We have been looking at second hand ones for a while on the internet, and finally went up to Grafton to look at one there – it was a heap of rust, twenty years old and still $18,000 which is cheap even for a 20 year old tractor.  And we had been thinking that even if we bought a $12,000 – $18,000 tractor and it lasted for 2 – 3 years, it still wouldn’t owe us anything (we paid George $22,000 last year!)  But after looking at this one at Grafton I put my foot down and said we had to have a new one.   With a new one, I can drive it happily and easily, it is safe for both of us, we know where it has been and what it has done and how it has been treated and we can have it regularly serviced and hopefully not be prey to all those expensive breakdowns that happen with old tractors.  So Ged went to look at the brand I like to see what he thought (I thought he would think it was too small and girly) but he came back really excited and so we did the sums and decided we could pay a third cash up front and finance the rest quite easily now we only have one mortgage.

So we bit the bullet and waited excitedly for delivery.  And then I elbowed Ged out of the way and climbed on . . . I haven’t looked back since!

We’ve had a few teething problems like the rock that sliced through the cables when I slashed it and the dirty diesel which destroyed the fuel injection system (all covered by warranty) which has severely slowed up our pre naming ceremony farm clean-up (aaagh!!) BUT the tractor is so easy to drive and after I had spent 7 hours on it, I got in my car and wondered whether the power steering had failed . . . it hadn’t, it just felt like it after the lightness of the tractor!  So we are very happy with our new toy (for the record, it is an ISEKI (Manufactured by Massey Fergusson and branded as such in the US) , 60 horsepower, 4WD tractor)

Ged says he would just like to get a go on it . . . !