This month, Mark Fouhy travelled south to Aria in the King Country to catch up with Terry Alcock of Alcock Contracting. Terry recently purchased a Case IH Puma 140, which is proving to be a beast on the hill country.
For the past 15 years, Terry Alcock has been contracting in the
Mokauiti Valley, with most of his work being on rough, hill country
terrain. Some days he travels up to an hour and a half to fulfil
his client’s bale, hay, re-grassing and cropping requirements.
Although not a very big operation, during the season Terry and his
team of three other drivers bale on average 10,000 round bales
(2000 of these are hay), planting approximately 200ha of winter
crop and 300ha of new grass.
Up until this season, Terry has operated all blue tractors,
originally starting out with 100hp machines, but now he runs a
135hp New Holland. Wanting a little extra power, Terry purchased a
Puma 140, which is rated at 142hp and 104 kW at 2200 rpm, and it
has so far performed very well.
Although Terry has had a great run out of his New Hollands, he
decided to switch to a Case IH when his local dealer, Giltrap Agri
Zone, Otorohanga, changed brands. Andrew Giltrap and his team have
always offered excellent service and support over the years, and
Terry didn’t want to jeopardise this.
The new Case IH Puma, with its extra horsepower will need running
in, which is why the Alcocks will run it with a Lely Welger baler
this season and later on with the discs and power harrow, which
will put the extra horsepower to good use.
The cab
I was very impressed with the Puma’s cab overall. The Puma model I
drove was the silver spec, which provides a few extra features
including increased operator comfort levels and ease of operation.
Comfort comes in the form of a deluxe air suspension seat and the
machine is easy to operate thanks to the electro-hydraulic
joystick, which is used to operate the rear service valves – on
this machine, it is also used to manage the Sima 4 titanium loader
when this is on the tractor.
The forward visibility was fantastic with a large glass surround
and the usual dash instrumentation down the right-hand pillar. Even
with the loader brackets for the Sigma loader attached, the vision
was still great.
A lot of your basic information is on the right-hand pillar and is
displayed on the AFS Pro 300 touch screen monitor, integrated into
the armrest, showing the current machine status, and adjustment of
major tractor functions.
Terry has found that some functions do not alter if you change
them on the AFS monitor, including hydraulic flow rates for the
loader, so this needs to be done on the Performance monitor on the
A pillar instead.
My only complaint with the controls is that some of the more
important buttons (four-wheel drive and diff lock), were quite
small and close together so there is a risk of you hitting the
wrong one when engaging/disengaging.
I didn’t quite get used to the power shuttle either: you only need
to tap it forward or back to change direction and it settles in the
neutral position, so you are unsure as to whether it is in gear or
not when looking at it.
On a more positive note, the noise levels in the cab were
excellent, with Case IH measuring them at 69dB, almost 3dB less
than some competitors and similar or better than some modern
cars.
The Puma is also fitted with electric adjustable mirrors, which
can be changed to suit different implements without getting out of
the cab, and save “accidents” at gateways! Another addition is the
Puma’s cab suspension, which Terry says is great and he wouldn’t
buy a new machine without it – after a long 10 or 12-hour day, it
is these refinements that are going to minimise operator fatigue
time after time.
Power and performance
With the new common rail Tier III engine, engine noise and
emissions are low. On the downside, fuel consumption appears to be
slightly more than Terry’s current 135hp machine, but the extra
power makes up for all that, allowing him to go up hills in a
higher gear and providing him the option to pull a second roller if
need be.
All of the Puma range can be ordered with 50km transmission and
front-axle suspension at an extra add-on cost, but these features
are standard on the Gold models. Terry made a good point that on
the narrow metal roads 40kph is quite fast enough, and because most
agricultural implements lack suspension, an implement will get
shaken to bits if the tractor goes any faster.
To really test the power of the Puma, we had the Lely Welger baler
attached. Being a relative novice on a tractor baler set-up, I
found slight adjustments for the pick-up and bale release on the
baler were easily made with fingertip controls on the joystick. I
think I got to grips with it fairly quickly, even if it was in one
of the better paddocks for the day.
The constant engine speed buttons on the Puma are excellent for
jobs like baling and power harrowing. Being a 140hp machine, I
thought manoeuvrability may be an issue, but with a turning radius
of 5.45m, it is quite similar to the 125 and 135 machines Terry
already operates. Its size only really becomes an issue at small
gateways and narrow crossings. Terry has standard Michelin tyres
fitted to the Puma so it’s compliant for road work without
requiring extra signage or pilot vehicles while on the road. He has
run duals in the past but found getting into paddocks on some farms
a problem.
Verdict
In the short time Terry has had the new Puma he’s clocked up 520
hours. Like a lot of contractors, the wet weather has put him a few
days behind so there’s still a few bales left for the season and he
said he would get back to me when he had done over 5000 hours to
see whether his opinion had changed!
In my opinion, the Case IH Puma 140 is very easy to operate,
offering excellent cab visibility prompting safety and operator
comfort is second to none.
Likes
Excellent cab visibility
Ease of operation
Handling – the ride quality is fantastic!
Suspended cab and air suspension seat are comfortable in the
rough
Electric adjustable mirrors can be changed easily
Dislikes
Power shuttle was hard to get used to
Button layout – some were small and close together
Interference from the baler controller monitor, resulting in AM
radio frequency only! However, there was USB ports for an iPod or
similar.
Farm Trader says…
Comfort comes in the form of a deluxe air suspension seat and the
machine is easy to operate thanks to the electro-hydraulic
joystick
Photography: Mark Fouhy