The Wiltshire-based Leighfield family are in this week’s What’s in Your Cottage hot seat. Oliver Mark asks the questions to Paul, Julie, Richard and Edward.

See also: In test – Massey Ferguson 7S.210 proves versatile and versatile

How did you start?

Paul: I spent the first 16 years of my career as a farm worker and enjoyed it. But my wife Julie and I wanted a little more security, so in 1994 we put out a tender for a 40-hectare municipal farm and eventually got it.

We milked a herd of 43 cows there for over a decade until, unbeknownst to us, the farm was put on the market.

Options for our next move were limited because I had to stay local to drive trucks and sprayers for my other jobs.

So we took what the council offered: a 60-hectare farm in Upper Seagry. Nearly 20 years later, we’re still here.

We maintained a fixed herd size of around 120, but added around 40 hectares of leased land, built a decent-sized contract operation and installed six sheds and a new milking parlour to essentially store the entire kit.

The contracting side has really taken off since our sons Edward and Richard came into the business in 2012 and 2018 respectively.

This almost brought my early retirement plans to fruition.

Paul, Richard, Julie, Edward and Flickk with the third generation – Pippa and Jake © MAG/Oli Mark

Any claim to fame?

You can see our kit and Richard on the next few pages. Tractor Ted Episodes that help Tom the farmer (and Midge the dog) silage and feed the cows.

How loyal are you to the brand?

paul: A lot. Our first Massey was a 3080, and I probably bought 30 more from half a dozen different dealers over the years.

If Richard had his way he could change this. But a 700 series can wait until Fendt pays the bills.

Our clients are unlikely to want to contribute to the £50,000 difference to Massey; We are limited by how much we can charge for work.

Your favorite seller?

Although the focus is on Fendt and Valtra these days, we got our Masseys out of Chandlers’ Devizes warehouse.

We were always interested in Devizes when we were part of Lister Wilder and although the Cirencester ground is the same distance away we like to stick to what we know.

Simon Barnes from Barnes Agricultural Services is our pick man. There is no one in the country better placed to put the collector on the right path.

He is the main reason why we switched from Claas to Krone; The Jaguar may be simpler, but there’s nothing Simon doesn’t know about the Big X. And it’s only five miles down the road.

Favorite piece of kit?

paul: My old demo is 7720 Dyna-VT (20 plates). It was the smallest long-wheelbase model of the period and had much more power than the 7718 it replaced.

He ran a trio of mowers until he got the 8S, which was in a completely different league.

The fact that this is the “black edition” is both good and bad. He looks so smart when he’s clean, but everyone knows him from a mile away, so they know exactly what I’m doing at all times.

Richard: I can say New Holland BB 1290 Plus. The last one caught fire around the knotters, not what you’d expect from even afar.

It appeared virtually unchanged, partly due to having metal body panels.

But NFU Mutual deleted it; They weren’t willing to spend the money to fix it, but when we got back to the site they found all the bearings were warped.

Edward: I will go for the JCB TM320S, partly because it is very reliable, partly because of the 50 km/h transmission. As pivot routers go, it’s seriously fast.

We only had one real problem with it, and it was a weird one: the fan aperture is in the wrong direction.

Someone had put the solenoid from rear to front but JCB didn’t believe us at first.

There have been no problems since and it’s probably still worth most of the £81,650 we paid.

© MAG/Oliver Mark

Least favorite?

A 7S.190. He was plagued with electrical problems that neither Chandlers nor Massey Ferguson could solve.

The joystick and armrest were never smooth; sometimes it would start to move and when delivered the cab suspension was not working either.

To be fair to the Chandlers, they took care of us. And it all turned out well, because within six months we had accumulated enough work to justify upgrading it to the current 8S.265.

We received a huge discount for our troubles, which definitely sweetened the deal.

Your last purchase?

Our old 1,000 litre, 21 meter Gem mounted sprayer was purchased solely for work on our land, but as is the case with these jobs we have started to receive a few contract requests from customers.

Gem was never going to cut it so we moved to a Bateman RB25 with 24m boom and 3,000 liter tank.

It was £20,000 from a farm sale in Somerset, which seemed good value.

It’s plenty for now – it might have a capacity of 600 hectares a year – but the workload will likely increase and until it grows, the extra capacity will certainly make life easier.

Also new this year are two 16-tonne Stewart silage trailers, a 5m Kverneland rotary harrow and the unexpected addition of the 8S after all the headaches with the 7S.

