EDITORIAL – The Weekly Times.
John, after many years, is back doing what he loves – driving a tractor on the family farm. John grew up on a small farm in Scotland and has retained a strong passion for farming, even though his career as an engineer has taken him around the world to Melbourne. Looking to return to the land and retire, the family began searching for a small farm. After five years they found a 10ha property in the Pyrenees Shire, in Victoria.
“Now we have our own property, we just want to start developing it,” John said. “There is a lot of work to be done. The first step was to clear a site for the house and that meant buying a tractor.” John saw the price of SOTA Tractors’ remanufactured Kubota tractors in an advertisement in The Weekly Times’ Farm Magazine and decided to find out more about the North Fitzroy company.
John had worked on Kubota engines through his engineering career and was impressed with their fuel efficiency and reliability. “SOTA offered good value and peace of mind,” he said. “It was a recognised brand, remanufactured and came with new tyres and a three month written warranty. It meant I didn’t have to do any mechanical repairs and could start work straight away.”
John selected the B1502D, a 14.2kW compact four-wheel-drive model with a front end loader. He bought the package six months ago. “The more I use the tractor, the more I am amazed by the ability of such a small, compact tractor,” he said. “It has done quite a number of hours’ work now and we haven’t had a hint of trouble.”
“It starts every time and then works its little heart out.” John recently added a slasher, grader blade and ripper to the tractor’s implements to help maintain the farm. “We have more than 500m of gravel driveway and don’t have any livestock to keep the grass down, so the tractor and its implements have come in very handy and will be useful for future development of the property.”
John said the SOTA team was keen to make sure potential customers were well informed before buying and had offered excellent support.