Ross Stratford can't recall what year it was, when he last had a day off, modern agricultural contracting being what it is.
Originally from the Aniseed Valley, Nelson, Ross spent eight years at Lincoln College, working there for four years. He bought land in Canterbury and used the money from Lincoln College to 'tidy up scruffy properties'.
Returning to Nelson he rather reluctantly began contracting, starting small and mainly filling in as he had the skills, but inevitably the business has grown.
"To top it all off, this year the growth has been frightening", Ross explained. Due to the drought and the ever changing dairy scene he decided to expand and buy new gear for hay and balage, "and it's been a hell of a year to start."
The wet weather has meant they couldn't get started seriously until a couple of weeks ago, and there have been only small pockets of one or two days in which to work on the hay crops.
"It's been hard on the organisation and has lead to frustration on the part of some clients who fail to understand. When you have huge capacity but can only work one day here and there, you get further behind. We are trying to do two months work in two weeks."
"A lot of good hay crops have spoiled but it has meant some very good second cuts, heavier in some instances than what Nelson can expect from a first cut - when they manage to get it out."
Ross Stratford operates a Fendt Vario Favorit 712, with a second 90HP 4WD Massey Ferguson tractor with loader, and for his contract hay making services has a Massey Ferguson 185MB high capacity 'centre line' large rectangular baler, and a Norwegian Kverneland UN 7655 square bale wrapper.
Malcolm Machinery have met all of Ross's machinery needs both in sales and service, being available for call outs all hours day or night with any problems as the new machinery has settled down. "I've never had any problems, Malcolm Machinery have been exceptional."
