Our product ranges Contractors
What are an agricultural contractor’s requirements?
An agricultural contractor is a business dedicated to providing agriculture-related services, such as field work, harvesting, seeding, crop and land maintenance, or performing other, more specific tasks on a farm. These businesses may specialise in a particular type of crop or service, or they may offer a variety of services to meet farmers’ needs.
A farmer may use the services of an agricultural contractor at different times of the agricultural year, in response to specific crop and land maintenance requirements. For example, an agricultural contractor may provide assistance for:
- Soil preparation before crop planting (ploughing, harrowing, etc.)
- Crop maintenance (weed control, treatment, etc.)
- Crop gathering (harvesting, fruit harvesting, etc.)
- Crop transport (loading, transport, etc.)
- Production storage (silage, etc.)
- Maintenance of agricultural buildings
- Forestry work
- Landscaping work
This list is not exhaustive; requirements will vary by farmer and by situation. This multiplies the requirements of agricultural contractors, in order for them to provide the maximum number of services. Operating regularly on specific tasks exerts more wear and tear on machines, as they are used intensively over a short period of time. Therefore, in order for tasks to be performed as efficiently as possible, a business must pay careful attention to its choice of loaders, implements and weights.
How should an agricultural contractor choose a loader?
There are several factors to consider when choosing a front loader for a contractor:
- Size and weight: It is important to choose a front loader that is suited to the size and weight of loads to be handled, as well as the specific requirements of the business. The contractor’s equipment will doubtless be used more intensively, so this must be taken into consideration.
- Lifting capacity: the loader must have the necessary lifting capacity for the tasks to be performed.
- Working space: The available working space that will be used must be taken into account in order to choose a machine of the correct size. A contractor must therefore be able to work on farms of different sizes.
- Usage: A loader that is appropriate for the tasks to be performed should be chosen, so as to avoid inappropriate use which could damage the machine or the environment.
- Durability and maintenance: important factors when deciding, as a robust and easy-to-maintain loader will help avoid high maintenance costs and downtime. This is a key issue for contractors, who cannot afford repeated interruptions, as these will affect its efficiency and may result in significant loss of earnings.
MX has developed 6 loader ranges to offer solutions adapted to various applications.
Choice of implements
As with loaders, the choice of implements is important and depends on the type of task to be performed. It is important to choose handling implements suited to the specific tasks to be carried out, so as to avoid inappropriate use which might cause damage to the implements and loads and potentially result in delays or additional costs.
As with loaders, the choice of implements is important and depends on the type of task to be performed. It is important to choose handling implements suited to the specific tasks to be carried out, so as to avoid inappropriate use which might cause damage to the implements and loads and potentially result in delays or additional costs.
- Buckets for a variety of purposes (general purpose buckets, silage buckets, compact, etc.)
- pallet forks of various sizes
- grabs for loading and moving heavy objects, such as tree trunks
- manure forks, combination grabs, etc.
Choice of weights
A tractor weight is a piece of equipment used to add extra weight to the tractor to counterbalance loads, improving traction by negating the lever effect caused by the linkage/loader.
Originally intended for the tractor’s rear wheels only, MX evolved its weights to offer hitching to both the tractor’s front and rear, in accordance with the contractor’s needs. This now allows the operator to hitch an additional weight directly to the front linkage of the machine.
Originally intended for the tractor’s rear wheels only, MX evolved its weights to offer hitching to both the tractor’s front and rear, in accordance with the contractor’s needs. This now allows the operator to hitch an additional weight directly to the front linkage of the machine.
