Which Tractor?


The decisions that surround purchasing a new tractor are usually based on a number of criteria. Pitchcare, in association with St. Albans School, arranged the UK’s first ever gathering of mid range tractors.


Report by DAVE SALTMAN T


he decisions that surround purchasing a new tractor are usually based on a number of


criteria. Before the testing was carried out at St Albans School, by Head Groundsman Ian Smith and his team, we polled the Pitchcare members to find out what was most important to them. Functionality and durability was the overriding factor carrying over 50% of the poll votes. Cost surprisingly was less than 15% of the voting. However how would the poll have looked if we’d included dealer back-up in the listing? For most machinery, dealer back-up is probably the most important consideration, but is that so for a tractor? I mean tractors are built to last, withstand abuse and should give a lifetime of work with very little likely to go wrong if regular maintenance checks are carried out.


When we decided to do our second ‘Which’ style testing with mid range tractors it was going to be interesting to see how the various manufacturers fared


against each other. However once we started looking for potential candidates I was overwhelmed at how many manufacturers there actually are. We had arranged with Ian and the School to accommodate the tractors for a week, enabling the Groundstaff the time to carry out a series of tests. At that time we thought that we’d get around six machines to trial.


Once word got out that we were going to do the trials, more


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