What’s In Your Shed visits Carmarthenshire contractor Aled Jones, who runs a one-man operation with five frontlines tractors. 

Aled Jones Contracting offers spraying, fertiliser spreading, mowing, cultivating and drilling services.

See also: 20-year-old John Deere telehandler gets perfect £20k refurb

How did you get started?

I was a relatively late starter as far as contracting goes, having set out on my own in 1998, aged 30.

I’d been made redundant at a local farm, so I sold my Fiesta XR2 and bought a very different Ford – a 7810 – having been priced out of my first choice, a John Deere 3350.

With nothing to put on it and, frankly, no work either, I bought a mower for £5,000 and, a few weeks later, spent another £5,500 on a McConnel 93 hedgecutter. It felt like an awful lot of money at the time.

One of my biggest breaks came when a local contractor packed up baling, allowing me to take on a chunk of his round with a Claas 250.

Work really took off and, by 2004, I’d replaced the 7810 with my first Case tractors – an MX110 and MXM120 – and bought a McHale Fusion for £32,000.

I lost plenty of sleep over the cost but, fortunately, it was a hit. I made 10,000 bales in its first season.

As time went on, I added a four-furrow plough, drills and rolls, a sprayer, fertiliser spreader and tanker, all while sticking as a one-man band – other than occasional help from my brother.

But by 2015 I’d had a gutful of baling. It was getting in the way of my spreading and spraying commitments, and I simply couldn’t get all the work done on time. Plus, a new Fusion was going to cost me £60,000.

So, I ditched it. For a couple of years, it bugged me seeing other people’s balers in my territory, but I certainly didn’t miss the pressure.

Why so many tractors?

I’d always fancied running John Deeres. I bought my first one, a 6930, to replace a Case MX110 and, after that, I set myself a goal of having 10 of them in the yard.

It might seem strange to have so many tractors and only one driver, but I like to have each one permanently attached to the sprayer, fertiliser spreader and, during the summer, the mowers.

That leaves a couple of spares floating around for other tasks.

This way, I can spread fertiliser in the morning, mow in the afternoon and spray in the evening, with practically no turnaround time.

Yes, it costs me money, but it’s seriously efficient, especially given so many of my jobs are relatively small and I’d otherwise be forever swapping implements.

It also keeps the hours down on the tractors, as I can split them across five machines.

Those on the sprayer, spreader and mower do 300-400 annually; the one on the hedgecutter does 1,400.

How brand loyal are you?

I’m a John Deere man. I love the tractors, and my brother is a salesman at Tallis Amos in Narberth, so I couldn’t go anywhere else anyway.

I take the same approach with implements: I try and buy the best.

Favourite dealer?

I get 80% of my stuff – John Deere, Shelbourne Reynolds and Pottinger – from Tallis Amos. Good customers get looked after, so I try and stay as loyal as possible.

But I do go elsewhere for some bits. Bunning and Kverneland kit comes from JE Rees, and John Rhodes of JRSW in Tenby is my go-to chap for sprayers.

I also use Cliff Jenkins Agri for repairs and general spannering.

Favourite piece of kit?

My Shelbourne Reynolds 865 VFRT. It’s an animal.

Until 2008, I’d run McConnels. But my last PA59 was a bad machine, and it irritated me to such an extent that I never had another.

I’ve gone through six Shelbournes since; I do so much hedgecutting that I can justify changing them every three years.

At £42,000, a top-spec VFRT with heavy-duty 1.6m head isn’t cheap, but it’s worth every penny.

That said, I wouldn’t have something so fancy if it wasn’t me doing the driving.

Least favourite?

The aforementioned McConnel PA59.

It started badly, as it hadn’t been PDI’d properly and there was no oil in the gearbox, so it seized after 50m of cutting.

Too many breakdowns followed, and I simply lost faith in it. For a while I was having to swing by the dealership every day to sort hydraulic blow-outs, at least until McConnel re-piped the whole machine.

Latest purchase?

A Kverneland Exacta TLX 1875 Geospread, which I bought for £25,000  to replace my four-year-old Boballe fertiliser spreader.

It’s one of the implements I like to upgrade fairly regularly so, in theory, it need never see a spanner.

The KV has hopper extensions to make it a five-bag machine, and it’s my first with hydraulic drive rather than a pto shaft, which will cut down the tractor revs.

It’s also got section control and isobus, saving the clutter of an extra box in the cab.  

Oldest machine still at work?

I like to change my frontline gear every three years or so to keep it fresh.

Aside from a retired Tanco round bale grab, the oldest is probably a 3m, four-leg Sumo GLS subsoiler.

I bought it in 2007 for £9,000 and it owes me nothing, so I’m never too bothered if it’s busy one year and not the next.

I’m also assembling a fleet of John Deere classics.

So far, I’ve got a 3130 – which I’m particularly proud of – a 6510 that still does the odd bit of work, a 3350 and a little 1020 that is a year older than me.

Tinkering with them is my rainy-day hobby, and I’ve just tracked down a four-furrow John Deere plough – made by Overum – to go on the 3130. It’s had a load of new metal ready for its first run-out.

