Using your Tractor with a Geiger-Counter in your Hand

Just occasionally, we wander off from the serious business of farming and agricultural equipment when something rather unusual catches our eye.

One such example occurred recently when, quite by chance, we saw an article or rather brief note relating to a nuclear-powered tractor developed a long time ago.

This immediately struck us as a mixture of incredible and hilarious. We had mental images of farmers around Goulburn driving their tractors in lead-lined anti-radiation suits. We couldn’t help smiling also at the thought of our customers bringing equipment into us and our first action being to run over them with a Geiger counter!

OK, this is largely a bit of fun but incredible as it sounds, there were plans in the 1950s and 1960s to use nuclear-powered tractors.  One such photo of a prototype is included here.

The idea, of course, is that such tractors run forever and on an unlimited range basis, given they virtually never need fuelling.  Of course, the practicality of this meant it never happened and the potential health issues, even in a full shielding scenario, are too horrific to contemplate.

For more details, please visit - https://www.whitestractors.com.au/blog/345-using-your-tractor-with-a-geiger-counter-in-your-hand.html

The Importance of Agricultural Machinery Equipment

A tractor is regarded as the key of agriculture approach. Also, you would like a tractor that has a broad front end, in place of a narrow one. Ultimately, it's important to think about the transmission sort of the tractor you will purchase. Based on what size bales you're thinking about producing, you are going to need a tractor potent enough to drive all the attachments given below. To meet that criterion, one should have a technologically advanced tractor with the ability to deliver high productivity. With the arrival of the world wide web, now you can search for tractorsfor sale Goulburn and worldwide.

Contrary to other supply businesses, a landscape supply business is extremely profitable. The rice milling business is one of the most lucrative and oldest businesses in the nation. The company supplies a wide variety of corporate collectibles for employees or loyal clients. Businesses are often inclined to provide consultation and advice for any questions you might have regarding buying or renting industrial equipment. Irrespective of someone's financial status, starting an organization or rather business isn't a walk in the park. Thus, should you not have a large agricultural company and desire a tractor that will allow you to handle your daily farming requirements, it is sensible to look for a little vehicle, which will feature lots of helpful functions. Any business that manages lifting, lowering and transferring heavy loads from one area to another relies a good deal on cranes.

There are various types of lifting machines. Generally, the more frequently you want to utilize your machine, the larger the horsepower you are going to want. To start with, you are going to require some machinery to carry out each step in the hay baling approach. In any company, the proper sort of industrial equipment is vital in ensuring a smooth, productive operation.

Obtain farm equipment based on the kind of livestock or crops you want. For instance, if you wish to grow crops, it would be unwise to buy a bit of Arizona desert land. Crop dusting, also referred to as aerial application, follows a normal schedule.

In case the farm is simply a pastime, then registering the farm for a business isn't required. Starting a little farm may be rewarding endeavor for anybody who has ever wished to deal with livestock, raise crops and take pleasure in the rural way of life. For instance, if you've got a little bit of land less than 4 hectares, you need to go for a little tractor, the horsepower rating of which won't exceed 25kW. Agricultural lands vary in features and therefore it is important to select the right sort of land.

The Environment and Common Sense

Most farmers in Australia regard themselves as custodians and protectors of the countryside.

Yes, mistakes have been made in the past and nobody is suggesting that the farming community is perfect. However, given most farmers earn their living from the land they are not likely to treat it with extreme disrespect.

Over many years now though, both state and national governments have passed increasing numbers of environmental protection laws that appear to suggest that confidence in the farming community is less than total.  Some of these laws appear to make little or no sense and in some cases, even contradict each other.

At this stage, we’d like to shift the focus over to France.  Like Australia, many European countries over the last 20 years have passed increasingly aggressive environmental protection laws and some are arguing that these have gone too far.

