Getting the landscape back into shape is a priority for a racing enthusiast as he prepares a new property in Essex for the thoroughbred horses he breeds.
Peter Watson is moving his stud from Easton Park in Suffolk to an attractive location at Little Horkesley near Nayland, where 50 acres of grass pastures have previously been let for hay production.
In future, they will be re-seeded to a quality grass mixture better suited to grazing the 30 or so thoroughbreds that will soon be moving in.
“That will be a job for full-size agricultural tractors and equipment, but one of the first things we needed was a small tractor, a topper and a fine-cut mower to get the grass areas around the house and buildings into shape,” says Mr Watson. “We also have a couple of acres growing roses for the floral decorations market with plenty of grass around the beds to keep trim.”
The solution was found at Agri-Hire, the McCormick tractor sales company for Suffolk that runs a couple of its own McCormick GM compact tractors for short-term hire to contractors and land owners.
“The GM is ideal for this sort of application,” says Jeremy Waspe of Agri-Hire at the company’s Bramford base near Ipswich. “There are cheaper compact tractors but the McCormick GM is built to be as tough and as durable as a full size tractor – yet it’s small and nippy enough to work in tight spaces.”
Peter Watson chose the 44hp version from a range that spans 35-54hp using modern Yanmar three- and four-cylinder engines, with turf tyres and a cab included in the package.
The McCormick GM45 has a 12-speed transmission and forward/reverse shuttle, operated by levers that sprout from beneath the steering wheel to keep the area in front of the seat clear for the driver to get on and off easily.
Two-speed power take-off provides ‘power’ and ‘economy’ settings to suit different applications and ground drive pto – which relates the speed of the shaft to the forward speed of the tractor – is handy for specialist spreading equipment.
The tractor has already been working with a 5ft rotary topper, a 5ft roller mower on finer grass and a sizeable tipping trailer. It is also being kitted out with a front-end loader for handling and loading work.
“When the horses arrive, we’ll then be able to load muck from the stables and use it on the roses – a nice combination of the two enterprises here,” says Peter Watson.
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