Drainage: beware the pretenders
30/20 and CT/12 'Ideal Combination' - Sweeting Bros
Proving again that the self-propelled trencher and CT/12 combination is unbeatable on agricultural drainage,Farmer's Weekly magazine featured an on-site story from a large farm in the north of England earlier this year. We caught up with agricultural contractors Sweeting Brothers on a newly harvested 13 hectare field in Yorkshire, where a Mastenbroek 30/20 trencher was installing some 3.6km of 80mm pipe to a 1m depth. Working in tandem with the machine was a newly delivered Mastenbroek CT/12 crawler truck. “It’s the perfect combination,” says Dan Sweeting, who is now at the company's helm. “The trench is excavated, pipe installed and backfilled in a single pass, so it is not weather sensitive. It is also very efficient from a manpower point of view.”
“Dedicated self-propelled plant, operated by an accredited contractor is the farmer’s best choice. The contractor can be on site as soon as a crop is harvested. For example, the farmer can be drilling rape within two weeks of harvesting his winter barley, the drainage having been installed in-between crops.”
“The quality of the trench – and the final installation – are crucial to the success of the finished job. The Mastenbroek ensures a clean and firm trench bottom, laid to laser-level grade accuracy across the whole field. And the machines offer the opportunity to design a scheme to fit the field, not the machine, as is often the case with tractor-mounted devices. All soil types can be accommodated with no compromise on machine stability which can affect three-dimension accuracy of pipe installation.”
His views are echoed by Graham Falkingham, owner of Castle Farm near Selby. “We’re constantly looking at maintaining the quality of the drainage. If there’s a problem, we have to fix it; in the case of potatoes, for example, they must be kept moist, but not flooded. It’s a delicate balance that new drainage methods enable us to achieve. And with laser levelling techniques, installation has improved beyond all measure.”
“When we buy a new piece of land, we know that it’s probably going to need draining. So we’ve no hesitation at getting the professionals in. It’s a specialist’s job, so we get specialists in to do it.” Land drainage is enjoying a significant resurgence after a number of years in the doldrums following the withdrawal of grant-aid to carry out the work in the 1980s. Recently, some landowners have been tempted to install their own drainage after the emergence of tractor-mounted and other host-mounted equipment, but many industry professionals believe these attachments represent a poor substitute.
Mastenbroek is the UK leader in self-propelled, purpose-built machinery for the task. Its powerful 30/20 is one of the British manufacturer’s most popular drainage machines, having sold worldwide and achieved a status as a benchmark for agricultural applications. In its standard form the 30/20 has a 250kw (335hp) engine and dig depth of 0.3m-2.2m at widths of 125mm-380mm. The machine has low ground pressure, oscillating tracks, enabling it to negotiate difficult terrain while accommodating the additional spoil that the deep drainage creates.
Like every Mastenbroek drainage machine the 30/20 comes complete with a standard pipe installation box, but these can be adapted for all styles of pipe and laying conditions. The 30/20 also features laser grade control, ensuring that pipe installation is accurate, independent of the terrain encountered.
The Mastenbroek CT/12 crawler truck is an ideal companion to the 30/20 trencher. Used for backfilling trenches for drainage and other pipeline applications, in its standard form this machine has an engine rated at 164kW (220hp) and weighs in at 17 tonnes. The CT/12 has a large 15 tonne hopper capacity, independent variable hydrostatic track drive and a 180-degree swing, hydraulically slewable, front-mounted conveyor discharge assembly. Together, the 30/20 and CT/12 are capable of extremely high productivity in agricultural drainage specification where up to 2,500m a day of laser-levelled and backfilled pipe can be laid, day in, day out.
“The use of this type of equipment is farmers’ reassurance that the job is done to a high standard,” says Sweeting. That reassurance is backed up by a host of standards drawn up by the Land Drainage Contractors Association (LDCA), a trade association of contractors, manufacturers and suppliers who undertake to comply with recognised standards of workmanship and materials. Sweeting Bros. and Mastenbroek are members.
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