| 2014-05-13 |    |
Competitors Drive McCormick in YFC Tractor Handling Contest
Competitors in a tractor handling contest at the Eskdale District YFC rally had the tricky task of manoeuvring a long trailer through a tight course marked out with fencing stakes.
And as if that was not difficult enough, the second driver in each two-person team had to reverse the tractor and trailer through the course!
Competitors in the tractor handling competition at the Eskdale District YFC rally had to steer a McCormick tractor and long bale trailer through a tight course.
The event was one of many traditional Young Farmers Club competitions held at the rally organised by Stokesley YFC in North Yorkshire to test the skill, competitive spirit and artistic talent of young people living and working in the countryside. Similar events are held up and down the country, culminating in a national competitions day for the most successful entrants to represent their clubs and counties.
Whitby YFC members Kate Hodgson and Rob Forster won the tractor handling event, which emphasises skill and safety rather than speed. But however well they fared, all those taking part had the distinction of being among the first in Yorkshire to get behind the wheel of the all-new McCormick X7 Pro Drive tractor.
It was loaned by farm machinery dealer Rob Stevenson of Stokesley-based Agriplus, who points out that the tractor’s new Premiere cab is more spacious and modern than on previous models, with fingertip electronic controls for most functions located on a stylish seat-mounted console.
“Many operators like previous McCormick tractors because of their relative simplicity and ease of control,” he says. “But the new control layout provides many more functions and features without being over-complex or daunting for operators new to this type of system.”
For the most part, competitors in the YFC contest just had to focus on steering the tractor and trailer through the narrow ‘gates’ of the course, so the clear visibility provided by the new cab’s larger one-piece windscreen will have been helpful.
The 165/175hp McCormick X7.660 Pro Drive supplied by Agriplus is available for on-farm demonstrations, as are similar tractors at other dealers throughout the country. The new range comes in four- and six-cylinder versions with power outputs starting at 131hp (rated speed) and rising to 212hp, so there are models to suit a wide range of field and yard applications.
