A new hire service – believed to be the first of its kind in Britain – enables growers and contractors to hire specialist wheel assemblies for long-term or seasonal use.

Essex-based Brocks Wheel & Tyre (BWT) says this new approach avoids capital expenditure on wheel sets that may be used for only a limited period each year and saves having to store bulky wheels until they are next needed.

BWT director Will Brock says: “This is a solution for farmers and contractors who want known costs over a period, paying only for the time they use the wheels.

“It facilitates better cost budgeting without long-term commitments, and it is tax-efficient because the charges are tax deductible.”

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The cost of hiring row-crop wheels can be from £30 a week over a long-term contract or up to £80 a week for a year’s hire, while a set of wide flotation tyres and wheels would be from £60 a week long-term or £160 a week for a year’s hire.

Shorter periods of a few weeks are also available – for example to hire a set flotation tyres for spring planting and sowing after a prolonged spell of rain. Excessive wear and damage would be charged at the end of the hire period. 

Farm opts for VF fitments

It was the short-term hire option that attracted AL Lee Farming Company in Cambridgeshire to the new service earlier this year, leasing a set of Bridgestone VT-Tractor ultra-flexible VF tyres for a New Holland T7.210.

Machine operator Henry Border explains: “With the recent weather that we’ve all had, we wanted to avoid sinking into the soil by spreading the weight of the tractor and machine over the land.

“Purchasing a set of wheels just for springtime wouldn’t have been worth it but hiring a set for six weeks for sugar beet drilling, rolling and so on before handing them back was worthwhile because of the ground conditions.”

BWT says its team members will use their expertise supplying rims and tyres for a wide range of applications to come up with the optimal combination for whatever a farmer or contractor wants to achieve.