As an early adopter of self-propelled forage harvesters, SP & G Blything have recently taken delivery of their third Krone BiG X forage harvester.
Standing in his yard, supervising the delivery of his new BiG X 700 Forage Harvester, Steve Blything comments that it is a proud day for him; having made the purchase to ensure that the next generation (his son George) is in a strong position to continue offering their customers exceptional service.
The Blything family bought their Krone BiG X from Krone Forage Solutions, the retail division of Krone UK. Specifically developed 3 years ago to deal with customers who find themselves without a local Krone dealer or in areas where franchise conflicts cause problems for existing Krone dealers. Blything Contracting have had a working relationship for many years with Peter Mellor Ltd who provides specialist service support for Krone Forage Solutions. Steve comments “we have dealt with Sam and Dave at Pete Mellor’s for our service requirements, they are fantastic as they not only service the machines but they run them on their own contracting fleet – they know everything there is to know about Krone harvesters. The fact that I can have my service from Pete Mellor was a big influence in my decision to buy a Krone Harvester; they also have a wealth of knowledge on the older models which helps to keep my V12 in the best of condition.”
When asked how it all started, Steve reminisces, “we started with a trailed Mengele SH 30 N Forage Harvester which had a V8 engine bolted on the side to get the best output we could, as trends passed more towards Self Propelled machines we moved to a Claas Jaguar 690. In 2006 we tried a Krone Harvester and it was apparent that the Krone was built to get the volume of crop through it without compromising chop quality. We have been Krone customers ever since, and I do class myself as a Krone customer, we have triple mowers and rakes from Krone, and for a number of years we have operated two Forage Harvesters.” To this day Steve still runs a Krone BiG X V12, he comments “the V12 is mymachine, the wide body and chopping cylinder on these machines suits the throughput we require without compromising chop quality” plus the V12 engine suites Steve’s thirst for power.
Richard Shelton, National Sales Manager for Krone UK explains “it’s great to see SP & G Blything growing their business, and although the hard work is down to Steve, George and their team, it’s nice to know that Krone machines have been a major contributor to their success. We strive to be good at what we do and our professional approach to selling and supporting our products makes us who we are today. I truly believe we are now an aspirational brand and our customers can add value to their forage, hay and straw operations by running Krone equipment. Having now completed several deals with Steve, it was especially nice to be involved in their latest BiG X 700 deal; Steve has made this purchase as an investment, knowing that George is the future of the business. This is going to be his machine, it is great to see young talent coming to Agriculture and having a passion to drive the business forward.”
S P & G Blything Krone Contracting fleet:
2 x Sets of EasyCut 9140 CV Butterfly Mower conditioners with EasyCut F 32 CV front mowers
Swadro 1400 Plus 4 rotor rake
BiG X V12 Forage Harvester plus associated Headers
BiG X 700 Forage Harvester plus associated Headers