Farm Favourites

This is your chance to give your best classics the praise they deserve. Send us details and pictures and tell us why you’ve been so impressed by the performance and reliability of your favourite tractor, harvester or loader. We’ll do the rest!

VERY LOYAL

ZETOR USER E-MAIL: editor@classictractormagazine.co.uk WRITE TO: Farm Favourites, CLASSIC TRACTOR, Sundial Magazines, Zetors have long been favourites with Welsh hill other light tasks in support of his flock of Lleyn ewes Sundial House, famers, with some dealers achieving a 20 per cent market share in their areas with the Czech brand and a few Jacobs. Hubert originally bought his Zetor 6045 to use in 17 Wickham Road, Beckenham, Kent BR3 5JS back in the 1970s. Hubert Davies, with 50 years of his contracting business. He had carried out silage using Zetors under his belt, is certainly one of those making and other work, but in the 1990s he gave up farmers who favours the brand. the silage side of the business and concentrated on

His first Zetor, a four-wheel drive 5545, was two hedge trimming. The 6045 had been bought to use on years old when he purchased it second-hand in 1971. a hedge trimmer and it continued to work in that As well as hedge trimming, this Zetor has also been This tractor survived a reduction sale of machinery that capacity until Hubert changed the trimmer for another used on a mower and a small baler. Nowadays, took place in 2001, this following Hubert’s earlier machine that was too heavy to use on his Zetor. Hubert’s Zetor 5545 does the baling with a venerable decision to cease silage contracting. Another of the He originally owned two 6045 models, one of which Allis-Chalmers baler. tractors he retained is the four-wheel drive 1983 Zetor was sold. The tractor line-up on Hubert’s farm is completed 6045 you see here. This particular machine, first registered A388 OVJ by a T-plate Zetor Crystal 8045, which was originally

Hubert, who farms near Llanigon, just below Y in November 1983, is a late example of the 6045 model used to drive a forage harvester, but now does the Twmpa hill, part of the Black Mountain range on the that was built at the Zetor plant in Brno, Czechoslovakia, muck spreading, and a younger Deutz-Fahr DX4.57 that Welsh border, says he likes Zetors because they are from 1980 to 1984. OVJ is a Herefordshire registration, runs a log splitter. economical to run and also very handy on his upland so this tractor hasn’t travelled very far from its original hill farm. The Czechoslovakian tractors were also owner. Although Hubert’s upland farm is in Wales, cheaper to buy as well as being simple to repair it has a Hereford postal address. whenever there was a need for some spanner work. He isn’t sure how many hours his Zetor 6045 has

He can’t remember exactly when he bought his done in total as its clock stopped at 2100 hours many four-wheel drive Zetor 6045, but it was well over 20 years ago. With its heavy workload of hedge and verge years ago. The 38-year old classic is still gainfully cutting, the hour tally must be well into the multiples of employed on his all-grass upland farm, turning and thousands. Certainly, it has done enough work to see rowing-up grass during the summer, and carrying out off two clutches.

Above: In a scene straight out of the 1980s, Hubert Davies teds silage with his faithful Zetor 6045 and PZ Zweegers Haybob. Left: This 1983 Zetor 6045 is still one of Hubert Davies’s main working tractors on his all- grass hill farm in east Wales.

Left: The boom on this Matbro 610 handler is incredibly strong and like those used on older Matbro Bray wheeled loaders. Below: This unusual Matbro 610 pivot-steer loader has been with the McCloskey family, dairy farmers from Ballymoney in Co. Antrim, for the past 28 years.

UNUSUAL HANDLER

Whenever Gerry McCloskey calls a parts supplier asking for something for his Matbro 610 loader, he’s usually told there is no such machine. Fortunately, it’s a call that the McCloskey family, who farm at Ballymoney, Co. Antrim, haven’t needed to make very often in the 28 years they’ve owned their articulated machine.

With the arrival of a NH 6635, the Harkins’ Fiat 566DT will now be taking life easier.

Fiat stays with family

This unusual Fiat 566DT has been in the ownership of the Harkin family from Co. Donegal, since it was purchased new in 1984. The 56hp four-wheel drive tractor was originally bought by Dan Harkin, and ever since he passed away in 1997 it has been in the care of his nephew Declan and great nephew Ryan.

Back then, Dan and his brother Frank were working for Ireland’s Forestry Service close to their home near Carndonagh. The Fiat was purchased from Cowan Brothers at Eglinton, Co. Londonderry, along with a used half-track Jones Highlander 60 the following year, when Dan became a forestry contractor, specialising in thinning and timber extraction. Declan, who was just leaving school at the time, joined him in the work.

“The Fiat has been in our family since it was new,” says Ryan. “It has always been with us as it holds great sentimental value. My father cherished the tractor and it has always been given what it has needed.”

“It has just turned over 10,000 hours last year. I have recently purchased a New Holland 6635, so I think the Fiat’s days of hard work are over. We shall be making sure it is well-preserved in the future.”

“We had a little Kramer 312 which was useless for buck-raking silage, so in 1993 my father phoned dealer Alexander Mills to see if they had anything available that would be suitable for the job,” says Gerry. “They said they had a machine that had just come in and was available for demonstration.

“When the Matbro 610 arrived, it appeared to be far too big for our work,” he continues. “Compared to the Kramer, which only had 18in tyres, it seemed very big. But we used it for a couple of weeks and kept it, and it’s still here now. We also got a JF 1100 forage harvester at the same time, and it is still working too.”

It seems that Matbro only made half-a-dozen 610 loaders, which is why it doesn’t appear in the parts books. It might be rare, but it has been a good machine on the McCloskeys’ farm, where 150 dairy cows and followers are kept on 400 acres. The handler has always been owner-driven and is now approaching 9000 hours.

It is powered by the same 97hp four-cylinder turbo engine as the Ford 7610. Like many Ford tractor engines, the Matbro’s motor went porous and had to be rebuilt. Other than that, it’s required no major work.

“It’s an oldie, but a goodie,” says Gerry. “It’s our secondary loader now as we also have a JCB 310S, but we always use the Matbro on the buckrake on roofed silage pits. If the JCB cab touches the roof you’re looking at £1000 straightaway, as it has a glass roof, lights on top and plastic doors. We’d only get about £5000 for the Matbro and it’s worth more to us than that.”

Gerry says that the 610 seems to have the back end of a Teleram while its front end is the same as an old Matbro Bray loader. As a result, the boom, which is made from steel that is 2in thick, is unbreakable.

“It lifts 2t, but it’s strong enough to lift four, five or six tonnes,” he says. ”It seems that rather than go to the expense of designing a new loader, they fitted a big existing front end on a smaller machine.

“It is simple to use and has a four-speed torque converter transmission and joystick control,” adds Gerry. “It has Ford axles, and with its Ford engine and Clarke transmission, you can get just about any part you need. It is a super machine.”