Martin Harris, a 24-year-old Cornish livestock farmer, fencing contractor and sheep shearer, is the latest to open his shed doors.

How did you get started?

I went to Duchy College when I was 16 and lasted all of about a month. Formal education was never really for me, so I ducked out and bought myself nine ewes and five calves.

That was the start of my farming business, and the following year I upped the numbers to 96 sheep and 10 calves.

Last year, I had nearly 300 stirks, which I still buy in as 10-day-old bucket calves and fatten through to 18 months.

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Alongside them I’ve usually got about 1,000 ewes, which is getting close to the limit in terms of available pasture.

The grazing is spread across a fairly big area from Bodmin to Launceston, Callington and Looe.

I took on a new yard with my parents last year, where I’m now putting up a couple of sheds.

To help pay for that, and everything else, I also run a contract fencing service, do a bit grass contracting with my brother and father, and shear about 3,000 sheep annually.

How brand loyal are you?

I don’t have a lot of kit, so there’s a limit to how brand loyal I can be.

But tractor-wise it’s Kubota, much to the dismay of my brother and father, who both run Massey Ferguson 6480s (2007 and 2009).

I also like the Enrossi, purely for its Batrake. The “drag and drive” system is far simpler than a regular twin-rotor rake, as there’s no pto and no gearboxes.

Granted, it’s not the smoothest for silage, and it tends to tangle long, ropey grass, but it’s perfect in a short, fresh crop and easy to follow with the baler.

Generally speaking, the faster I go, the better a job it does, as it chucks the grass rather than rolling it into one long sausage.

It’s also cheap. My 12-star model came new in 2019, covers about 7m – roughly the equivalent of a large two-rotor rake – and cost £6,000.

It does about 400ha/year, so it has already paid for itself.

It was the biggest version I could get that would follow the tractor like a trailer on the road – any bigger and they come with a dolly on the front, which wouldn’t be very convenient on the small roads in this area.

Favourite dealer?

Vincent Tractors, which supplied the Kubota.

There’s no faulting their backup – I had an oil pipe problem on Boxing Day 2022, just three days after the tractor was delivered, and they had it sorted within three hours.

For the quads, it’s now mainly M&M Plant, as I’m gradually switching from Can-Ams (OHG Quads at South Molton) to CF Motos.

That decision is purely down to price. I can buy a CF Moto CForce 625 for £6,250, run it for two years and sell it for £4,000.

By comparison, the Can-Am Outlander 650s cost £11,000 new and lose about £5,000 in a couple of years.

The Outlanders have a torquier engine, are far more comfortable and have a better steering lock, but I’m willing to sacrifice comfort for a bike that’s half the price and equally reliable.

I’ve had transmission belts fail on both brands.

I’ve now had seven CF Motos – I’ve currently got four – and loads of other farms around here are going the same way.

The days of Honda ruling are long gone. They’re still well built, but they’re more than £10,000 new and uncomfortable to ride.

Favourite piece of kit?

My three dogs. And, in machinery terms, it’s the Rappa fencing system on the quads.

It gets used most days in the winter and saves me hours of work, as the fields are small and I’m regularly moving the sheep.

Plus, there’s not much to it beyond a few bearings and pulleys, so it should last forever.

I also like the Ritchie Combi Clamp, which I bought for £16,000 with government grant money to replace a GSF race that the business had outgrown.

I rent it out to bring in a bit of extra cash, though it’s not particularly lucrative as parts often get broken.

I offer a similar service with the GSF mobile cattle handling system, which includes a squeeze crush, vet pen and a race at the back, all on a single trailer.

Least favourite piece of kit?

The Krone six-rotor tedder, which has suffered from far too many gearbox problems in the five years I’ve had it.

Fortunately, my father is handy in the workshop, so it hasn’t cost a lot to keep running. But the downtime is annoying.

Latest purchase?

A CF Moto quad. I’ve got another, and a Can-Am, on order.

I tend to sell the old ones on Facebook, as they go for a bit more money than the dealers offer as trade-ins.

Advertising them that way attracts plenty of time wasters, but I’ve learned to ignore all the “is it still available?” messages and just reply to genuine enquiries. So far, it has been pretty successful.

How long do you keep your machines?

I like to keep the most important stuff new and in warranty, and run the implements and other kit until they’re wrecked.

The plan is to replace the Kubota tractor at 3,000 hours while it’s inside the 5,000-hour warranty, so it should still be worth decent money.

The quads stay for two years to match the warranty.

Next on your wish list?

A new fertiliser spreader. I demoed a Kubota DSM-W Geospread last spring and it was brilliant.

It had far more sections than my current Kuhn, turned on and off accurately and fits an extra bag of fertiliser in.

I would have bought it last year, but I managed to do the bulk of the spreading in the week that I trialled it, so it made sense to hold off and spend the money on sheds instead.

I’ve also just tried a Weidemann 8050T pivot-steer, which I liked.

It’s really comfortable but, sadly, I don’t think it has the lift capacity and reach I need for stacking bales.

