Welcome to our May newsletter.
Hello again and thanks for taking the time to check out another edition of our newsletter! It’s been an interesting few weeks of weather as summer becomes more of a distant memory as each day goes by, most of us are experiencing a bit of rain at the moment and looking at the forecast it looks like it will settle in for a few weeks.
In our branches we are still keeping plenty busy with a steady trickle of bale handling and feeding equipment starting to roll out as you all start getting organized to keep the girls happy over winter.
Up North we have two new additions to the sales team which is very exciting for us. We will introduce both of these fine gentlemen further down the page for our Northland readers. These chaps are coming onboard full of beans, and we think will represent the Piako business very well.
At Morrinsville the team is preparing for a big Fendt open day on the 19th of May so head on in to the Morrinsville branch between 10am and 4pm and you will see a full line up of green machines and you can also enter the draw to win a cool Fendt prize pack.
At Rotorua we are having good fun working with Terry at the Taupo Tractor & Machinery location and you will see that we have been dropping off more and more stock there for you to come and have a nosey at. We are already getting great support from Taupo locals so thank you for that, and it’s great to see more of our gear finding its way out onto farms.
We are also seeing some great progress on the new site in Rotorua, those poor roofers though are pulling their hair out with the weather…. It’ll all be worth it in the end though, well… for us anyway! Thanks boys.
Matamata is busy as always and unfortunately this month we say goodbye to our service manager Don Kay, Don is off to the South Island to kick off his retirement! Very well-deserved Don and we all wish you the absolute best for the future. Your 10 years of service at Matamata Tractors has been fantastic and your dedication to your job is very much appreciated.
If anyone thinks they have what it takes to fill Don’s big boots, then you have our number!
That’s it from us, if you’ve got a pond on the farm and you’re getting out to chase some green heads on opening weekend please stay safe, point the boom stick in the right direction and enjoy a few drinks after the shooting stops.
Regards,
The Team at Piako
Branch - Northland
Role – Sales
Adam Ujdur
Adam grew up in Rural Northland near Whangārei where he moved about as a child due to his father’s business. This probably explains Adams' very friendly demeanor as there’s nothing like being a kid and needing to make new friends every year or two to hone your people skills!
Adam was introduced to the ag industry through his Grandad who owned a sheep farm which he spent a lot of time on as well as through his father-in-law who owned (Dave Boyt Machinery). Adam also throughout his Uni years worked at an orchard picking fruit during his Uni Breaks. After several years in the industry Adam seems to have found his calling and really enjoys the people and places that come along with the agricultural world. Before he started working in Tractor sales, you would have found Adam working in Tech, so if you need help using insta books on your Samsung or iPhone 15 then he’s your man!
In his spare time Adam has a real thing for fishing so if you're up for a new tractor, maybe chuck in a day on the boat as a bit of bribery! As well as fishing Adam also loves chasing his son about as much as he can while he is still young, his weekends at the moment though are currently being taken up by getting put to work by doing chores around the house as it's a new build coming to an end.
Andy a’Beckett
Andy was born in Palmerston North where his parents were dairy farmers until they stopped farming and the family moved to Auckland. After Andy finished school, he went dairy farming himself until the inner petrol head familiar to many a young man came out in him, and he moved onto car sales. I guess the draw of being able to grab a new WRX off the car yard and take it home is pretty appealing!
After a while though, the appeal of being back on the land got the better of Andy and he took the big leap and set up his own contracting business focusing on making hay bales and fencing jobs…. and then we were lucky enough to find him and managed to twist his arm and wrap him up in a Piako shirt!
Andy loves how this job allows him to travel to different places, meeting and talking to new people. He finds it very interesting to find out what people are up to and how they run and operate their business, he certainly seems to have a thirst for knowledge which is awesome.
In Andy's spare time he likes to be with his young family as much as possible and is currently ‘not so patiently’ waiting for their new transportable house to arrive so he can dive headfirst into getting the DIY renovations started and finished…. Hot tip Andy, they’re never finished!
Welcome to the team Adam and Andy and to all our customers in the North make sure you do yourself a favor and get to know these chaps, they’re both very genuine guys who will go a long way out of their way to help you out.
Massey Ferguson 6712 ROPs and loader from $118,000+gst & 0.99%* finance. We love these machines in the group, they’re a proper grunty tractor with enough creature comforts to do the job efficiently and keep everyone happy but without too many bells and whistles to over complicate things. The 6712’s frame size, weight and 120+ horsepower is ideal for most daily duties. We have also priced this up with a heavy-duty professional series loader fitted on them, that way you can just get things done without worrying! Only available while stock lasts and we can hang onto this incredibly low finance rate so don’t think about it too long!
Winter is coming and cold weather means dead batteries! Grab a new battery for your tractor in the month of May and you'll score a 10% discount off RRP as well as a FREE Piako coffee tumbler for those chilly starts! All you need to do is mention this offer from our newsletter when you place your order.
Currently we have a VERY limited number of brand-new Massey Ferguson 7S.145 Dyna-6 machines available at just 0.99%* finance. With 165 max horsepower, renowned Dyna-6 transmission, and a professional series front end loader this is a serious bit of kit perfectly suited to New Zealand’s large farms where you need a reliable ‘all-rounder’. These stock machines are flowing in over the next couple of months, so if you’re in the market they’re well worth considering, its hard-to-find cheap finance right now!