We read of a situation recently where numbers of French villages are becoming completely overrun with weeds in their very centres because laws now state:

1. herbicides cannot be used under any circumstances, where said weeds are near any form of water course or drain system;

2. even if pulled manually, bonfires/incinerators can no longer be used to dispose of garden or agricultural waste;

For more details, please visit - https://www.whitestractors.com.au/blog/344-the-environment-and-common-sense.html

Sit-on Lawnmowers and Safety

As we’ve said many times before, lawnmowers are intrinsically safe devices – providing you use them in accordance with the manufacturer’s operating instructions and downright common sense.

Of course, any new or used farm machinery, including lawnmowers, can be dangerous if the user is determined to be careless.

Space here doesn’t allow us to go into a lot of detail and that will anyway all be contained within the manufacturer’s guide for the sit-on lawnmower you are using.

So instead, we’ll pick out a few absolute top-tips for the safe utilisation of sit-on lawnmowers:

Read the operating guide!  There’s no point it containing lots of great safety advice if it’s never read;

Comply with the guide.  There’s no point it containing safety information that the operator has read, if they then go out and do exactly the opposite when using their lawnmower;

Don’t let people, typically those that are younger and inexperienced, operate a sit-on lawnmower unless they have been fully trained.  Be careful also that younger and more exuberant people don’t think it’s a toy they can “horse around” on;

For more details, please visit - https://www.whitestractors.com.au/blog/343-sit-on-lawnmowers-and-safety.html

Garden Equipment - FAQs

A lot depends here upon the type of equipment you are speaking about.

For a start, anything that is electrically powered should be thoroughly checked out by someone qualified before you plug it in and start trying to use it.

The same is obviously true of anything powered by an internal combustion engine. If you buy something that is, to put it bluntly, in a mess, then you may spend a long time regretting it and writing out some hefty cheques to try and put things right.

In the case of manual tools, providing the price is right and they're in good condition, you should have no issues.

For anything more complicated, buying second-hand can be a good way of saving money but it might be prudent to only buy from an experienced and registered dealer in agricultural and garden equipment.

For more details, please visit - http://ezinearticles.com/?Garden-Equipment---FAQs&id=9890752

Kubota and Space

We are writing this blog just 24 hours after the massive TV coverage of Elon Musk’s huge rocket launch in the USA.

It’s impossible not to admire anyone who has their old sports car sent into deep space with a dummy strapped in the seat whilst David Bowie’s “Space Oddity is playing on an endless loop and “DON’T PANIC” (from The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy), is displayed on the radio’s screen in the dashboard. It’ll apparently orbit around the sun at the same distance as Mars, where it’s assumed it will remain for at least 300million years.

Showmanship? Yes - but impressive for all that

Whilst watching all this, I guess, we were struck by the millions of young people all over the world who were enthralled by the event and the sight of a big rocket lifting off.  That was rather strange for anyone much over the age of about 55, for whom the memories of the days when giant rockets were lifting off routinely on the way to the moon are probably very clear! Read more about....... Kubota and Space.

Beep – Press Button “A” to Purchase your Kubota Tractor

The Goulburn Post recently carried an article bemoaning the lack of human interaction in some sales environments.

This came about because the reporter concerned had been into a Canberra store and found that nobody was around to make the sale. Apparently all you had to do was pick the article up, wave your phone and its app around somehow in the air and the transaction was then complete. You just walked out without speaking to a soul.

So, are you likely to come and see us in Goulburn sometime soon looking for say, some Krone hay equipment, only to find that the team have all been replaced with permanently smiling robots serving coffee? All you’ll need to do is to enjoy it, then wave your phone around aimlessly in the air to make purchases?

For more details, please visit - https://www.whitestractors.com.au/blog/340-beep-press-button-a-to-purchase-your-kubota-tractor.html

Top Tips for Selecting Quality Agricultural Tools

If you’re in farming, then budgets are likely to be tight and you’ll often be looking for economies. That’s virtually “business as usual” in agriculture.

However, one area you might not want to cut spending corners in is that of your tools. There might be little point in purchasing prestige items like for example Krone hay equipment if you then put that at risk by trying to maintain it with cheap tools.

