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

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?

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

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

A History of Roundabouts

Now some of you might be rubbing your eyes at the title of this one!

Maybe you think we’ve clearly ‘lost it’ or have far too much spare time on our hands. Well, nothing’s further from the truth (we hope)!

Here’s the explanation….

As you probably know, we’ve recently had some modest inconvenience locally because of the roadworks and construction of the new roundabout in Goulburn. We’ve kept everyone informed in the monthly newsletter and we think the now finished result is a big improvement.

During the works, somebody actually asked who invented the roundabout and where. It's a simple enough question but do you know the answer? We didn’t!

So, here’s the information you’ve all been desperately waiting for.

It seems that circular traffic systems of ‘circuses’ go back to at least the 18th century and England.  They started to be used for larger traffic volumes in the earlier 20th century with arguably the first real traffic system roundabout appearing in the USA in 1907 shortly followed by one a couple of years later in the UK.

Now it’s important to note that these weren’t modern roundabouts as we know them today. They were essentially just a round traffic island and something of a free-for-all going around.

For more details, please visit - http://www.whitestractors.com.au/blog/328-a-history-of-roundabouts.html

New Year

It probably won’t have escaped your attention that we’re approaching the festive season.

Now we mention this because recently on TV there was a programme talking about how a lot of office workers start ‘easing up’ in the run in to Christmas and continue that through to New Year’s Day.  Well, we smiled at that and couldn’t help saying “nice work if you can get it”!

Now we’re not knocking office workers or city industries. Those guys work long and hard too but in farming the idea of a ‘quiet day or two’ at this time of year is amusing. We get around Goulburn and its surroundings quite a bit and you don’t see too many farmers gathering together to talk about Christmas decorations or just how many days they can take off before the holiday so they can spend some quality time shopping.

OK, that goes with the territory in farming we know but it does introduce our usual Christmas and New Year message.

We know you’re busy and running those Kubota tractors flat out but do try and make some effort to find some time for the season’s festivities and meanings.

For more details, please visit - http://www.whitestractors.com.au/blog/319-new-year.html

Slashing Safety Guidelines Over Summer

For more details, please visit - http://www.whitestractors.com.au/blog/317-slashing-safety-guidelines-over-summer.html

Cultivation Equipment

Kubota grass and straw choppers cope with whatever is required; every model is built for a variety of different tasks. Solid construction with a robust gearbox and very strong power transmission to the ‘V’ belts driving the rotor. The chassis is strengthened with double plating in the areas subjected to highest stress. The combination with Kubota’s precisely manufactured rotor shafts and hard wearing blades makes them extremely reliable. Minimal maintenance is required.

This plough series aims at light to heavy soil conditions and tractors up to 200Hp. The standard Auto-line system guarantees the correct pulll line at any time. Smart: It adjusts automatically. Robust ploughs fitted with an induction heat treated 1 box section frame. No welding to avoid weaknesses. The headstock and its main shaft are also heat treated for maximum strength. Choice of 85cm or 100cm interbody clearance. The clever design of the plough, and of the bodies associated to heat treated steels and hollow legs reduce the weight of the plough and make it easy to lift and to pull.

For more details, please visit - http://www.whitestractors.com.au/cultivation-equipment.html