The WideTrac comes standard with a 780mm wide belt for spreading versatility, handling anything you throw at it. Plus, it embraces intuitive 21st century technology, with a digital interface that allows you to take care of the spreader settings at the touch of a button.
All you need to know is the fertiliser density, your spreading width, and the desired application rate - the computer does the rest so you can focus on driving.
These fertiliser spreaders are packed with features to make your job easier and are built to last with a double skinned 8mm polyethylene bin, galvanized chassis, and drawbar components and plenty of stainless where the magic happens at the back.
Learn more here - https://giltrapag.co.nz/nz/products/spread/fertiliser-spreaders/widetrac-spreaders/6t-widetrac/
When Fendt released the new Fendt 700 Gen7 their tag line was ‘You dreamt it. We built it’ and while that’s a pretty brave statement I really can’t argue with them. I think if most of New Zealand’s large farmers and contractors sat down and were given an open chequebook and were told to design their dream machine, it would be pretty darn close to what you see above.
So what is it? Well in short, the new Gen7 is the ‘replacement’ for a portion of the Gen6 700 range as well as taking over what we knew as the 800 series. I say ‘replacement’ because currently the Gen6 is still available in parallel with the new Gen7… confused yet? Let me explain a little more.
The horsepower range in the new 700 Gen7 spreads from the 720 with 203 max horsepower to the 728 with 303 max horsepower, so while there is a slight increase in wheelbase from 2783mm to 2900mm we also get a max horsepower increase… I haven’t had a chance to drive it yet but 300hp in this frame size and weight will be great fun! At the same time the Gen6 is still available from the 714 with 144hp to the 724 with 237hp.
Power is delivered by the brand-new AGCO Power 7.5 litre 6 cylinder, this engine was specifically designed for the new 700 and is developed under the Fendt iD, low speed high torque concept which means this bad girl has a rated RPM of just 1700rpm. The engine is helped along by a new cooling package like what we see on the 900 series with Fendt’s ‘CAS’ concentric air system finding its way under the new bonnet. It’s a hydrostatically driven fan and the engineering tolerances are closer to what you might expect to see inside a turbo rather than a cooling fan! The new fan means better performance and a dramatic decrease in power draw and thus improvements in fuel efficiency. Oh, and another thing, it’s now available as a reversable fan option! so anyone dreaming of a 728 with a set of Fendt triples on it make sure you tick that box too!
On the back of the engine is Fendt’s Variodrive system, again like what we see on the 900. This transmission drives the front and rear independently from each other via an all-wheel drive clutch and it will send power where it’s needed. This is the reason this tractor can have a turning radius as little as 10metres! The transmission creates a ‘pull in’ turn effect which pulls the front of the tractor around during tight cornering maneuvers like on headlands. We also still get the awesome versatility of this transmission offering a speed range of 0.02m per hour to 60kph and no more field and road modes! Just grab the stick or hit the loud pedal and go.
Sticking with the theme of getting power to the ground, the new 700 also has the option of Fendt Variogrip. Variogrip is an integrated Tyre inflation system so you can easily increase or decrease your Tyre pressures depending on if you’re in the field or on the road. Fendt say this can decrease fuel consumption by up to 8% and improve in field traction by up to 10%... not to mention improved Tyre life and let’s be honest they aren’t cheap! It’s as easy as pie to use too, all controlled in the screen, you set your target pressure and push a button.
There’s a whole heap of comfort possible with this new machine too with a new seat option. Believe it or not you now have the option of a full leather seat which combines heating, cooling and…. massage! you also have electric adjustment of lumbar support, back rest, and the side bolsters. I’m pretty sure there’s a few Rolls Royce limo drivers out there that are a little envious.
What else? Well, honestly there’s too much to mention and I’ll need to send a whole separate email if I go into detail, but you can add …
• Fendt onboard and offboard which allows you to get Telemetry data and plan and report on infield work among other things.
• Fendt stability control for when you’re racing between jobs on the road.
• Options of up to three screens, the 10” dash, the 12” armrest and an additional 12” drop down from the roof.
• Bonnet and rear camera options
. • Brand new integrated front end loader option.
• Up to 220l of oil flow per minute.
• A whole host of guidance and headland management tools, you barely need to drive the thing!
All of this makes the new 700 Gen7 a heck of a machine and the global response has been phenomenal which has earned the new 700 a whole host of awards. Two very coveted accolades in particular are the ‘Tractor of the Year 2023’ and ‘Farm Machine of the Year 2023’. Even if you don’t think a new 700 Gen7 has a place in your own shed, do yourself a favor and have a sit in one at the field days… it's just a seriously nice bit of kit.
To learn more about the new Fendt Gen7 700 follow this link- https://www.fendt.com/int/agriculturalmachinery/tractors/fendt-700-vario-gen7
* Fees, terms & conditions apply. Prices and offers quoted exclude freight. Finance is based on a 30% cash deposit, the GST component repaid in the 4th month, and monthly repayments in arrears over a 36-month term. Available for new retail orders placed after the distribution date of this newsletter. Offers are only valid until the stated offer end date, the distribution of the following newsletter, or while stock lasts. Images used are for illustrative purposes only. Price and specification may vary. Finance provided by AGCO Finance Ltd GST No. 88-831-861.