Posts Tagged ‘Massey Ferguson’

A legacy of sustainability is evident from the talk around the table in their farm shop on a recent warm afternoon. Dave Ring, his son Brent, 38, and grandson Dylan, 8, laugh about a story in which the boy informed his grade-school teacher that he may have to come home soon to farm full time.

Brent and David with their MF7624.

The reason? It seems his dad had accumulated some gray hair around his temples. Dylan took that as a sign that Brent would be retiring soon and his time to take over was at hand.

“Dylan is 8 going on 21,” laughs Dave, obviously proud of his grandson. Dave also feels confident the operation will be healthy when Dylan is indeed ready to take over.

The Rings farm more than 1,000 acres of corn, soybeans and wheat, milk 100-plus dairy cows and raise thousands of tom turkeys annually on a contract basis. They have always been proponents of good conservation. They seed cover crops in the fall, do minimal subsurface tillage, incorporate dairy manure and turkey litter in the soil, and buffer waterways.

“As for conservation, you have no choice in this part of the world,” says Dave. “We have rolling ground and you have to prepare the land to slow erosion. If we weren’t good stewards, there wouldn’t be anything left for my grandson.”

Dave is used to thinking about new generations. For 28 years, he was a high school business teacher, then vocational agriculture teacher and FFA leader. Now 68, he spent his younger days rising at 3 a.m. to milk cows and work the farm before heading off to his teaching job.

He thought the teaching would only be temporary—to help out the school district fill a sudden vacancy, then later to secure the agriculture program in danger of being cut for lack of an instructor. Turns out he was a natural. “I was starting to enjoy it,” Dave admits.

He is particularly proud of nearby Southridge High School’s FFA program, which had 15 members when he started teaching it and 160 when he retired in 2009.

Earlier this year, Dave Ring was recognized with the prestigious Master Farmer award from Indiana Prairie Farmer magazine. The nominees are considered for the honor based on the quality of their operation and community service. The awards were given this past spring at a banquet sponsored by the magazine and the Purdue Ag Alumni Association.

“The Rings have done a super job of being diversified,” says Kevin Lubbehusen of Blesch Bros. Equipment Co., Dave’s farm equipment dealer.

“You don’t often see someone of his age staying out front on the technology side,” says Kevin. “That ability to stay current, along with his years of experience and his reputation for being a straight shooter, make him someone people listen to.”

Read the full story at http://www.myfarmlife.com/features/of-and-for-the-future/.

In 2005, at an international theater festival in the Netherlands, Dutch storyteller and actor Manon Ossevoort performed her live narrative, “DO.” It’s a story about a girl on a tractor taking the dreams of many to the end of the world. So, when the story ended, Ossevoort drove out of the theater on a tractor and began a journey.

Manon Ossevoort and her Massey

Ossevoort’s odyssey led her through Europe, the Balkans and down through the continent of Africa. Along the way, she performed her story and collected, on little slips of paper, the dreams and hopes of the people she met.

After four years and more than 23,000 miles, Ossevoort reached the Cape of Good Hope. “I literally missed my boat,” she says. The ship she had planned to take to Antarctica—the symbolic end of the world—had canceled its trip. “I had no sponsors, nothing,” says Ossevoort. “But I had thousands of dreams in the back of my tractor that I had promised to bring to the South Pole, a continent where there’s never been war.”

Cue Massey Ferguson. The company has a unique connection to Antarctica. Sir Edmund Hillary and his team drove three Ferguson TE20 tractors to the pole in 1958. That same year also marked the introduction of the Massey Ferguson brand. Sponsoring another trek to the South Pole on Massey Ferguson tractors seemed like a perfect way to celebrate both milestones.

Ossevoort and a Massey Ferguson assembled team of specialists have begun polar training in Iceland and northern Canada with a new Massey Ferguson 5600 Series tractor that has been modified to create “the ultimate polar-expedition tractor,” she says. The expedition plans to sail to Antarctica in December 2014, where it will follow the same path as Hillary’s expedition.

Ossevoort explains what she’ll do with the stories she’s collected on her journey: “I’ll symbolically finish my epic story at the geographical South Pole by building a snowman with the ‘dreams of the world’ in its belly.”

