In just over two years, Nick Catchpole has clocked up almost 1,800 hours in the cab of a 143hp M6-142. He views the mid-sized M-series as a competent allrounder, having proved its worth at Manor Farm, Wilcot in Wiltshire, since it arrived in late 2022.
“We’ve gradually switched to Kubota tractors as other makes at the farm came up for replacement,” explains Nick Catchpole, pictured, who manages day-to-day operations at the Maidment family’s 860-acre farm. “140hp is the right size for us, and Kubota’s M6 series is a tractor that delivers on power and manoeuvrability.”
“The stand-out for us is the value for money that we get from Kubota,” he says. “It’s a package that also includes a no-fuss warranty, and a gutsy four-cylinder engine. And if we want to add front linkage and pto for example, it would be a cost-effective dealer-fit upgrade.”
With a boosted output of up to 163hp available for transport, Nick adds that the tractor is comfortably on top of its workload among the rolling slopes of the Vale of Pewsey.
“The M6-142 is easily capable of everything we need our tractors to do,” he adds. “Having the extra power for trailers, muck spreaders and our 3,000-gallon tanker is really useful, yet we’ve still got a sensible sized tractor that’s manoeuvrable and relatively light for field work.”
At Manor Farm, Nick makes use of two M6-142 models as frontline power, bought from Devizes-based Howard & Sons. The newest 2024 model replaced a five-year old, 5,000-hour M135GX model that had proved totally faultless from the day it arrived, until the day it left.
“I’ve never known a tractor to perform so well, and it never let us down once,” adds Nick. “Based on this, plus the service and support from Howards, along with my own experience with our first M6-142, it was an easy decision to add a second M6-142 to the fleet. And logistically, having two identical tractors that can share jobs, is very useful.”
While the newer M6-142 tends to spend its days on feeder wagon duties and has been bought with a five-year, 5,000-hour warranty, the older model was bought with a five-year, 4,000-hour warranty.
“Bi-Speed turn is fantastic when fertiliser spreading on our cereal crops,” says Nick. “Turning on and off the headland tramline with Bi-Speed turn activated makes it very easy to follow our contractor’s self-propelled sprayer without flattening any crop. It makes the M6 so manoeuvrable, that this is an ideal tractor for fertiliser spreading.”
While contractors are used for cultivations, drilling and silage at Manor Farm, Nick will assist with mowing headlands in smaller fields with a Kubota DMC 6028T mower conditioner. He also carries out the lion’s share of grassland maintenance, ensuring leys and grazing fields are delivering for the farm and its 500-cow herd.
“We put a lot of emphasis on cow nutrition and silage quality,” says Nick, who favours a multi-cut system for high sugar and high protein, which forms the basis of all feed rations created for the herd and its followers. “We make the most of all our available resources, to focus on getting the best out of everything we produce.”
Helping with application accuracy on grassland, is a Topcon guidance system.
“It’s not an auto-steer system, but it does give me A-B lines to follow,” adds Nick. “This is really beneficial where we don’t use tramlines, for example when spreading fertiliser or putting slurry on grass with our tanker and 7m dribble bar.”
