Somerford Park Farm in Congleton, Cheshire is a family owned and run equestrian centre that also produces haylage on its 650 acres of land. Josh King, whose parents own the equestrian centre that houses over 300 horses, and an arable farm that produces hay and haylage. The business also rents 450 acres of land for arable use, and a total of 12 people, including other family members work on the arable side of the farm. He told us why he thought the Massey Ferguson 5S range was best for this type of business.
Josh and his family run three 5S series tractors, two of which were bought from RVW Pugh, and a larger JCB tractor. The tractors are used throughout the year for grading the horse arenas, topping, harrowing, rolling and fertilising. They also recently bought a Sumo cultivator.
The farm needed to replace the tractors they were running, and they considered other makes of tractor before settling on a Massey Ferguson 5S.115, bought in 2021. Later, they bought an MF 5S.135 and then bought an MF 5S.125 to replace an MF 5610 in 2023. The family decided to buy Massey Ferguson because of the local dealership support offered by our depot in Holmes Chapel.
Josh is very pleased with the decision made, as he thinks the Massey Ferguson 5S range is fantastic inside and out! He remarked that all three Massey Ferguson tractors are second to none for their manoeuvrability, their comfy cabs, and their size. He added, ‘For smaller sized tractors, they are very powerful. We call them pocket rockets.’
Josh also commented that the 5S tractors are great for fertilising in places that other bigger tractors can’t get to. They are fitted with grass tyres, and when they are undertaking spring work on the grass, no one can see where the tractors have been due to their light weight. Josh also said that the 5S series tractors are also so powerful that they can cope with larger machinery due to the 4 cylinder engine. He absolutely loves the Dyna 4 transmission, coming from a previous tractor that had a traditional manual gearbox, he said it was easy to use once he got used to it. Josh added, ‘They are a big step up form a conventional gearbox, I think it’s great!’ Fuel efficiency has been improved too, with Josh reporting a definite change in the amount of fuel being used, even though the tractors work a lot of hours every day.
Josh was very pleased with the service received from RVW Pugh over the years. Although he hasn’t had much call to use the breakdown service we offer, he said that, ‘Sam, our salesperson is very knowledgeable, he’s not pushy but is there when I need him.’ Josh also commented that the warranty follow up was straightforward, with reminders being sent to him for his servicing, and he had no reason to change anything.
The family has big plans for the future, with expansion plans on both the arable and equestrian sides of the business. Josh added, ‘In agriculture, you need to be constantly growing and diversifying.’ Plans include new stables and storage sheds to house straw and haylage for their own use and to sell on to customers.’