High Horsepower: The Right Equipment
Why farmer Dave Green switched his brand loyalties.
Dave Green lives near the Jackson, Minn., plant.
Milfred, Iowa, producer Dave Green took notice when he heard Massey Ferguson row-crop tractors would be built in nearby Jackson, Minn. Because of that, he says he’s “much more apt to stay with Massey Ferguson. That does so much for our local economy.” Then, again, says Green, who raises up to 2,400 head of cattle each year and grows row crops, he’d already made up his mind to stick with his red tractors.
“We’d been John Deere, over and over again,” he says. “But it was my brother who got me to looking at [Massey Ferguson tractors], because he had bought a Massey 8480 and an 8450. I helped him out, got to run them, and I thought they worked pretty well. We hauled a lot of manure, and the CVT transmission in them, I love that.”
Soon thereafter, Green bought his own MF8480. Then, a little more than a year later, in early 2011, he purchased the MF8650. “The main thing,” says Green, “is that transmission. It’s so easy to run. The fuel economy is really good, too … and that 8650 suspension, the ride is incredible. It’s just like going from a Dodge to a Cadillac. When you spend 20 hours a day in it, it really makes a difference.”
One of Green’s biggest obstacles to making the switch to Massey Ferguson was the location of his new dealership, Van’s Implement, which is located about an hour’s drive away in Hull, Iowa. “That’s one thing that I was really scared of, going to Massey, because we don’t have a dealership close here, where we’ve got two John Deere dealerships within 20 minutes.”
The change has paid off, though, Green says. “I think Van’s has done us really well in service. I feel like we made the right choice.”
