One Beefy Tractor: the Massey Ferguson 1533
Country Road Cabins’ owner Paul Breuer says there’s plenty of power under the hood of his versatile MF1533 tractor.
By Richard Banks | Photos By Stasi Bara
“Here in West Virginia you’ve got to be ready for some hills,” says Paul Breuer. “You need traction and you need some weight. And,” speaking of his Massey Ferguson® 1533 tractor, “there’s enough beef in here to get you up and down the hills, and feel secure, even with a load of gravel in the loader.”
Paul on the MF1533.
Paul, who, along with his wife, Jennifer, operates Country Road Cabins, uses that 33-HP MF1533 for a variety jobs on the 89 acres that’s home to 20 deluxe rental cabins near West Virginia’s famed New River Gorge. In addition to maintaining the property’s miles of gravel roads, he mows fields and lawns, buries cable and water lines, clears snow and pulls a towable lift to work on those hard-to-reach places on his cabins. “I hook it behind the tractor and get into some places where you definitely need 4-wheel drive and locking differentials, so we can get up high,” and, he says, “do it safely.”
In addition to stability and power, the MF1533 also has a creeper gear that allows Paul to perform other tricky tasks. “I have this 25-foot pole [that’s fitted to the] front of the tractor that I lift trusses with and set structurally insulated panels that are 400 and 500 pounds. You’ve got to go very slow and be very careful with it, and that’s where this creeper gear is just fantastic for me.”
Paul is more than satisfied with the performance of the MF1533, as well as his dealer Nettles Equipment in Duck, W. Va. “They’re a great dealer, always very helpful,” he says.
From tractor to service, owning a Massey Ferguson has exceeded his expectations, says Paul, especially “after owning another ‘red brand’ that had 32 HP, but no real steel and guts under the hood. The Massey Ferguson is just heavier and more solid, but it’s got better fuel economy. It’s the best of both worlds.
“I don’t know how they do it, but they do it and it works. I wouldn’t trade that tractor for anything,” he says, pauses and adds, “except another Massey.”
Read the full story, “A Blue-Sky Kind of Guy: The Great Outdoors with Paul Breuer”
