Kverneland XHD slashes ploughing costs

That’s because Albanwise Farming relies heavily on its nine-furrow RN100 plough, as it turns over some 2,500-acres each year as part of its establishment process.

“The plough is a very important part of our system,” explains Yorkshire farms manager Will Jones, who looks after Albanwise Farming’s 11,000-acre operation based at Low Mowthorpe. “We’re 170m above sea level which means a late wheat harvest, and this is followed with 1,500 acres of winter barley, with malting quality as the goal. Ploughing gives us seedbed quality along with effective weed management on our chalky flint soils.”

Historically, the farm had been spending around £17,500/year on plough metal, but three years ago Albanwise Farming switched to non-genuine tungsten parts as it sought to lower its operating costs.

“Initially, I saw Kverneland’s XHD as a clever sales pitch, so I went to the aftermarket sector to save money on tungsten,” he says. “Farmstar also provided XHD points that we fitted to one left and one right-hand body, as a comparison.”

Pulled by a Case Magnum 380 Rowtrac covering up to 75 acres/day, output is impressive. But after three days ploughing, Mr Jones says aftermarket tungsten parts had worn out, and the Kverneland XHD parts had barely taken the paint off.

“It was a light-bulb moment, though the initial investment was considerable,” he says. “Instead of spending little and often, it’s now a bigger chunk up front each year, but the savings are colossal.”

“Downtime was enormous, but now we only have to swap metal once during the season, and that’s impressive considering how often we had to stop and re-metal,” says Will. “XHD means we’re now only spending £3,000-4,000/year on plough metal, instead of £17,500/year while also suffering a huge amount of downtime.”