| Machinery
Tree friendly ARION
Due to the wide range of work that they do, tractors in the 90 to 140hp power bracket
need to be multi-purpose, being not only used in all aspects of agriculture, and not only
offer plenty of power, but be compact and low enough to get into older livestock
buildings, and it is this aspect that attracted the ARION 400 to the National Trust’s
forestry team on the Ashridge Estate in Hertfordshire.
pread across
2,000ha of the
Chilterns, the
Ashridge Estate
includes around
800ha of
woodland, plus six commons, and
is popular with a diverse range of
visitors from several large towns
that are close to the estate,
including walkers, runners and
bike or horse riders.
“The estate includes a complete
mix of forestry from ancient
woodland to hardwood plantings
and post-war regenerated
softwood which we are gradually
replacing,” explains Assistant
Forester Caleb Newton. “Unlike
commercial forestry, as a
conservation organisation we are
looking to preserve the woodland,
so it is important that we use
machinery that can work within the
trees without damaging them.”
“We initially looked last spring at
what was on the market and
narrowed it down to the ARION
and one other make that we
already use,” adds Park Forester
Ben Byfield. “Because the ARION
had only just been launched, Paul
(Green) at Olivers then arranged
for us to see the tractor at Saxham
and then when their demonstrator
arrived we had both tractors to try
out at the same time in June.”
“The biggest selling point of the
ARION 400 for us was that it was
the more modern tractor and
offered the combination of a high
S
www.farmingmonthly.co.uk
power output, but with the lowest
cab of any tractor that size on the
market, making it more compact
and adaptable than our current
tractors. The visibility from the cab
is also far better and the loader not
only has a higher capacity, but can
also lift higher. Ease of use is also
important as there is a team of
eight here and all of them will use
the tractor on a regular basis.”
Having ordered a new ARION
420CIS, which has a maximum
power output of 100hp, and FL120
loader, the fabrication team at
CLAAS dealer Olivers were then
set the challenge of designing and
building forestry guarding for it.
With no ‘off-the-shelf’ guarding
available, they initially had a look
at what was fitted to the National
Trust’s current forestry tractor and
used that as a basis for the new
guarding.
“The end result is a great
improvement on what is fitted to
their other tractor,” says Paul
Green. “For instance, on the
ARION all the guarding is made
from tubing instead of square
section. This has the benefit that it
can be bent to shape but still
retain its strength, and means
there are no sharp edges to
damage branches. The belly plate
also wraps up around the bottom
of the fuel tank and exhaust, but
incorporates hatches to access
service points under the tractor.”
Being the most powerful of the
forestry team’s tractors, the ARION
420 is used for a wide variety of
jobs. From the end of August
through to late February the
ARION is kept busy in the
woodland. In addition to moving
timber using a log grab on the 2.2
tonne capacity loader, it’s also
used to drive a Bandit
woodchipper with a 1.0m diameter
flywheel or fitted with a forestry
winch, which is mainly used when
felling trees near buildings or close
to veteran trees. During the
summer months the ARION is then
used for amenity mowing on the
commons and for bracken control.
“The ARION’s low centre of
gravity, weight and wide tyres
makes it good for winching,
especially when pulling at an angle
or on slopes where potentially
there is a risk of pulling a tractor
over. And when mowing you can
also be far more confident when
working on hills,” states Ben. “Also
our old tractor had a manual PTO
clutch that you had to feather in
when using the chipper otherwise
it would stall the tractor, but the
engagement on the ARION is far
better and it just looks after itself
so it cannot stall.”
June 2016 | Farming Monthly | 47