Following the recent acquisition of a new state-of-the-art TurboFarmer TF35.7, Cork farmer Liam Day from Ardnabourkey, Whitegate has extended his long history of working with Italian-made Merlo telehandlers.
A local family-run business since 1973, Liam, along with his son Liam Jr., supplies winter and spring barley, winter wheat, oats, beet, maize and beans amongst others to a customer base that includes Dairy Gold, AMAC, Gold Crop and Germinal Ireland. Coupled with his arable business, Liam also finishes a few hundred beef cattle yearly.
His new TurboFarmer is the fifth Merlo telehandler he has invested in since 1998. The versatile new machine has been put straight to the test across a wide range of materials handling operations such as moving straw bales, shifting grain, loading trucks, feeding cattle and mucking out sheds.
Supplied by Merlo distributor McHale Plant Sales of Birdhill and Rathcoole, and fitted with a pickup hitch for towing trailers, the high spec TF35.7 features a 3,500kg lift capacity with a boom reach of 7 metres.
Powered by a 122hp, 4-cylinder Euro Tier 4/Stage 3B compliant engine, the Italian-made TF35.7 is said by Merlo to deliver an impressive power to weight ratio combined with low fuel consumption. Boasting the largest cabin in its class, high visibility, driver comfort and cruise control as standard are further attributes.
Reflecting on his tradition of always relying on Merlo to tackle his materials handling requirements, Liam points to machine’s ‘reliability, visibility, fuel efficiency and value for money,’ before adding: ‘They pack a good punch for their size – for such a compact machine, they have a very impressive lifting capacity’.
