Massey Ferguson: Reliable, Easy to Service
Massey Ferguson tractors maximize uptime.
By Richard Banks | Photos By Jamie Cole
With a full-time job and a 200-acre farm to manage, Gary Ellis has no time for downtime.
“I get home at 5 p.m.,” Ellis says, “then start work on the farm, putting up hay, fixing fences, feeding cows. I’ll then eat dinner, go to bed, get up and start all over again. My time is pretty limited. I don’t have time to be repairing the tractors.
“Reliability is my main concern,” says Ellis, an electrical engineer who raises about 50 head of cattle on his farm near South Pittsburg, Tenn. “With the Massey Fergusons, I’ve had no maintenance at all on any of my tractors, on anything except the basic fluids. And that’s something I count on.”
In addition to three Massey Ferguson® tractors and one older AGCO-Allis model, Ellis has a Kubota M9000. “Compared to the Masseys, it’s a nightmare just to do your standard services. It’s really hard to reach and access the [serviceable components]. Masseys are a world of difference … and just a user-friendly tractor.”
Ellis also says of the Kubota, that “The tractor is so lightweight that it really makes a mess out there in the fields. [You have] to engage the 4-wheel-drive just to get out of normal situations. I’m not having that problem at all with the Masseys; they’re heavy, well-built, large-frame tractors that have really been a joy to work with out in field conditions.”
Only having to use 2-wheel-drive on his Massey Ferguson tractors, says Ellis, “has worked out great; that’s a great fuel savings for us, just because the Massey tractors are capable and robust enough to perform without having to use 4-wheel on everything.
“I’m very happy with the tractors overall,” continues Ellis. So satisfied, in fact, he’s looking to purchase both a new MF4610—because of its “terrific versatility”—as well as an MF5610. “It’s got the Dyna-4™ transmission, which, because you don’t have to push the clutch, is so easy to use for jobs like putting up hay, even on the hills we have here. The 5610 cab is roomy too,” he continues. “It’s well laid out, with lots of visibility.”
