You could say David Cross has plenty of experience. He has been contracting for 40 years from his base at Totara Valley, near Pleasant Point, South Canterbury.

In 1982 he decided to give John Deere tractors a go. Prices were comparable with his previous brand, and his father had had a good run out of a John Deere header.

David became a green machine convert and is on to his fifth tractor. The first was a 90hp 2140. His current one is a 125hp 6620.

“I liked the first Deere tractor and I’ve never had a dud one. There’s always been very good back up from the seller, Gordon Handy Machinery. I’ve known Gordon since he did his apprenticeship in Timaru. The good service I have received from him is why I’ve stayed with John Deere.”

Given his affinity to the brand it is natural that David also runs John Deere balers, and he’s just ordered his latest one, an 854 round baler.

He got his first Deere baler in the 1990s. It was the variable chamber 435. He thought it was very good for hay and straw but wasn’t designed for baleage.

He currently has a fixed chamber 578 for baleage, and a 590 for hay and straw, though they will both be replaced by the 854.

“I’m scaling down and want to go from two balers to one that will do everything,” he says.

David initially trialled the 854’s big brother, the 864.

“It was a lot better than either of the two-belt balers I’ve had previously. I would expect it to handle a bigger variety of crops and conditions. I tried it with wet baleage and dry hay, and it seemed to cope better than previous models.”

The 864 can make bales just over six feet tall but David works some steep country and the baler was just too big. Six foot bales are tricky to release on a hillside and there isn’t much demand for them in his area. So he went for the same technology but smaller chamber size in the 854.

David says he also tried a couple of other balers at the time and they also performed well. What clinched the deal for him was the service. He knew Gordon would look after him.

Among the John Deere 854′s features David likes is the drop floor. He says it has got to be better than winding a jammed baler back.

David’s new baler has MaxiCut™, a set of knives behind the pick up that can be engaged from the cab. It also has auto chain lubrication.

Easy access to all the working parts is also an advantage. “You undo the gull-wing side panels and they flick up in the air, out of the way, so you can get at everything,” David says.

The baler computer also meets with his approval.

“It has an inbuilt diagnostic system so if it does break down it will tell you what is wrong. Others don’t seem to have that. With the diagnostics you go straight to the problem and don’t stand there, scratching your head and wondering where to start. John Deere are right up there with their technology.”

David says he got in to contracting through poverty. He was from a farm and worked on it for a year, and then his Dad died. “I didn’t like sheep much so I decided to play with machinery. Five of the neighbours said they’d support me if I bought a baler.”

So at 16 David branched out into contracting. He bought some machinery off his Dad’s estate at the clearance sale. (“With four other siblings it had to be done fair and square,” he says.) He borrowed money from the estate and got the rest of the gear he needed.

Back then in the 1970s $10,000 was enough to get a complete set of contracting gear from plough to drill and mower to baler. On the other hand though, the charge-out rate was about $7.50 an hour and that covered everything including wages, fuel and depreciation.

In the beginning it was all small square hay bales. David was in a gang of guys who baled and carted 35,000 a season. David loved it but then again he was quite pleased when the first round baler came into the district. He says within five years round bales had superseded the squares.

David also calls himself a hobby farmer. He has 100 acres for winter grazing. “I don’t have my own stock. I get grazers in and when the grass is gone they disappear.”

But that is just a sideline. The main use of his property is baleage. He generally does light cuts over summer and bales up to 1500 bales a season from it.

Irrigation came through the South Canterbury district about eight years ago, and it has contributed to the increase in dairy. But David still has a few sheep and beef clients.

His summers are busy with baleage and some straw and hay. Outside that he ploughs, drills and does a small amount of fert spreading jobs along with the ubiquitous maintenance.

David buys new gear. He keeps them under warranty with tractors no more than 5000 hours and balers under 25,000 bales.

“Farmers don’t want to see old clapped-out gear and break-downs. They like to see shiny paint. They like new gear as it shows contractors are keeping up with new advances.”