Choosing a Tierre product from Vin Rowe Farm Machinery for his first ever mulcher purchase has been a success for one Victorian farmer
Stuart Jennings put plenty of thought into his first ever mulcher purchase before opting for a Tierre model.
The potato farmer decided a mulcher was necessary to solve a specific problem at his farm in Thorpdale in Victoria’s Gippsland region, and so the process of identifying the perfect unit began.
“I started looking for a mulcher because we have a paddock where we have spuds in it one year and then in between the next crop we’ll put a fodder crop or a green manure crop in there,” he says.
“This year we were trying to cut it with a topper and it just wasn’t cutting down properly.
“We were having a lot of trouble working it in, so I decided it was probably time we got a mulcher.”
With potato growers often requiring machinery that is specific to the sector, Stuart has been an ongoing customer of Vin Rowe Farm Machinery.
The Warragul-based dealership, which is only about 30km from his farm, is the national distributor for several machinery brands, including Tierre, for farming types such as potatoes and horticulture.
“We have dealt with them a few times over the years, partly because they’re a potato machinery dealer, and there isn’t really a lot of guys who specialise in potato equipment,” Stuart says.
“I just started having a look around for a mulcher and come across this one day when I was down at Vin Rowe.”
Shrewd purchase
Having this close proximity to Vin Rowe Farm Machinery, along with being familiar with the dealership’s suite of products, meant the Tierre mulcher was an obvious choice, but Stuart says he did thorough research that ultimately left him satisfied he had chosen well.
“Vin Rowe did a pretty good deal with it and then, when I started looking into them a bit, they also seemed to be a bit better built than some of the others,” he says.
“I did look at a few different brands, including one in particular, but it just didn’t seem quite as well put together as this.
“It was also a low body mulcher, whereas the Tierre mulcher is a high body, which I thought would handle a bit more volume.
“The thing is really well built. It feels a lot heavier than the size of it might suggest.”
While Stuart only purchased the mulcher earlier this year and is still in the early stages of using it, his careful decision to opt for a high body mulcher has already reaped dividends.
“When we start doing a green manure crop, we can get quite a lot of grass going through them, so we thought the high body might be able to handle it a bit better,” he says.
“I had a bit of wild radish coming up in a paddock that had been sown down over winter and hadn’t had a chance to get on to spray it because the weather hasn’t lined up with it.
“I went in and started chopping that and that was doing a really good job cutting that up and chopping it up into nothing.”
Proven products
Vin Rowe Farm Machinery’s story is that of an experienced operator, deeply embedded in its local community of Warragul while also having a bigger-picture focus by being the national distributor for the brands it represents.
The brands it teams up with have also been established over many years, with Tierre being one example.
Founded in Italy more than 60 years ago, Tierre describes its specific goal as being “to produce high quality agricultural machinery for shredding grass, pruning, stalks, forestry and for the maintenance of road edges”.
Its present-day global range includes agriculture models with working widths between 1m and 8.3m, showcasing its adaptability for both large and small-scale needs.
Tierre operates three factories in the Padua region of northern Italy, which boasts the likes of plasma cutters, modern laser cutting, electronic rotor balancing and robotic welding.
This, along with testing occurring on land owned by the company, gives Tierre complete control over every aspect of its operations and ensures robustness and durability in the end product for Australian farmers such as Stuart.
Tierre’s product range includes high-performance stalk mulchers for the likes of corn, straw, cotton, wood material and uncultivated land.
Quality materials and precise workmanship help these mulchers to maintain high performance and have a long life while operating in Australian paddocks.
Features include a double cutting hammer to give both vertical and horizontal cutting and therefore an increased working speed, an anti-obstruction wheel, and adaptive geometry that allows for multiple cutting configurations and helps when the same machine needs to be used in different working environments.
Tierre also offers crop flail mowers, which the company says provides precision and durability for use in all farming conditions.
Ideal for broadacre paddocks, plus vineyards and olive groves, these help to remove everything from branches and brambles through to roots and wild herbs.
Their aim is to cut and chop up any vegetable residue, even those well rooted into the ground, with everything shredded by the machine to become a useful natural fertiliser for the soil.
By prioritising quality and strength, Tierre says it is building products that are made for long-term use.
This build quality has been noticed by Australian farmers such as Stuart, and the winning formula only becomes more appealing when it is combined with service from Vin Rowe Farm Machinery director Graham Rowe and his team.
“We’ve always felt they’re good to deal with and Graham has been there for as long as I can remember,” Stuart says.
“He has always been good to have a chat to as well and he always helps out as best he can.”
Vin Rowe Farm Machinery is located at 3 Endeavour Street in Warragul and the full range can be viewed online at www.vinrowe.com.au