Switch to Valtra good move for syndicate

09.01.2012

Back when Waitohi Partnership was founded in 1974, machinery syndicates were a radical concept. After listening to a talk by a local farmer who had been studying them in England, six gutsy Hawarden farmers joined together to create one.
They pooled their equipment, sold the surplus, and employed a permanent manager/driver to do the work.
As a collective they could afford bigger, better gear, and got the job done quicker. Soon it became apparent they had spare capacity and they began to take in outside work.
They created a contracting business, Waitohi Ag Ltd, and while members still get priority, 80 percent of work is now contracted out to other farmers.
While they started out with another brand of tractors, in 2008 they were not satisfied with them. They were struggling to get a tractor to 3000 hours before something major went wrong.
Waitohi Ag manager Nick Abbott says there was always a mechanic in the yard and niggling problems they couldn’t solve.
“One of our drivers at the time was a Scotsman who’d driven Valtra all his life. He and the manager at that time talked the rest of the men over to Valtra. After 20 years of loyally following one brand, they made the big shift.
“We haven’t looked back. Valtra are very competitive,” Nick Abbott says. “They are strong, well-built and simple. I hope to get 6000 hours out of them.”
He says the Valtras are also more fuel-efficient. “We have the same fuel bill as before but are getting 20 percent more work.”
Waitohi Ag has two 2008 T152 Valtras. They are 155hp boosting to 170hp. In 2010 they bought July added a Versu 162 with five-speed powershift.
Nick Abbott says the Versu 162 is ideal for grass harvesting. “With five gears, it is not vigorous when it bumps up to another gear so it is great for mowing and baling.”
The Versu was bought with a front linkage and PTO, in anticipation of getting a front mower.
“We got some quotes for a single trailing mower, but they were very dear at $60,000. For that price we could get a front and rear mower on three-point linkages.
“The partners were against it initially as they’d heard the flotation wasn’t as good on three point linkage models. But with the new centre pivot it follows the contours well. It’s the best thing we’ve bought lately.”
Using a mower with a 6.0m working width eliminated the need for a full-time mower driver. Waitohi Ag has also picked up outside silage mowing from another contractor.
“We can now give a price per ha, so we pick up a lot of farmer clients. We can mow for $65 per ha what used to take them days on their little mower.”
The Valtras are also grunty enough to do combination passes. Waitohi Ag frequently uses a chisel plough, discs and harrows together. Another combination is a maxi-till with a roller. The Valtras pull the combinations with ease.
Nick Abbott says having so many people involved in making decisions on what gear to buy is time-consuming but does make for sound decisions.
“There are always seven or eight pairs of eyes looking at everything. We get quotes together from dealers and sit collectively – the six members and myself and the workers. We lay it all out on the table. Then we go away and sleep on it and have another meeting.”
One outcome of these meetings was the big decision to shift to Valtra. It was well thought out and it was a good one.

Caption – Their Valtra tractors give Waitohi Ag the ability to use larger implements in combination to cover more ground quickly.

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