he's ok then mate  :'(

[Light Land]

Some nice kit there mate... It's good to see a real time example of MF's comeback to dominate the tractor market.. just a pity they don't make combines like that Super II anymore though  :'(

Look like you had a good holiday then mate

2nd that.

Nice topic Sean.

[Tractorman810]

also managed to get these pics while away, shame it was at the zoo, but it still took some taking using the high speed burst on the camera

[Jdeere6910]

Amazing pics Sean    did you swing the camera with the flight of the bird or just point and shoot? Really amazing creatures, both in the wild and 'domesticated' did you get a chance to have it sit on your arm or were you to old for that?

[Tractorman810]

thats moving the camera as its in flight past me, i am pretty amazed it stayed focused properly i must say, the other 4 or 5 in the run aint so good mind, as for arm sitting, no, we had the little ones  with us and he did say the birds can be spooked by them so he keeps away from anyone like that, so others had the fun sadly

[Barry]

Cracking photos Sean, thanks for sharing 

[nashmach]

Looks a nice spot there Sean 

[MF-ROB]

ah nice to see a man turn to the red side ha ha!

A very nice place to spend a few sunny afternoons i would love one of them claas 65 square balers to go my MF3085 

Hope you had a good time there would like to go there my self

[Leakeyvale]

Sean that photo of the owl (the second one) should be sent to Countryfile for their calendar photo comp.  Stunning picture

[Tractorman810]

never thought of that sue, although its a tad blured , the first one is actually looking at the camera  and seems a bit better focused, just the owls to one side of the shot sadly