Reliability, Visibility, Ease of Use
This cattleman mixes the old with the new when it comes to equipment. They’re all workhorses.
By Beck Mills
Eddie Prince
While lifelong cattleman Eddie Prince is willing to experiment with grazing techniques, when it comes to equipment he sticks with a proven product.
The mainstay on his stocker operation is a Massey Ferguson® 399 front wheel assist tractor that he uses every day to feed his cattle. “We’ve hardly had any problems with it. It’s just reliable,” says Prince, who also notes it’s easier to operate than other brands and has terrific visibility.
“That’s important to me, working with cattle and these step-in posts,” he says of the low-lying fencing he uses in his 300-day grazing program.
Then there are his two longtime workhorses, a 1973 MF1100 and a 1964 model 1100, which he uses to bale hay.
“The ‘64 has at least 30,000 hours on it,” Prince reports. “We used to row crop and we had John Deere, International, Case, whatever. But for the time it was built, the ‘64 was better engineered than some of the new tractors. It is a really good tractor, even today.”
