With over 1000ha of arable land, mainly under a direct-drilling regime, Hinxhill had previously handled much of the heavy work with a John Deere 8345R, with support from a 6210R for lighter duties. Now, the additional workload has called for a higher capacity back-up.
“We felt with the additional workload and the ‘time-critical’ demands of our direct-drilling system” commented Jonathan Houchin, “we wanted a back-up that was heavy enough and powerful enough without going to another eight series John Deere. We traded-out our four year old 6210R which had done five thousand hours over four-years - it never missed a beat and has been a great performer. We decided on the largest of the 6R John Deere tractors the 6250R. It’s a mid weight tractor with up to three-hundred horsepower available in a medium-sized frame - so very manoeuvrable. It also has a very flexible weight system which means we can attach or detach weights very quickly - sometimes in as little as fifteen minutes - depending on the job.”
The new weight attaching system on the John Deere 6250R means it’s simple to add half-tonne weight sets to the wheels or simply pick-up front weights using the front hitch. “We now have a nine tonne tractor that we can weight up to fourteen tonnes very quickly,” said Jonathan, “but only when it’s needed. Carrying dead-weight around is no good for wasting fuel and it also compromises soil compaction. The extra horsepower and weight of the 6250R means we can handle a four-tonne fertiliser spreader with ease - and it’s only burning around one litre a hectare while fertiliser spreading. We fertilised three hundred and sixty seven (367) hectares recently and used only three hundred and fifty (350) litres of fuel which is really frugal for a big tractor like this.”
