JOHN Deere reported a very successful show. The machinery giant had 19 machines on display including three harvesters, which were cutting through vast swathes of the Little Clyde forest, reinforcing the very diverse nature of the industry whereby the largest, most productive machines are in high demand, as well as those machines designed to offer a light footprint in the forest.

The 1470G was very much the star of the show for John Deere, demonstrating incredible feeding speeds, and was ably backed up by “the world’s favourite harvester”, the 1270G, and the 1170G, which was shown in a large demo for the first time in the UK, with the manufacturer saying it made a sterling job of thinning the 0.6 m crop. Introduced a little over a year ago, the harvester is said to offer an excellent balance between production and a light footprint for sensitive areas.

Extracting the timber, the 1910G, 1510G and 1110G coped admirably through the two days. Customers were able to view all of the site progress through John Deere’s TimberMatic Maps and TimberManager software, which is reportedly an area of renewed customer focus as higher efficiencies are sought to overcome challenging harvest rates.

John Deere also had all models in static form to allow customers the chance to get up close and personal, as well as the opportunity to operate both harvesters and forwarders fitted with the innovative Intelligent Boom Control (IBC) system. With the coming challenges in steep ground harvesting Deere also took the opportunity to showcase various traction-winch solutions from partner, HAAS.

The harvester- and forwarder-mounted models garnered a lot of attention, but many customers were drawn to the versatility of the excavator-mounted version, which appears to be well suited to the UK market, the manufacturer noted.

Jock McKie, managing director for John Deere Forestry, commented: “All in all, the Expo was a great success and a tremendous opportunity to catch up with customers and industry partners. 

“Much credit must go to Rural Projects for the hugely professional delivery of the Expo, and we can only look forward to the next one!”