Winter - Classical Mileend Alpacas

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THINGS YOU DIDN’T KNOW YOUR ATV COULD DO Howard Dobson shows you how to make your ATV multi-task by hitching-up to some of the many attachments now available 44 Alpaca World Magazine <strong>Winter</strong> 2004/05 Getting from A to B on the farm is so much easier with a quad bike, and with a trailer or rack, feeding livestock is a piece of cake, too. You know this already of course but what you may not realise is how much spare capacity your ATV has; it probably ranks alongside your computer as one of your most under-utilised assets. You can get more for your money by augmenting your ATV with sensibly chosen attachments and accessories – and once it is pulling its weight more it is a much healthier investment, especially on a smaller farm. Thought by many to be the king of the ATV due to its role in their development, Honda makes some marques’ list of attachments look like a starter-kit, but it is certainly not the only company of repute out there worth investigating, as quality products are manufactured by Yamaha, Kawasaki, Suzuki, Polaris, Bombardier, Jordan, Motortek, and Massey Ferguson; that’s not including companies that specialise in attachments and accessories, such as Logic, Cycle Country, Port Agric, C-DAX, European Golf Machinery and Waste Warrior. Amassing brochures from manufacturers without further analysis of what your ATV can do could confuse and would be unwise, not to mention time-consuming, so fi rst sit back for a couple of minutes and analyse our top ten uses for an ATV on your farm. Obvious though it may seem, a road legal kit upgrades your quad bike with lights and other essentials so it can be driven on public roads. This means you can travel between areas of land separated by stretches of road on your ATV rather than having to take the car or 4WD, and you could even drop over to the nearest village on it if you wanted to. For convenience, why not also fi t a windshield and rack extension. At number two in our chart, a mobile livestock feeder can bring a miscellany of practical and timesaving advantages – and the one shown alongside is the SNACKA from Port Agric. Mechanically driven by a land wheel, a rotating drum dumps measured feed at regular intervals so there is suffi cient room between heaps for alpacas to feed head to head without soiling the next heap; this promotes better feeding without pushing and barging and allows shy feeders to come up to get feed, which can be spread over a greater area, and of course the feed area can be moved to a fresh spot each day. And if you thought that was clever, wait until you see your ATV working as a paddock-cleaner; by attaching a Waste Warrior Crusader II for example, featuring pneumatic tipping and a centrifugal clutch drive, you can clear a paddock quickly and easily even when the muck is very heavy because of rainy weather. Cleaning up is carried through to the fourth item on our list, as your ATV can also become a power broom by attaching, for instance, a Kawasaki KVF750 broom kit – a double brush set which can be fi tted within a few second by means of an adaptor and which can be operated from the driver’s seat and adjusted laterally. Anyone living in a remote part of the UK will know all too well how their localised weather map can promise snow for weeks at a time – in which case the sweeper you need is a snow plough, such as the Logic product featured in the screengrab, ideal for farmyards, roads, car parks, footpaths and soft surfaces. These days of course a lot of farmers combine breeding livestock with diversifi cation projects and other business enterprises, in which case health and safety considerations are a priority. As the cruel winds of winter blow, a Logic GDS200 Ground Drive Multi- Spreader is the ideal attachment for spreading salt on footpaths, business parks, farm shop car parks, drives, etc – although as with a number of attachments it may not be suitable for use with all ATVs. Still on the theme of diversifi cation, your ATV could become a hire vehicle for visitors wishing to see more of the local beauty spots by land, whether they’re staying on your farm or not; in which case the only attachments you may need are a carrier, perhaps from Wydale ATV, safety gear and an ATV cover, although it would obviously be necessary to obtain the appropriate insurance for such a venture.
One point worth mentioning is that if you have a need to tow something that’s not too heavy, such as a dinghy trailer or sprayer, a universal tow ball would be a sound investment and can be fi tted quickly and easily by your nearest dealership. Another extremely useful one-size-fi ts-all attachment for contractors, fencers, drystonewallers, indeed most people working outdoors, is a fl oodlight, and if it plugs into your quad bike you don’t have to worry about where it stands. One last use for your ATV in our top ten is not agriculture or even diversifi cation-related as such but it may be of interest, as by approaching companies like European Golf Machinery you could give your ATV the ‘drive’ it needs for use on golf ranges or practice grounds; a petrol Kawasaki Mule 3000 two-wheel drive model would be ideal for doubling up as a golf car. All of these ideas sound tempting and labour-saving – but aren’t some attachments too pricey to bring about a net saving you ask, especially if you’re only going to use them once in a while? That’s a relevant point, which is why it can be worth investigating the second-hand market-place or even hiring from an ATV dealership or machinery ring. And don’t forget you can pick up more than you think for less than you think from the Internet auction site Ebay; in fact a quick search in early December found a Logic snow plough attachment bearing a price of £145. This rundown has listed ten of the many options for ATV upgrades; other product genres are available, and now you have an idea of the potential, go ahead and request further information, or take a look at our list of recommended websites. Below Versatile rack systems for safe carriage of tools and materials. Bottom The SNACKA BOMBARDIER ATV www.bombardier-atv.com C-DAX www.c-dax.com CYCLE COUNTRY www.cyclecountry.com EUROPEAN GOLF MACHINERY www.golfmachinery.com HONDA ATV www.honda.co.uk/atv JORDAN ATV www.jordan-motors.com KAWASAKI ATV www.kawasaki.co.uk LOGIC www.logic.gb.com MASSEY FERGUSSON www.masseyferguson.co.uk MOTORTEK ATV www.reinmech.com POLARIS ATV www.polarisindustries.com PORT AGRIC www.portagric.co.uk SUZUKI ATV www.quadrunner.co.uk WASTE WARRIOR www.waste-warrior.co.uk WYDALE ATV http://wadsworthquads.co.uk/Attach/wydale.htm YAMAHA ATV www.yamaha-motor.co.uk/products/atv/index.jsp EBAY www.ebay.co.uk WEBSITES Alpaca World Magazine Autumn 2004/05 45
Page 1 and 2: M A G A Z I N E Winter 2004/05 £4.
Page 3 and 4: Issue 12 Winter 2004/05 ISSN 1477-7
Page 5 and 6: ��
Page 7 and 8: DOGS ATTACK AGAIN Dear Editor, Furt
Page 9 and 10: Classical MileEnd Alpacas Outstandi
Page 11 and 12: Not all breeders will be looking fo
Page 13 and 14: BOZEDOWN WEST at WESTWAYS ALPACAS N
Page 15 and 16: Continued on page 18 Alpaca World M
Page 18: Special Feature Boys and how to cho
Page 21 and 22: mating have been reported as low (S
Page 25 and 26: Alpaca World Magazine Autumn 2004/0
Page 27 and 28: liaise with the breeders, arrange t
Page 29 and 30: Search or Advertise Alpacas for Sal
Page 31 and 32: “The highly decorative costumes t
Page 33 and 34: to colonise and breakdown plant mat
Page 35 and 36: 40% NDF, or 25% CF, of which 25% is
Page 37 and 38: THE FEED FOR SHOW CHAMPIONS Bob Raw
Page 39 and 40: defecate. The list is long, the mes
Page 41 and 42: LAW OF CAMELIDYNAMICS: When an alpa
Page 43: Alpaca World Magazine Autumn 2004/0
Page 47 and 48: Violet is a two-year-old alpaca wit
Page 51 and 52: crinkly type fl eece with high curv
Page 53 and 54: smiling face. The AOBA infomercial
Page 59 and 60: Wessex Rural Alianza Don Pepe Plant

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