So, here are some top tips for selecting quality tools.

1. Look for recognised quality brands.  If they’ve been around a long time and have a reputation for quality, then they’re clearly doing something right. Be prepared to pay a little extra, if necessary, for that reassurance.

2.  Learn a bit about metal descriptions. For example, if terms such as “HSS” or “Chrome Vanadium” don’t mean much to you, you should research them and other such technical designators. That’s because tool producers often use such designations to describe the quality of the metallurgy they use. Note that metal hardness isn’t always necessarily the only criterion behind selection – read up on that too.

For more details, please visit - http://ezinearticles.com/?Top-Tips-for-Selecting-Quality-Agricultural-Tools&id=9831597

So, You Need a New Set of Tools?

During one of our recent chats with a visitor, they commented that they’d purchased a new socket set recently.

They also said just how cheap it had been and it all sounded really good. Their joy at their bargain lasted right up until about the third time they’d tried to use it when various parts of the set had started breaking under stress. Apparently, the ratchets gave up first then bits of the main metal parts started to shear or “round”.

Now you can probably see where we’re going with this because we’ve blogged on it before (socket sets in particular seem to arise commonly in this respect), albeit a long time back. Even so, we’ll offer our thoughts again.

Generally speaking – cheap tools are a bad idea! OK, if you’re able to buy a quality second-hand branded set at a bargain price then good luck to you. That’s different. Read more So, You Need a New Set of Tools?

Tree Cutting – Be Careful

Now a lot of our great agricultural equipment and Kubota tractors themselves, can play a part in tree cutting. That’s great and most people, with a little practice and experience, can master the safe operation of a chainsaw.

Problems often arise though in one of three areas:

trees or branches falling on the person who has just cut them down (or bystanders/helpers);

people falling out of trees;

accidents due to inappropriate or absent safety equipment.

So, here are a few friendly safety reminders.

1. If you can afford it, get a professional in. If you can’t, question if the work is REALLY necessary right now;

2. Take trees down in manageable top-down stages if you can. It’s safer.

3. Using ladders whilst wielding a chainsaw is simply an accident waiting to happen. Don’t do it. Read more TreeCutting – Be Careful

Kubota in Australia

After 40 years in Australia, Kubota’s reputation for reliability, engineering excellence and innovation keeps growing. As orange lovers all over thecountry will tell you, “once a Kubota owner, always a Kubota owner.”

With a range that sets the benchmark for the industry, there’s a Kubota to suit just about every application, right up to our flagship, the mighty M7-1, Kubota’s most powerful tractor ever. With our special 40 month / 40 year anniversary finance offer, now’s the time to join the celebrations!

YES- its official huge changes at White’s Tractors!!

We have out grown our site … and we are moving.

We passed full capacity… Something had to go…things had to change…

1^st change:

We have stopped doing diesel pump and injectors and repairs to trucks and 4 wheel drives because the demand on the Kubota side of our business is so big…

…and Kubota is our passion…

 2^nd Change:

We have increased our staff…Our staff now consists of

Andrew and Myself

Mitchell our Son sales and service

Noel Henderson – new service manager

Darrin  -senior mechanic

Evan – mechanic

Noel Holding– assembly, deliveries

Jackson- 2^nd year apprentice

So to fit everyone in… we needed a bigger shed…

We will have 2 more opportunities for…

New passionate staff Too join us… once we have moved

1 to join me in the office and a mechanic to join our team on farm and in workshop…→

 3^rd change

The best news is the new shed is 2 doors down…

50-58 Robinson st Goulburn 2100m2 with 600m2 awning (Our dream shed)

We have always driven past it and said it would be perfect for us.

The plan is to move in September.

