“He is a well-respected operator that other farmers in the area take notice of,” Tuck said.
“He’s passionate about dairying, so he does a good job.”
Michael and Brianna milk 500 Holsteins on a 160 hectare property just south of Korumburra in a 50% sharefarming arrangement with owners Ian and Joanne Cash. They have been there for six years.
Michael, who is now 27, grew up on the family dairy farm near Smithton in Tasmania and came over to the mainland in 2004.
When they first arrived, they bought a second-hand Case MX100C from Traf Tractors which Michael describes as “a real good tractor”.
It was traded in on a new Case MXU110 which did about 2500 hours but was not big enough for the job and Michael was looking around for a replacement.
In the meantime they had acquired a second-hand MXU125.
It was then that they departed from their usual practice of buying Case gear from Traf Tractors.
“It was a big mistake,” Michael said.
They have now ordered a new Case Puma 140 and at the time of our visit in mid-October were awaiting delivery.
The Puma will be used mainly for feeding silage and topping the paddocks which is done twice a year. The MXU125 will be staying on to do everything else.
“I find that the Case tractors we’ve had are comfortable and simple”, explained Michael. “We’ve had no problems, except for clutch springs because of the front-end loader.
“The only criticism I have is that the red colour fades, probably because of the UV in this part of Australia.
“What I also like about Case tractors is the 600 hour service intervals and the extended ‘Red Cover’ warranty with Case IH.
“Most of the tractor hours we do are for feeding. The new Puma is 140 horsepower, bigger than we’ve had before, with front suspension and cab suspension.”
The tractor will come with 18 forward/6 reverse full power shift, and the 6.75 litre Tier 3 turbocharged engine utilises a Power Boost™ management feature to help tackle tough crop conditions or steep grades.
The optional suspended front axle system is designed to provide improved traction in the paddock and better stability at high transport speeds.
Tuck said he recommended this unit because of “the brute strength in the driveline.”
“The transmission has been around for a long time and has proved itself in reliability and the cost of ownership. Plus cabin visibility is second to none.
“This unit is bigger and heavier. Michael was looking for more weight, particularly with operating the silage wagon. He needs something with a bit of grunt.”
Michael is fervent in his praise for the dealership; “They are great blokes at Traf Tractors, particularly Murray Tuck. They helped us out when we started here, and we buy all our equipment from them. It’s a good dealership and I’d rather deal with Murray than anybody else. He’s a good machine person, but also a good ‘people person’ ”.
Traf Tractors are Lely dealers and the Armstrongs also have a Lely spreader, mower and tedder.
The mower is their third Lely unit and came on board when they took the Massey Ferguson mower back to the dealer.
A 21 cubic metre Giltrap silage wagon with remote scales looks after that side of the silage which is kept in above-ground covered pits.
They did 320ha of pasture silage this year and 800 rolls of hay, using contractors for that part of the business.
The cows are averaging 38-39 litres/day, 10,000 litres per year with 700kg of solids.
They are big grain feeders at 3000kg per year; that’s 10kg/day in the bail.
This is because of their relatively heavy stocking rate with 500 cows on the 160 hectare property. They utilise 100ha of their house block as a run-off.
For the future, Armstrong said that they are stable and happy where they are.
“The Cases are good to work with. We own the tractors and machinery and 50% of the cows. We might creep up slowly to 600 cows. But I won’t be doing anything else but dairying.”
Working Clothes will focus on the performance of a new machine in the paddock each month. Send suggestions to Chris Dingle on 0417 735 001 or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
