We visited a user of SIP grassland harvesting machinery and an agricultural contractor in Northern Ireland, Barry Reed.
Barry Reed runs a farm in County Fermanagh, they are sheep farmers but their main business is agricultural contracting, mainly in grassland. It has 5 employees and hires additional labour during the peak season. As this is a very rainy area, the long mowing season is mostly faced with harvesting a very heavy and dense grass mass on difficult terrain.
The specifics of the work in this area are very challenging, with long rainy periods of up to two weeks, during which time they cannot do much except maintenance work. Then the weather improves for a day or two, and they have to do as much as possible in as short time as possible, because extreme weather events are becoming more frequent. That is precisely why they needs bigger and, of course, more reliable machines. Through Farmec, SIP’s dealer in Ireland, he was introduced to SIP machines, specifically the HD line of machines, which offer larger working widths. He has therefore added two SIP machines to his extensive fleet of farm machinery, a SPIDER 1100|10 T trailed tedder and a STAR 1250|50 T four-rotary rake.
“I wanted bigger machines that would do the job, do it well and be reliable. The first machine we bought was a 10-rotor tedder, which amazed us with its excellent performance and design. It is themost useful tedder for transport on narrow roads and paths and for and entrances to small fields,” said Barry and added: “This 10-rotor tedder is extremely handy and flexible and we especially like the fact that it is simply designed, that there is no electricity and that the hydraulics are easy to use.”
Impressed by the tedder, he decided to buy a STAR 1250|50 T 4-rotor rake, about which he says: “We are very, very happy with this rake. It’s really powerful and easy to work with, that’s what also my employees have told me. It is extremely well made and of high quality.”
As Barry told us, another important factor in his decision to choose SIP machines was the outstanding support provided by SIP’s qualified technicians.
“SIP is a company that wants to do business, produces innovative and high quality machines, uses modern technology and provides strong support to dealers and importers,” said Barry, adding, ” SIP is a company that stands behind its dealers and importers and I really, really like that.”
Keywords: Grassland, harvesting, contractor, grass, rain, season, rake, tedder, raking, tedding, transport, large working widths