The whole team is really excited and pitching in to help set up… the expansion will allow us to serve you better, more efficient and to increase our stock of everything…

As you can imagine we have thousands and thousands of spare parts to move…

so we may need an extra smile and wave or toot if your passing by as we carry it down the street…

also…we feel the building of curiosity…  on what we are creating…

Stay tuned for our opening date!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cheers

Michelle White

PS we will confirm moving date to 50-58 Robinson St as soon as the paint dries…

White's Tractors Pty Ltd, a team of highly trained professionals who know their way around all areas of the agricultural industry and agricultural machinery. We have a wide range of kubota tractors, kubota mowers, utility vehicles, hay equipment in Goulburn.

How to Sterilise Soil

This is a question we’re asked regularly. It’s usually from gardeners who keep looking at that old discarded compost pile and wondering what to do with it.

Well, let’s leave to one side those issues to do with Green approaches for the moment or feeding the compost again. The chances are, if you have such a pile, you might want to dig it in or use it in your pots but not if the result is going to be lots of inherited weeds strangling your beloved plants or nicely nurtured bugs chomping on them.

So, here are a few ideas - though none of them include Kubota Tractors for once!

1. Bake your compost. Make sure it’s in oven-proof containers and stick them into the oven at about 80-100C for half an hour or so.  HEALTH WARNING – unless you want to find yourself swinging from the rafters, make sure that whoever is normally considered to be ‘in charge’ of the kitchen and appliances (if not you) is either kept fully in the dark or consulted in advance.

2. Place your proto-compost into microwave-proof dishes and simply zap them at full power. The tricky bit here is time because a lot of advice varies on this one. Look this up on the net and form your own view. You’re also unlikely to be able to produce big quantities this way. HEALTH ADVICE – as above!

For more details, please visit - http://www.whitestractors.com.au/blog/337-how-to-sterilise-soil.html

Photos of a White Kangaroo

Many ‘old timers’ have quite a few stories to tell about strange things they’ve seen while out and about in the countryside.

We’ve certainly heard tales about the white kangaroo and maybe smiled but recently up in WA, somebody has seen one and this time caught it on camera.

This isn’t the first time that farmers have been laughed at when reporting strange sights. In many cases, unfortunately, they’ve had to put up with it for the rest of their lives because they just didn’t have a camera available to back up their version of events. However, with the mobile phone, that’s now all changing.

No doubt some of these fantastic stories can be attributed to perhaps having had one too many at the local or an over-active imagination but the world’s a strange place. The mobile phone’s camera might start to prove that more and more in the years ahead.

Anyway, while we were pondering this, it gave us an idea for our newsletter. Read more http://www.whitestractors.com.au/blog/336-photos-of-a-white-kangaroo.html

Your Lawnmower Won’t Start? Top Tips

We get the odd call along these lines – usually from someone who hasn’t purchased through us.

OK, we’re bragging! Apologies…

If you’re in this position though, here are a few top tips about things to consider or try:

1. do you have fuel? Please don’t find this patronising – it’s actually surprising how many people try to start a mower when the tank’s dry. On a related note, if your engine has a fuel line switch, check that’s set to ‘on’ as well;

2. check your spark plug – if your system uses such. If it’s dirty and corroded, then replace it;

3. is the fuel new or new-ish? Starting up with a tank full of “last season’s” fuel can sometimes be a problem. Drain it down, replace and try again;

4. if you have a manual choke, is it working? Trace the cables and pull them to see if it is;

For more details, please visit - http://www.whitestractors.com.au/blog/335-your-lawnmower-won-t-start-top-tips.html

Nutty Talk

We’ve seen a lot of talk in Australian farming circles recently about how to better market nuts.

Now let’s forgo all the obvious jokes, well, apart from the title of this blog (apologies for that!) and get down to business - and this is nothing to do with tractors for sale, Goulburn or elsewhere!

Apparently, a lot of the discussion is about trying to do two things:

1. market them more effectively to what people call the “Millennials”, which seem to be those youngsters that are about 16-18 right now and;

2. reduce or put into perspective, those concerns about allergic reactions etc.

In terms of the first point above, it seems as if young people see nuts as brain food – something that can directly stimulate the cognitive processes.