Read more and follow the journey at http://www.myfarmlife.com/first-gear/massey-to-the-south-pole-part-ii/.

With the exclusive edge-drop technology and simple, positive air-metering system, White Planters’ row-crop planters have long been the industry leader in seed placement accuracy. Because they also have fewer parts than competitive machines, they’re known for their easy maintenance, as well as machine longevity.

Available with a full range of options and attachments, the new planters may be configured to fit any production system.

The new 9000 Series from White Planters® builds upon that reputation with several new innovations. For example, row unit adjustments are now more convenient and the new cast row unit consists of only three components, reducing part count by 70% as compared to previous models, and providing greater strength and durability. Available with a full range of options and attachments, the new planters may be configured to fit any production system, from conventional to no-till, and to plant crops ranging from corn, soybeans and sunflowers to sorghum, sugar beets and peanuts.

“We’ve been building durable, long-lasting planters for nearly 40 years, and we’ve learned what it takes to deliver seed placement accuracy in a wide range of conditions,” says Gary Hamilton, product marketing specialist with White Planters. “The extensive redesign of the 9000 Series puts it all together in one package and makes this the most significant introduction for White Planters in a dozen years.”

The series also includes an all-new 12-row, narrow-transport, three-section Model 9812-30, which offers 30-inch row spacing and the efficiency of a central fill system (CFS). As with other planters in the series, though, the 9812 can be equipped with either 2- or 3-bushel, individual row-mounted seed hoppers and is available with ground-drive or variable-rate, hydraulic-drive seeding-rate control.

“I’ve always liked White Planters,” says Alan Demmel, who purchased a limited production model of 9812 planters for his farm near Madison, Neb. “The new 9812-30 just seemed to have everything I had been wanting in a planter, especially the narrower transport width. It’s also a heavy planter with a lot of flexibility, which works really well for my no-till program.

“White Planters has always been known for being heavy enough and tough enough to ‘plant in concrete’ if you had to, so I guess that’s one of the things I like about them. I’m still going through the learning curve, but once I learn to use the precision of the new seed meters, I think it’s going to be a good planter.”

The 9812-30 joins two other three-section, narrow-transport models—the 9816-30, 16-row and 9824-30, 24-row 30-inch planters. The frames on all three models flex 21 degrees up or down at each wing for consistent planting depth across irregular terrain.

For full details about each of the models in the 9000 Series, visit white-planters.com or see your local White Planters dealer.

2013 is ending and Massey Ferguson Brazil recorded a special “Jingle Bells”, with original sounds from MF 8690 and you can send it to your friends and family. Access www.massey.com.br/natalmusical (in portuguese) and create your own music to share on your facebook.

Thursday 17 October at London’s Soho Hotel sees the first screening of the brand-new children’s series ‘Little Grey Fergie’ featuring the adventures of a full-size, live-action Ferguson TE20 tractor.

Filmed on location at a Warwickshire farm, this new show is an English version of the popular Norwegian children’s story and TV series ‘Gråtass’. Over the last 15 years, the original story has grown like topsy with not only the TV series but two feature film hits, nine theatrical productions, several more books, DVDs and spin-off articles.

Aimed at pre-school kids, the new adventures of Little Grey Fergie are set on a farm near Coventry in England in the present day with English farm animals, settings and characters.

Production company, Farmyard Stories shot the series on a farm not far from Massey Ferguson’s UK Sales operations at Abbey Park Stoneleigh and only 20 km from the site of the original Coventry factory where the TE20s were built between 1946 and 1956.

A new star for the series is a shiny red, ultra-modern MF 7600 which adds 21st century tractor power to the narrative. Creator of the programmes, Morten Mycklebust is very excited about the launch of the new series. “Massey Ferguson is one of the world’s most recognised brands,” he remarks. “We’re really pleased that our films are giving a completely new generation of youngsters the opportunity to learn about and enjoy the brand and its history.”

“We fully support the development of the Little Grey Fergie character,” says Campbell Scott, Massey Ferguson Brand Development Manager. “The stories are captivating and we’re sure kids and their families will love him.”

The films have no dialogue – the tales are told through action, sound effects and music – so they will be understood all over the world. You can watch the first adventure at www.littlegreyfergie.com from 18 October.