IAM
Nicholas Hughes, N.C.H. Agri Ltd.
Moyloughbeg, Co. Galway chooses a Gregoire Besson – Five Furrow RWY6 Plough.
I was really looking forward to seeing the Gregoire Besson RWY6 plough in action following its award at the 2014 Ploughing Championships. (Innovation Rosette Award by Irish Farmers Journal / Toplink).
County Galway will not immediately come to mind as a tillage county, since the demise of the Tuam Sugar factory, but Nicholas Hughes informed me that between reseeding and preparing ground for barley he is kept busy. “I grow about 100 acres of barley myself and a few neighbours would grow an equal amount. Last year was also a busy reseeding year so I had to change my old four furrow for a bigger model, just to manage the extra work. Quigley’s my local dealer arranged a demonstration of the Gregoire Besson and when I saw it working, I was convinced that it did a nice job in fairly rough conditions, even with only one set of discs on the rear furrow and it left a nice clean finish with no raggedy bits”.
The Award winning Gregoire Besson plough has a number of unique features. I asked Nicholas how he rated these:
Point with three-hole fixing “This is a brilliant concept” said Nicholas, “the idea is that you can reverse the point after some use and get the benefit of extended wear when it’s turned around. For maximum results it’s important to turn the point before the steel wears too thin in its first position. Used sensibly this can give you more acres for your Euro”.
Turn-able Soleplate “This is another very good idea, effectively almost doubling the lifetime of the soleplate”. Nicholas showed me the practical advantages of this on his plough
Cranked Leg “I’m convinced this is a brilliant idea, removing any possibility of blockage. This more open design essentially means fewer stops to clear blockages in a working day”.
Offset Beam Nicholas liked this idea as it leaves less wheel tracks and allows easy transport within the tractor width.
Equal forces on the bodies “it’s an easy plough to pull”.
Single wheel for Transport & Work; The wheel is mounted within the geometry of the plough, so ploughing close to hedges presents no problem.
Hydraulic Auto reset “This is a nice feature and we have had no operating difficulties with it”. It’s controlled from a pre-charged gas accumulator which can be adjusted according to conditions. The ball bearing mounting and ball pivoting all worked well with great clearance when the leg tripped.
