So nice to see the old 550 and 30 drill still earning their keep, I spent hours as a kid riding on the back of our 3m 30 drill, Dad used to pull a set of zigzag harrows behind it - health and safety wouldn’t allow it these days sadly!
I enjoy all your videos but this is definitely my favourite one 👌 Great to see the old girls doing the job. Funilly enough you’ll still get the same results as a guy with a 150k tractor and 60k seed drill 😂👍🏻 looking forward to seeing updates 👍🏻
That setup brings back some good memories, only I used a 565 and a 30 drill with a tramline kit. On a good day I could do about 70 acres on less than a tank of diesel and a back ache.
This is exactly what I was hoping for when you said we’d see the drilling on Thursday. Great video and nice to see a proper drilling outfit without all the GPS autosteering nonsense. It’s a good view from the cab on a sunny spring day!
Nice! The 550 is really turning into a very useful little tractor. Too many vintage machines just sit in collections gathering dust, if they're lucky they get a road run or two each year. Much better to see them in their working clothes, working up a sweat and earning their keep. Great video Dan.
Nice seeing the pair working. The seed and fert hoppers were designed for the old hundred weight bags, I don't think tonne bags were even a thing back then.
Great video Dan..... It's amazing that a small rig like this can deliver perfectly good results. A small tractor lime this even withiutbthrbdual wheels will cause much less compaction than a new 7 ton unit
The metering rollers brought back memories of a kid growing up in the fifties sowing oats with a Massey Harris corn drill, originally horse drawn , from the USA in the first world war which used almost exactly the same method of metering the seed. That drill lasted until the early sixties.
Back in the 1973 I pulled a Massey 30 drill behind a 188 MP and few years later pulled same drill behind Massey 590..8 speed with grey single door cab.
Excellent video of your MF 550 and 30 drill. My Dad used to use an MF 135 with a Quick Detach cab and a 30 drill on row crop wheels. We had the 135 QD because at £4500 it was £1000 cheaper than the MF 550 ,this was about 1977.
Great video… as a kid we used to sow with a 575 (2wd) with duel wheels on the back and a 4m mf drill…used to stand on the foot plate for hours watching the seed/fertiliser levels for my uncle or farm worker… who ever was driving at the time… great memories 👍🏻👍🏻
Nice little set up,drilled my field with a 135 and beterson duals this year pulling a 4m wide spaced 30. Went well and surprised me how well she pulled it, gutsy little things. You could also have used the pressure control facility for the colters they do mention it in the 30 manual and it gives you an even colter pressure with varying soil condition 👍
I have a mf130 direct drill would love a old massey to pull it. sure fact your drilling far more economical than loads of others ideal for the current climate
MF30 a great drill 💪 we had a 4metre on fitted with transport kit an tramlines and kit👍 pulled it with a 575 4wd 👍 tbh in my opinion not havin tramlines apart from precision if your appplyin fertiliser or sprayin not a disaster as we managed for years without them 👍
The MF 30 drill in its various configurations and the MF70 drum mower were clear market leaders in the 1970’s, then MF seemed to give up on its own implements and, as with their combines, went from top dogs to absolutely nowhere over a single decade. It’s much easier to maintain a market leadership with great kit than it is to grow a business from rock bottom. MF went from top to bottom and have never really recovered, although they are now growing again, after three or four decades in the wilderness, with their very own haymaking and baling equipments.
I always liked the 500 series. I scrapped (much to my regret) a red cab 590 many years ago. Although, I do know where there is a 4wd red cab 590 but it's very expensive considering it's in a right mess.
Great video dan, great to see the tractor and drill going, I bet its up by now, will you put stubble turnip in for winter feed after harvest into the stubble? Combine ready for action yet?
I’d take the rubber tube up and out of its boot and rod down from above. I had a 15row wide spacing MF34 linkage mounted trailed drill. These were first sold in grey as Ferguson drills but mine was a red Massey Ferguson combined grain and fertiliser version.
Bet you were glad for a cab when the weather changed! Be interesting to know what ltr/hr the 550 used compared to something modern doing the equivalent. Bet the neighbours thought you were mad in that big field with the 30 drill and 550🤣🤦♂️
Lovely video. Nicie to see a classic setup at work. Have memories of an earlier MF drill ,maybe a 29 on a Leyland 384 when I was young. It was impressive at the time. Was your drill a combine version ? I am guessing it was as it has 2 covers on the hopper . Also is that a small seed kit on the back ?
Great video again love to see them machines earning their keep. Just wondering at what setting do u have it set at for seed and what weight does it put out er acre. 👍👍
A crane fly larvae. A soil living pest that eats plant roots. Established grassland can cope with it's roots being eaten a bit, new sown seeds can't and will die. A large number of leather jackets will cause crop failure. There is no chemical way to destroy them.