Is the oldest machine still working?

Massey Ferguson 130 direct drill that we bought just two years ago.

Our intention was to use it for occasional reseeding of our own pastures, but all the landscaping has put it in high demand.

This year it must have reached a capacity of 80 hectares, which is not bad for a 50-year-old machine; especially for a machine we only paid £2,400 for.

It has already earned us much more than that and is probably worth twice as much.

How long do you keep your machines?

Our only real policy is to try and upgrade the three front-line tractors at the end of their four-year/6,000-hour extended warranties.

We really like having this protection; At £2,000 per year this is good value in our eyes because we know our exact costs, there are no surprises and there are no overages to pay.

We try to put as many hours as possible into the smaller, older tractors, the 7475, 7480, 7618 and 6290, to make sure they last a long time.

These are much cheaper when employed in less profitable jobs such as hedge cutting.

We are slowly adding these ‘garden’ tractors to our stock and the next tractor to join them when replaced may well be the 7720.

What’s next on your wish list?

paul: Retirement. Failing that, a Krone 780 collector.

Richard: A Fendt 720 would be nice.

Edward: One of our customers switched to grass compaction last year, but we still make enough round bale silage (6,000 per year) to justify a combination baler.

As it is, finding someone to handle the packaging is a big problem.

The stumbling block will be cost; we have to make a living, which rules out spending £80,000 on a new one.

The biggest machine mistake?

paul: It wasn’t a mistake as such, but last year I broke my ankle so much that my foot turned in the wrong direction.

I just unlatched the two-high four-wire bale and could see them tipping towards me.

I managed to move, but one of the bales caught the end of my leg.

It was a surreal experience; Air ambulance, barely any pain, and dose of ketamine.

I left the hospital three weeks later and was back in the tractor cab six weeks later.

© MAG/Oliver Mark

Most expensive repair bill?

£11,000. The forward/reverse clutch pack gave up on the 08 plate 6495 when it was five years old and out of warranty.

We quickly replaced it with the old hire 7618 so we never had to deal with the cold hard reality of the bill; these are all included in the upgrade cost.

Most expensive spare part?

The 7720 has a few small panels that hold up the cabin steps, and Massey charges £100 per person for this. They fell over during the excavation.

Best invention?

-Richard: I made a cell lime spreader from an old wheelbarrow and lawn seeder that had been in use for four years.

It is powered by the quad bike battery and holds a 25kg bag of lime, enough for 120 cabins.

What can’t you live without in the workshop?

“Our workshop” is a work in progress. As it stands now, we have a place to store the tools, but we’re not sure if it can be considered a workshop.

However, we are currently in the process of erecting a new machinery shed which will include a suitable three-bay, 45x40ft workshop.

In terms of tools, the welder and press are the most important elements.

But the Milwaukee 18V grease gun is there too. It’s much quicker and easier than a manual pump, and the more you use it, the less likely you’ll need everything else to fix problems in the shop.

What is your daily transportation?

Land Rovers. Richard has a 62 plate Disco 4 with 110,000 miles and has had no problems in the years he has owned it.

Edward’s 08 plate Disco 3, on the other hand, succumbed to all the usual Discovery problems.

Once he finds a suitable replacement part, it will probably be a turntable, if only to avoid the Disco 4’s engine being moved around.

© MAG/Oliver Mark

Best tractor you’ve ever owned?

paul: I would choose my 1200. In 2003 I paid £2,800 and the man gave me a Claas conventional baler for free.

I always wanted one and luckily I got it before they started looking for it. Only about 10 hours have been made in the last five years.

As far as front-line machines go, our 04 plate 6495 Dynashift was pure evil. He was reliable, strong and gave anything new a run for its money.

Worst tractor?

7S.190. Not our best buy.

Most useful piece of technology?

It needs to have automatic steering, because that means we can eat lunch on the go.

Being able to skip alternate matches with mowers also really speeds things up.

The biggest machinery bargain?

We love bargaining. 1200 probably ranks at the top; the scrap value of a machine is now worth 10 times what we paid for it.

We also bought a Claas front lawn mower for £1,300 and sold it a few years later for £7,000.

And we recently made over a grand on a Lemken plow that we’ve had for ten years.

Generally speaking, we know what we want and how much we’re willing to pay for a machine, and we’ll shop around until we find it.

Biggest bug?

Interest rates. Weather. And contractors who buy the entire kit and set their prices without calculating their costs.