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Nottinghamshire contractor Andrew Hill of A T Hill Ltd., runs a fleet of four John Deere 9880 STS level land combines, bought from local dealer RBM Agricultural at Retford in 2003 and 2004. Two are equipped with 9.1m (30ft) cutting platforms and two with 7.6m (25ft) versions.
The machines harvest around 6000 acres of combinable crops a year, including wheat and barley, linseed, oilseed rape, borage, peas and beans. Average output in wheat is around 55 tonnes per hour, reaching up to 60 in good conditions.
"Although we only cover about a 10 mile radius locally, we have lot of customers in this area," says Andrew. "As with all harvest work, time is of the essence – when the crop needs cutting we have to be ready to go, or we don’t get the work, so our machines are often all working at the same time."
"Grain quality is always an issue, especially when the market price is low. Our customers always expect better Hagbergs and drier grain, so we need combines with the ability and the capacity to do the job. Grain samples from the STS are extremely good, even in rape and linseed."
"Having also run CTS combines in the past, we’ve always found John Deere’s rotary technology to be extremely reliable, especially in green and damp straw. The cutting platforms are brilliant in laid crops, and direct cutting with oilseed rape is also very good. Another feature I like is that the crop feeds in very well, especially when we have to work at night."
"Parts are easy to get too, which has always been the case with John Deere, especially with their next day delivery. Having said that, we’ve never really needed to worry with these STS combines, as we’ve always got through the harvest without any breakdowns."
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