The McCollum Family’s Reliable Workhorse: The Kubota M7-151

Hugh and Lowry McCollum, a father-son farming duo from Limavady, Northern Ireland, have relied on their Kubota M7-151 to keep their 350-acre operation running smoothly.

A long-standing DA Forgie customer, Hugh and Lowry have always looked to the team when it comes to upgrading their machinery. The Kubota M7-151 was introduced to the farm a few years ago, initially as a temporary replacement for their broken-down tractor. However, its exceptional performance quickly made it an indispensable part of their operation.

“The Kubota is our main tractor on the farm along with a smaller Case. We didn’t look at other brands or dealers when it came to changing the tractor. We have always had a good relationship with DA Forgie and their back-up is first-class.” Lowry says.

Day to day the tractor is largely responsible for the feeding operations with their Kverneland Siloking feeder wagon. It also spends a great deal of time on the slurry pump. Then in the Summer months, Lowry and Hugh use the tractor to carry out field work across their 350 acres. Choosing to carry out a large amount of fieldwork themselves, they use the tractor on their baler, tedder, mower and rake with occasional help from local contractors.

“The tractor hasn’t stuck us for power yet. It’s extremely versatile and carries out a varied range of tasks on the farm, we haven’t encountered a situation that the tractor cannot handle. It seems to be common to think you need 200 horsepower plus, but we cope just fine with 150 horsepower, and it handles everything we throw at it.” Hugh comments.

The Kubota M7-151 boasts a 4-cylinder engine and clocks 150 horsepower, it’s an ideal choice for arable or mixed farm operations. Even with plenty of power, the tractor remains nimble and compact. “Our roads aren’t the biggest and we have a fair few smaller gateways to tackle, the M7 is great because it isn’t too big to move around or get through the fields. It’s also comfortable to drive when we are roading it in between farms.” Lowry comments.

One of Hugh and Lowry’s top features might be a surprise; “We like the manual spools on the tractor, for us, it’s about having a simple operation. We want to get in and go and the specification of this tractor is absolutely that! There is always the option to get more technical with the Kubota tractors but for us, it isn’t necessary.”

An important task on the farm is keeping their cows happy, and the McCollum family decided to invest in a Kverneland Siloking Compact 13 Feeder wagon to do this. Feeding twice to three times a day, the feeder is an important cog in their day-to-day operations.

“We have been Siloking customers for over ten years with a brief break to another brand. We came back because we realised that the Siloking was far better at mixing bales, it also processed the bale faster and more efficiently. For us the size is perfect, but we still haven’t managed to fill it to its maximum capacity. It provides us with plenty of capacity but it’s small enough to get through our sheds and compact enough to be manoeuvred easily around the farm.”

With a busy farming outfit Hugh and Lowry want to eliminate as much downtime as possible and that is one of the main reasons, they choose to deal with DA Forgie. “DA Forgie is local to us which helps but whatever we need whether it’s a part, machine service or advice on a new machine, they are on hand, which is really important,” Hugh explains.

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