The undulating terrain of north Herefordshire and south Shropshire makes it the ideal home for a fleet of hillside combines. We visit a contractor that’s settled on a trio of second-hand John Deere Hillmaster machines to tackle its 800ha workload
Since John Deere launched its first Hillmaster combine in 1992, they’ve been the harvesters of choice for north Herefordshire contractors Steve and
Andrew Price. The pair’s first self-levelling chassis machine was a five-walker Z-series 2058, and there hasn’t been a fixed-body unit on their fleet since. “They’re just so much more stable on the banks, losses are much lower and they leave a tidier finish,” says Steve. “We did have a demonstrator flat-land machine here a few years ago and we really didn’t get on with it.” Today, the brothers run a three-strong fleet of Hillmaster combines — a 2009 C670i and 2008 9780i CTS fitted with 7.6m tables, and a 9640i WTS walker machine with 6.0m cut built in 2006. To help make the job pay, all models were purchased second-hand when they had less than 1,000 separator hours on the clock. With that sort of workload behind them, the twin-rotor machines tend to be worth about £70,000, and that makes them some of the best value used machines out there, says Andrew. “Equivalent Claas and New Holland combines are a lot more money, and I don’t think they offer any more output.” Straw quality is good, too, and they’re pretty reliable, so they make a lot of sense, he adds.
Another big draw is that dealer Tallis Amos is right on the Prices’ doorstep. “That makes a massive difference when we’re running for parts and we have a good relationship with the store staff there,” says Steve..
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