How long do you keep your machines?

My sweet spot for changing tractors has typically been at 6,000-7,000 hours, though I have taken them as high as 10,000.

At that point, there’s still good value in them – I’ve always liked the trade-in to be halfway to paying for the next one, but that is rapidly sliding the wrong way.

I’m under no pressure at the minute, as I’ve bought three new frontline tractors in as many years, and they’re all still under 4,000 hours. I’m glad I did it, as prices have shot up since.

Next on your wish list?

I’ve always wanted a self-propelled sprayer. Whether I truly need one is another question, as my mounted 18m Amazone is ideal for the small 20-30 acre (8-12ha) jobs that account for most of my workload.

The tractor is fast on the road and probably better on hills than a self-propelled, but farms are getting bigger and there’s more maize in the area.

A larger tank and wider boom would at least give me the chance to expand the spraying side of the business. It’s currently about 2,000ha/year.

Biggest machinery mistake?

I bought a 6m Einbock seeder in the early 2000s and, after doing a few grass reseeds with it, was asked by a customer to put in 5 acres (2ha) of stubble turnips.

He gave me the required 10kg bag of seed, which I chucked into the hopper before setting off round the field.

Once I’d done a lap, I hopped out just to check all was OK, only to find all the seed was gone. A bit embarrassing, but he had a hell of a crop around the headland.

That’s the problem with drilling – you only get one shot at it.

Another one occurred a couple of years ago. I was spreading fertiliser on grass in April and forgot to do one out-of-sight 4-acre (1.6ha) field.

It had completely slipped my mind until I went back to mow it. The crop was yellow.

The customer realised something was awry when he picked up only two bales an acre, compared with four from the rest of the fields.

I came clean and we had a laugh about it. I’m just glad it was only 4 acres.

Most expensive repair bill?

I’ve been fairly lucky on the breakdown front.

The nearest I came to a big bill was when the turbo broke up on my 6,000-hour 6630 tractor a few years ago.

An ex-John Deere mechanic across the valley reckoned it would cost about £7,000 to fix, but I ended up selling the tractor to him for decent money, so I avoided it altogether.

Most overpriced spare part?

Filters are ridiculous money nowadays, and £750 for an alternator for the 6155M also seemed steep. Plough parts get dearer every time I buy them too.

What was a £500 box of metal turned into £600 the following year, and £700 the next.

What couldn’t you live without in the workshop?

The air compressor for blowing out radiators and pumping tyres. I wouldn’t get far without it.

Everyday transport?

A two-wheel drive Volkswagen Caddy. I’d been looking for a runaround after the chassis snapped on my Nissan Navara and saw it advertised on the side of the road.

At £10,000 for a 16-plate on 50,000 miles, it was far less money than a pickup. And it costs a fraction to run – insurance is cheap, tyres are cheap, and it uses half the amount of fuel.

It’s got the 2-litre engine so its nippy too, and it has passed both MOTs so far without seeing a spanner.

I do miss having four-wheel drive, but I’d rather spend the extra money on a machine. All I use it for is delivering bills and collecting parts.

Best tractor you’ve had?

Plenty to pick from, but I’d say the two-year-old 6R 155 on the hedgecutter just edges it, mainly because it’s my first with an AutoPowr stepless transmission.

It’s effortless driving, and I’d struggle to ever go back to a powershift for that job.

I’ll also give a mention to two others. First is the 6510, for which I paid £17,000 on 5,000 hours in 2006. It’s still worth at least that, and the only issue of any significance has been a half shaft bearing on one side.

Second is a 14-plate 6150R. I bought it for £50,000 on 2,000 hours and immediately had it mapped to 240hp, so it was seriously pokey.

I put 6,000 trouble-free hours on it, and one set of tyres, before eventually selling it for £48,000.

And the worst?

Probably a McCormick MTX150, which I bought when my local dealer, Riverlea, switched from Case.

It wasn’t horrible but a leaky gasket led to oil and water mixing, and that started a run of too many niggles.

After two years, I replaced it with a John Deere 6930 and never looked back.

Most surprisingly useful feature?

Variable forward reach on the hedgecutter has revolutionised the job. It makes the head far easier to see and stops so much trash blowing onto the tractor.

Most pointless piece of farm technology?

There’s so much stuff I don’t use on the tractors – headland management being one. I’d rather all those things were optional extras that I could choose not to pay for.

Biggest machinery bargain?

As I mainly buy new, bargains are rare things. Like many owner-operators, I like to have a decent spec, know the machine hasn’t been abused, and get maximum reliability.

The little John Deere 1020 did feel like a steal, though. I paid £200 cash and it’s now worth about £4,000.

Biggest bugbear?

Breakdowns. I hate it when stuff lets me down after spending big money on it. I can’t afford to pay for finance and repairs.

I also get irritated when customers hound me to get a job done, only to find they’re not ready when I turn up, with fertiliser bags still sat behind a load of machinery in the back of the shed.

And customers who leave silage wrap and string in the muck heap. I tend to make them cut it all out the back of the muckspreader once I’ve finished.