Investigators says that John Deere Excavator, which was worth above $50,000, got destroyed after it caught fire. One more equipment piece parked close to excavator got vandalized.

Joe Manz Jr., along with Office of Fire Marshal said that around 50 gallons of fuel was poured on ground. They got up & drained system of fuel out from truck.

Manz says 2 days before this fire, boys were standing on tree debris pile & refused at getting down when the workers had asked them to do so. They claimed to protest removal of the trees in this area. Manz says that he knows that people live locally in here & that people here in the community should help out. These vandals caused above $50,000 worth damage. The crime is considered as felony & investigators of Fire Marshal are now asking everyone along with the information for calling the Montgomery County Crimestoppers.

Caterpillar is world’s biggest makers of the earth moving equipment and they said at end of the April that they had over estimated demand for Chinese construction equipment & are now exporting the inventory from China to the other markets.

Sales in China were down by around $250 million & $300 million in 1st quarter of the year 2012 as compared to 1st quarter of the year 2011, related mostly to the excavators, says Mike DeWalt who is Director of the Investor Relations @ Caterpillar and he said this during release of 1st quarter earnings.

Free beans and ham, along with the hot dogs, too were available @ this event. Apart from that, the members of the Relay For Life were too here hand selling the desserts and all the proceeds went to Relay For Life of Clay County. According to Bell some of owners of tractor had got on board & had driven their automobiles vehicles along curb right close to the restaurant. Ricky says that it is fun and they hope to make this an annual even. Bell also added that he hoped for starting up local club for people who have interest in the tractors.

Industrial bellwether has said it is expecting the demand for the construction equipment to go down for China in this year. It would be going down from the prior fore cast of the growth of about 5-10%, which is reassessment that shows difficulties that are facing the industrial multi nationals which have made large bets regarding Chinese economy.

China makes about ten percent of the business of Caterpillar’s for Asia & 3 percent of the over all sales. Development is pretty sharp reversal of the fortunes for company’s Chinese operations, which fuelled the profits in the recent years as the demand is sluggish for developed economies.

There is also the question of plan of Caterpillar’s for ramping up the capacity for China. This company has about 16 facilities in this country – and the recent one opened about last month – with 9 under construction, mostly all of them will open during this year. China workforce too will be doubled from the current level of about 11,000.

The company says that the launch of the new machines range; they are keen on bringning the customers to the site for helping establish closer connection along with people who are important for the business. The company thinks that their products will be welcomed inside European markets and their business will get benefits in the long term.

Komatsu UK belongs to Komatsu global organization, which are world’s second-bigger supplier and manufacturer of the mining & construction equipment. Japanese huge head office is located at Tokyo, & there are about 144 companies in this group. The total number of people employed is about 41,000.

This company employs around 400 staff for their plant at Birtley & last year it added about 71 jobs for producing the new Dash ten machinery ranges. It comes with extensive portfolio of products, having 15 machines & exports above 75% of the products for Europe & North Africa.

Launched @ TechAgro in Czech Republic, home show of this manufacturer’s, new tractors of Forterra HSX range starts 96 hp to 136 hp & they are powered by company’s own 4.2 litres, 4-cylinder, engines of 3b stage compliance using diesel filter of particulate for reducing the emissions.

As compared to standard Forterra, electro-hydraulic control lever of shuttle is mounted on left side of dash and the gearbox gets expanded from about 24 x 18 to about 30 x 30.

For rear, HSX has manufacturer’s HitchTronic system of control; it allows this tractor in adapting for any terrain, this manufacturer says, it makes the work easier & also more efficient.

Lift capacity is increased by 1 tonne to 7 t & the wheelbase too is 100 mm longer @ 2,490 mm.

Initially, HSX will be offered from the month of June along with off-centre drive line to front axle. However from next year January, this manufacturer will be producing tractors having central drive line & brakes that are oil-immersed for front axle.

Hans Haefeli, the vice president at Caterpillar along with responsibility of Advanced Components & Systems Division said that the expansion is due to growing demand of Cat products & they will be positioning the operations for both Sumter & Joliet for continuing to grow & exceed the needs of customer as they drive towards strategy & goals of Caterpillar.

$20 million plan of expansion includes additional 170,000 sq ft, bringing total foot print of this Sumter facility to about 275,000 sq ft once it is complete. After this expansion gets operational fully & at full capacity, it’s anticipated that Caterpillar will be adding about 80 jobs more in 2-years time.

According to Hardi, control display needs Grip & SetBox for the functions of tracking & boom folding along with sprayers trailed however, with Euro 1,500 kit of wiring harness, HC9500 can be installed for tractors of non-IsoBus.

HC9500 will have a price tag of around £4,800.

Humble tractor loader has seen a lot of competition from the alternative materials which have been handling machines over years, including the articulated telehandlers and loaders. No matter what they say, loader tractor is staple part for a lot of farms on UK. The key attributes still makes loader tractor a very attractive option – the versatility & the capabilities of road transport are high on this list.

A lot of times, it is only tractor of the farm and there is bit of every thing. To others, it’s support machine for tele handler, carrying out the extra duties which suited are more to loader tractor.

In my test, I wanted to see packages that manufacturers give when you ask for 1 of the tractors along with loader, & compare against the other on-farm.

I was disappointed as I couldn’t test all of them hence for good cross section of the machines that we yearned for 1 well-established maker, 1 relative new comer to agricultural market, 1 machine with low specification & 1 contender that is a bit less well known.

For keeping things fair, every manufacturer had same specifications for loader and tractor. I asked for 4,000 kgs tractor having wheel-base of 2.5m & around110 of hp. For loader, I looked for 4 four-metre max height of lift & max lift capacity of around 1,500 kgs.

My line-up

My criteria was realized along with Massey Ferguson 5455 having an Alo 946 loader, Kubota M108S that was fitted along with maker’s LA1403 loader, Zetor Forterra 115 along with purpose-built TracLift TL 260 SLi & Deutz Agrotron K 430 that was fitted along with Stoll ProfiLine FZ20.

Tractors & loaders were being put through paces on beef & dairy farm at Lancashire, carrying day-to-day activities, like bedding, feeding, hauling, & mucking-out.

This was tested for key attributes which make good tractor loader – manoeuvrability, transmission, visibility, hydraulics, & power.

This device of Raimo can be used for 600 kg & 1,000 kg bags & is an alternative for slitting bottom of bag, according to the manufacturer.

You can install the dispenser on to bag through 2 blades, which the bag punctures. You can then screwed in to bag & lock into place. Sliding chute will open & close for discharging required material amount.

Any materials that are unused may be stored inside the bag along with dispenser that is still attached. Once it is empty, you can remove it & use for another bag.