JOHN Cotton has been a dairy farmer for 38 years, since he left school at 16.
With his wife Clare, and three full-time staff, he runs 550 Friesians on 360ha at Birregurra, on the fringe of the Greater Otway National Park.
- IN A WORD
- MAKE: Claas
- MODEL: Scorpion 7030 telescopic loader
- LIST PRICE: $149,250 + GST
- BEST FEATURES: John said he liked the comfort, safety, all round-vision and incredible versatility
- MORE DETAILS: Landpower, Colac (03) 5231 6322
Soils on the farm are a mix of sandy loam and clay, and the area receives about 700mm of rain a year.
About 200ha of the property is used for making 12,000 cubic metres of pit silage and the Cottons also grow turnips and sorghum on 40ha, for stock feed.
Their 50-unit rotary dairy delivers 4.5 million litres of milk a year to National Foods.
At 53, John is as keen as ever to find more efficient and economical approaches to farming.
For two to three years he trialled different brands of telescopic handlers to see how they compared to each other, and to a tractor-loader combination.
In June last year he bought a 7030 Claas Scorpion telehandler and says it is much better than anything he's tried before.
"The vision is really good," he said. "There's no beam between the roof and windscreen, which makes a big difference.
"You've got a 360-degree unrestricted view of the machine and whatever job you're doing, and the simple joystick control makes it so easy to use.
"You just steer with your left hand and control operations with your right hand."
John uses the Scorpion for loading silage into a Giltrap cart, for stacking hay, cleaning yards, loading fertiliser and feeding out to hay holders.
"It's pretty well a general-purpose machine with incredible versatility," he said.
"It does all the front-end loader work and does it much better and more quickly than a tractor would, with no extra effort.
"It's a lot safer than a tractor loader too, because it has a wider wheel base and lower centre of gravity, with good weight distribution and ground clearance.
"The telescopic arm, with its automatic boom suspension, gives you extra reach for the bales in the hay shed.
"With the four-wheel steer you can turn around in next to no space," he said.
John uses the Scorpion with five implements and says it is so easy to unhook, he can change implements in 30 seconds.
He uses a Kerfab block cutter for picking up silage.
A set of Landpower large bale handlers takes care of the square bales, with a smaller set for the round bales.
"I put a Kerfab scraper on the front of the Scorpion when I'm pushing manure around," John said. "It has a rubberised edge so it doesn't scrape the concrete. The Kerfab bucket is very good, too."
The 88kW Scorpion's high-torque, Tier 3 Deutz engine is fitted at a right-angle for easy maintenance.
A load-sensing hydraulic pump supplies 110 litres of oil a minute. It only supplies oil when hydraulic power is required, allowing the operator to work efficiently at lower engine speeds while consuming less fuel.
The Varipower hydrostatic drive permanently co-ordinates speed and thrust, controlling and distributing tractive power without the need for operator intervention.
John said the power was very impressive. "You've got the power and agility where you need it, and yet the Scorpion is so quiet you can hardly hear it and the fuel economy is very good.
"And you can't beat it for comfort."
John and Clare have three other tractors: a nine-year-old John Deere 6410; a six-year-old John Deere 6520; and an old Massey Ferguson 550.
"We're happy with the John Deeres," John said.
"They're a good tractor, but we wouldn't swap the Scorpion telehandler for anything."