The marketing people want to pick up and expand on this, reasoning correctly that younger people aren’t worried about their cardio-vascular systems and the health benefits of nuts in those respects. They think that’s an issue for old-timers. They are though, more receptive to the evidence that eating a sensible quantity of nuts on a regular basis can help stimulate aspects of your grey cells and what they’re up to.

For more details, please visit - http://www.whitestractors.com.au/blog/334-nutty-talk.html

Spotlight And Offer – M7

M 7-1 series 0% p.a. promotional interest rate

Take advantage of Kubota’s competitive finance rate of 0% p.a. on M7-1 series tractors for a limited time only! See details below.

DETAILS

Term 36 months

Repayment frequency monthly

Minimum deposit 20%

Minimum financed amount $4,000

Credit criteria, terms and conditions apply

Offer expires 30/06/2017

Offer is only available for ABN holders who are using the equipment predominantly for business purposes. Credit provided by Kubota Tractor Australia Pty Ltd ABN 72005300621, Australian Credit License Number 442007. Terms, conditions, fees charges and credit criteria apply.

Specifically designed for the farming professional who wants a versatile and hard-working tractor, the M7-1 is powered by a next-generation 6.1 litre, four-cylinder diesel engine, incorporating Kubota’s clean-air technology and available in 130HP, 150HP or 170HP variants.

For more details, please visit - http://www.whitestractors.com.au/spotlight/333-spotlight-and-offer-m7.html

Do You Exercise Enough?

Once again, we suspect our title here has caused a few people to blink twice.

How can anyone working in farming not get enough exercise? Surely the idea’s ridiculous?

Well, maybe not.

Let’s be provocative for a second. We’re not saying it’s the same thing as driving a family car but if you’ve just spent more or less the entire day behind the wheel of a tractor then you might not have got a lot of exercises.

Climbing in or out of the cab a few times to check something or have lunch, doesn’t quite count. It’s also possible you’ve just spent a lot of hours ‘doing the books’ or repairing/cleaning equipment. That’s two more examples of time-intensive work on a farm where exercise isn’t involved.

There might be many others too.

For more details, please visit - http://www.whitestractors.com.au/blog/332-do-you-exercise-enough.html

Top Garden Lawnmower FAQs

Here are some of the most commonly heard FAQs covering domestic lawnmowers.

What are the advantages of electric rotary cutters?

Typically, these are nowadays encountered in smaller domestic environments.

As their name suggests, they’re usually an electric motor driven by a lead connection to the mains supply. The motor drives a circular rotating blade or sometimes a plastic cord.  

Their big plus points are usually that they’re light to manoeuvre and can be quite effective mowing at steep angles. They’re also usually fairly simple in design and maintenance terms.

On the downside, they’re not usually considered viable for larger areas and trailing electric cables can be a concern both in terms of range and safety (use a circuit breaker when using one of these).

Are zero turn mowers dangerous on slopes and uneven ground?

No – this reputation goes back to some teething troubles back in the very early days of this type of mower. That was a LONG time ago now!

For more details, please visit - http://www.whitestractors.com.au/blog/330-top-garden-lawnmower-faqs.html

Some Worries About Beef

Yet again, it’s slightly uncertain times for our domestic beef production. We’re also speaking here about Australia as a whole and not just NSW.

Apparently, the latest statistics show a widening gap between the price of beef, in retail circles and that of some of its main competitors such as chicken, lamb, pork and even vegetarian food. That’s leading to some concerns that consumers might be driven away from beef onto other cheaper protein sources.  

To make matters worse, the spectre of US imports is on the horizon. The economics are puzzling given Australia’s abundance of cattle but for whatever reason it looks as if US beef could be heading our way – subject to tariff quotas etc.

The third wave of concern being expressed is over a combination of increasing drifts away from red meat for health reasons (whether you agree with those concerns or not, is does seem to be happening) plus the changing demographics of Australia. Read more http://www.whitestractors.com.au/blog/329-some-worries-about-beef.html