About 5000 farmers have had the opportunity to ‘ride and drive’ the latest Massey Ferguson tractors, courtesy of a nationwide “Massey-on-the-Move” road show.
During the last six months a fleet of transporters has hauled around some of its most technologically-advanced tractor models around Australia, coinciding with the company’s 50th anniversary celebrations.
AGCO’s Mark Francis said the unveiling of the latest generation newcomers to the burgeoning Massey range, provided an ideal sales platform for the tractors to be show-cased in their natural habitat – commercial paddocks.
“It’s given the farming public the opportunity to drive a Massey Ferguson tractor - given them a true ‘hands-on’ experience,” he said.
“We singled out product that best representated MF’s current tractor range and the success of the venture has been simply enormous,” Mark Francis said.
The two or three day events were selected in cooperation with MF’s extensive dealer network, providing Queensland producers with an opportunity to get up close and personal with three tractor models, namely the MF 5445, MF 6455 and MF 7495.
“Having just undergone a revision of our tractor range has allowed farmers to experience the new Tier 3 engines, the Dyna-VT continuously variable transmissions, plus the quiet, comfortable cabs on the 6400 series,” Mark Francis said.
With the Queensland road show winding down, I asked AGCO area sales manager Tony Cullingworth what sort of feed-back he’d been getting from farmers who had climbed behind the wheel of any of the featured tractors.
“Most did not appreciate the technology advances in Massey’s latest tractors,” he said.
“Before they got behind the wheel, their perception of what a Massey could do was quite low.
"But when they went away it was ‘wow’,” he added.
And as for the men who ‘move the metal,’ MF’s dealer network, they too have enjoyed the undoubted sales spin-off associated with the initative.
Lockyer Farm Machinery’s Kev O’Brien, for instance, said it had been important for farmers to speak “one-on-one” with AGCO’s technical staff.
“Having the technology explained in a simplistic but knowlegeable fashion will help them to become more efficient,” he said.
Kev O’Brien said farming today was all about “upping the ante” with respect to the latest technological advances.
“We’ve had everyone from graziers to the potato and small crop industries here – all looking for that technical edge,” he said.
Meanwhile, Queensland and northern NSW producers attending the Massey-on-the-Move event have had the added bonus of chatting with Warwick district farmer, and passionate Massey Ferguson enthusiast, Stuart Judd.
He’s criss-crossed the state, hauling the road show behind his colour-matched trailer and primemover, beautifully turned out in stand-out Massey red, attracting interest at truck stops, town centres and, of course, the demonstration sites along the way.
But that’s another story.
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