Further down the line, I’d like to get a Grizzly Fabrications silage trailer.

In my opinion, they’re the best built trailers on the market, the most stylish, and they come with pretty much everything as standard, including air brakes, a hydraulic tailgate and LED lights.

I’m after an 18-tonner, which I’ve had priced at £28,500.

Oldest machine still at work?

A conventional Deutz-Fahr baler that I borrowed from my grandad and never took back. Last year I made 800 small hay and straw bales for local smallholders.

It might be the oldest machine in the fleet but, ironically, it’s also about the most reliable thing I’ve got.

Biggest machinery mistake?

Rolling quads, usually when I hit hidden rocks on the moors while chasing sheep.

The worst incident was when I flipped it on a hill. I thought I’d managed to leap out of the way, but as I turned around it walloped me right in the face.

It broke my nose, eye socket and jaw.

I took another beating when I tried to dislodge a branch that was jammed in the Batrake.

The stars are sprung loaded and, as I pulled the debris out, one of the arms pinged back and knocked me out cold. I cracked a few teeth in the process.

Most expensive repair bill?

The dentist bills for my accidents were surprisingly cheap, so I’d have to say the Claas Arion 620, which had never-ending engine problems.

I had to shell out £2,500 on three separate occasions over the 18 months I had it.

The head gasket went, so the engine was rebuilt and the head skimmed, then the radiator packed up, all the injectors had to be replaced, and I had to have new pistons and lines in bore six.

I did at least sell it for the same money I paid for it 18 months later. It’s just a shame that I had to stomach all the repair bills between – I spent as much fixing it as the Kubota costs in finance over the same time period.

Most overpriced spare part?

Glass for tractor doors and rear windows. We’re often fencing between trees, so the Kubota has gone through a few.

Best invention?

A shearing trailer that I designed, and my father built, a couple of years ago. It is based on a 12ft Ifor Williams flatbed, with a race system that folds off the side.

It only cost £900 in materials and is a massive time saver.

I can set it up in minutes, shear faster and it reduces the strain on my body because I’m working on sheep that are 2ft off the ground.

It’s also easier on the farmer, as they can roll the wool on the trailer bed, rather than bending down.

The design is pretty similar to a Son shearing trailer, which I had worked on previously.

However, that version is purpose built, so I couldn’t use the trailer bed for other things during the rest of the year.

I did price one up, but it was going to cost £7,500. That’s a lot of money to make back at £1.20/sheep.

What couldn’t you live without in the workshop?

My father. He fixes everything.

What’s your everyday transport?

A base-spec, 70-plate Toyota Hilux, which I bought from WH Bond for £21,000 on 10,000 miles.

I think they’re better made that D-Maxes, Rangers and Navaras, and I’ve had it remapped so the 2.4-litre engine goes well.

I plan to replace it after 100,000 miles. That’ll come quickly, as all the sheep are moved with a 12ft stock box.

Given I can only fit in 50 at a time, moving 1,000 of them keeps the truck busy.

Best tractor you’ve had?

The Kubota M6 142, which replaced the Arion. It’s got GPS, auto section control, a front linkage to carry an Agribumper weight or SoloNet fencer, and a front pto.

The only thing it hasn’t got is autosteer.

Before buying it, I tried a Case Maxxum 160, which was seriously comfortable, and a Claas Arion 640, but neither could get near Kubota on price.

It was only £62,000 – almost half that of the Arion.

I don’t really miss the six-cylinder engine either, and the M6 can easily keep up when hauling silage and bales.

However, it does wear out the front tyres quickly and I’ve already gone through a pair. I think it’s partly because the wheels are small and spin faster, plus it always has a loader on it.

In my opinion, better tyres make a massive difference to ride quality and the hours you can get out of them.

I managed to get Michelins supplied with the tractor and, as my father has a tyre business (Geoffrey Harris Tyres), the backup service for puncture repairs is always pretty good.

Worst tractor?

The Claas Arion 620.

Best fencing kit?

I’ve got a Wrag post banger, but the chap that works with me has a self-propelled Bryce Suma.

It makes the job far more efficient, as one person can knock in the posts and the other can deal with the wire and net with the SoloNet on the front of the Kubota.

I tend to encourage customers to get Moore Concrete posts, as we can still drive them like wooden ones. And they’ve got rubber strips within them, so we can staple wire to them in the normal way.

They’re cost about £8/post more, but they’re still cheap given they’ll last so much longer.

Most surprisingly useful feature you’ve found on a machine?

I never imagined I’d get so much use out of GPS. I now map all the fields, so I know exactly how much work I’m doing for other people.

Biggest machinery bargain?

A 3m front press, which I use every spring and autumn when power harrowing.

I didn’t plan to buy it but, at £40, I couldn’t say no. It would have been worth more as scrap.

The trailed Taarup straw chopper was also a bargain, purely because it has saved me so much time compared with bedding by hand.

I took half the knives out so that it blows more than chops, and it never goes wrong.