TYM tractor still making magic
TYM tractor still making magic: Earlier this year Douglas and Alex Chalmers, Countryside’s TYM competition winners, compared the T194 tractor they won for the year to a fairytale: “It’s a bit like Goldilocks. Not too big, not too small, but just right.” And six months on, it’s still making magic.
Learning Fields, a not-for-profit centre of wellbeing based at Nag’s Head Farm in Cumbria, has not been operating this year, but that doesn’t mean the T194 tractor hasn’t been put to good use on the farm!
“We use the tractor around three times a week, and once it gets started up it doesn’t stay idle for long,” says Douglas, director of the business. “It’s been instrumental in getting jobs done around the farm and we would have really struggled without it.
“We’ve invested in pigs this year, and the T194 has made that possible,” he says. “Outdoor pigs need to be moved routinely so that they’re always on fresh ground, and we’ve been using the T194 to transport them and their hut around the farm. As you’d expect with pigs, it can get very muddy and at first I was unsure how the tractor would cope with that, but it’s had no issues with the tough conditions.
“It’s a massive improvement compared to the quad bikes we were previously using to transport equipment across the farm. All the tractor’s controls fall easily to either hand, and are light and easy to operate. Plus, it allows us to complete tasks that we just couldn’t do before. But the biggest bonus is definitely its size.”
Part of the TYM compact utility range, the T194 combines the practicality of a smaller tractor, weighing in at just 650kg, with enough power to pack a punch – thanks to its 19hp three cylinder Yanmar engine.
“As a smaller tractor, it gets jobs done without damaging or tearing the grass, which is a huge bonus” says Douglas. “But what is very impressive is its handling. We have smaller areas and narrow gates, and tight turning is important. The T194 can turn on half a sixpence, and can do so in wet conditions without damaging the soil. We cut a series of paths through our woodland to assist access for visitors, and I thought the tractor would manage some of these just leave a small area to strim – not at all, it zigged and zagged its way through all the narrow spaces between trees with no problems.”
With their 12 months with the tractor nearly over, it certainly has left an impression. “It saves time, labour and toil,” he says. “There were so many jobs we couldn’t do before, or that would need to be done by hand – but with the T194 I can get everything I want done, in a fraction of the time.”
He concludes: “When I next need to expand my equipment fleet, I wouldn’t hesitate to consider TYM. This past year, the T194 has had no issues and coped in a variety of conditions, which gave us complete confidence and peace of mind any time we started a job.”
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