Kiwi farmers are justifiably proud of what they can achieve with a piece of No. 8 wire. Our remote location has forced farmers to find their own solutions to problems, and some of these have gone on to be world leaders.
The “making do” approach that lies behind this inventiveness is only half the story though. Kiwi farmers have also been quick to adopt advanced technology once the advantages are obvious. Traditional approaches didn’t stand in the way of the rapid adoption of the tractor once these powerful and reliable machines became available, and now we’re seeing another significant change. Just as the bullock gave way to the tractor, tractors are now being replaced by more specialised equipment better suited to a particular job.
One such piece of equipment that’s growing in demand is the telehandler, a four-wheeled vehicle with a telescopic boom capable of supporting a wide range of attachments. Similarly priced to tractors, telehandlers are the Swiss army knife of farm machinery – the right attachment turns the one machine into the one machine you need.
The shift from “making do” with generalist equipment such as a tractor to instead using the right, specialist equipment for the job, is symptomatic of the fact that farming in New Zealand has grown in scale and complexity. Farming operations are big business now and there’s more emphasis on using the right machinery to increase overall efficiency, productivity and improve safety, and to save time and money.
See how efficient a telehandler and a BvL Mixer Wagon partner up to get the job done.
A telehandler cuts down on tractor hours loading mixer wagons.
The Dieci Agri Plus loading muck spreaders in Southland.
The best telehandler for a particular farming operation will depend on, among other things, the required maximum reach and lift capacity.
Find out which telehandler would suit your farm and your farming needs best with our selector tool – a quick and easy way to work out which telehandler is the one for you.
Telehandlers began to appear on New Zealand farms about 20 years ago. Uptake has been steady but has also been hampered by the misconception that telehandlers are fine for big corporate farms but not as useful for your average Fed Farmers member as a general-purpose tractor and a shedload of implements. Ask someone who has one though and they will probably tell you they couldn’t live without it.
This is because of their versatility. They are ideal for lifting and shifting large round bales, and their lift capacity means quicker loading of a mixer wagon or feedout trailer. Many models have four-wheel steering as well as four-wheel-drive, making them highly manoeuvrable when working in tight spaces, such as when it is time to clean out the barn.
The only limit to their versatility is the availability of a suitable attachment, and there is a long list of these much more than your standard bucket or forks, including yard scrapers, block cutters, post-hole borer, bucket grab, sweeper bucket and straw blower and more. With each attachment comes the peace of mind that this is a proven product available “off the shelf”, rather than a repurposed tractor implement of untested design.
A telehandler’s versatility also means you can save on third-party costs by doing more jobs yourself. Mucking out a herd shelter can be done with a telehandler but you wouldn’t do it with a tractor. Instead you would need to bring in a contractor for the job.
Telehandlers bring many benefits to a farmer or contractor. They’re not cheap but they do save time and money in the long run. They lift more, reach further and push harder than a tractor can, thereby increasing farm efficiency. They can quickly load a mixer wagon or feedout trailer, then tow it to where it’s needed. They’re quicker and easier to operate too, as there is no need to hop in and out of a tractor cab. And they can be fitted with a three-point linkage and power take-off.
Switching from one attachment to another is quick and easy. Some machines come equipped with hydraulic functions that allow attachments to be hooked up with a touch of a button. Swapping from a bucket to a shear or a fork shouldn’t take more than a few seconds. Alternatively, removal of a single pin enables such a switch.
Telehandlers come with roll-over protection (ROPS) and falling-object protection (FOPS) as standard, and their typically low-mounted boom gives the operator full 360-degree visibility. Load sensors will tell an operator when they are nearing the machine’s safe working limits, and if those limits are exceeded the telehandler will automatically shut down. Telehandlers can also be fitted with front stabilisers, which extend its lifting capacity while stationary.
An important thing to remember when operating a telehandler is to lift the load before extending the boom. The operator should move the work tool into a load and secure it with the boom fully retracted, then lift and extend the boom. This will ensure loads are within safe working limits.
One of the strongest arguments for using a telehandler on the farm is health and safety. New Zealand has an unenviable record for serious harm due to accidents in the agriculture sector, and this is being addressed through education and legislation. “She’ll be right” is no longer good enough, and using the right gear for the job is paramount.
As an employer, a farmer or contractor’s legal responsibility to supply staff with the right gear for the job means there is significant financial and reputational risk in failing to do so. Should the dreadful day come when an on-farm accident claims a life, being able to stand up in court and show that the telehandler and attachment in use were specifically designed for the task is much better than having to argue that an untested tractor implement repurposed in the farm workshop didn’t fail and cause the fatality.
Telehandlers come with roll-over protection (ROPS) and falling-object protection (FOPS) as standard, and their typically low-mounted boom gives the operator full 360-degree visibility. Load sensors will tell an operator when they are nearing the machine’s safe working limits, and if those limits are exceeded the telehandler will automatically shut down. Telehandlers can also be fitted with front stabilisers, which extend its lifting capacity while stationary.
An important thing to remember when operating a telehandler is to lift the load before extending the boom. The operator should move the work tool into a load and secure it with the boom fully retracted, then lift and extend the boom. This will ensure loads are within safe working limits.
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