I think that the 30 and 130 drills were made at the Howard factory, of Rotaspreader and Rotavator fame, in Norfolk. Never did visit that one but did visit GKN Sankey’s factory that made MF500 series and Ford bubble Q cabs, road truck cabs along with wheels for tractors and trucks. They also made armoured military vehicles there at GKN Sankey. I remember visiting to see the production processes there in my youth during the mid 1970’s, which was at the end of 100 series sales and the early days of Q cabs. An amazing time and a world class factory, as was the UK’s Coventry tractor factory back then. All gone now.
Like you I covered a few acres (square feet 🤣) with the britains kit as a kid, my memory was that it was a 595 they made though not a 590 ? still got a few bits and pieces including the MF combine ( 760 or 725 ?) red 135 was my favorite MF but I had a yellow industrial one with a loader also. Happy days. Nice addition to your collection. 👍
I used the Britains version early on too. We have a full size version in the barn but has not been used for a long time. Ours has the full set of concrete and wheel weights. Considering resurrecting it to get the extra SFI payment as farm too small to warrant the modern kit. No spares available on the discs, bearing hubs, springs plus its an imperial drill so no tramlines.
That drill is in fantastic looking order. Well done on getting it. Never used one but did see one back in the early 80s. I did have the britians version and drilled 1000s of carpet acres. I don't have it anymore as I sold all my toys 20 year's ago and made enough money to buy a real tractor!
We did a tear-down of one of those at Ag College in about 1980. Like the Bettinson that was also popular at the time, it was based on well proven machines. The big difference/ advantage over the Bettinson was that the discs were on a parallel linkage frame, ensuring more constant depth. Of course the linkage would wear out faster. The main problem with direct drilling then was not so much the machines, more the overall system. At the time they were being developed, stubble burning was still popular. Grass weed control was not great, and on heavy ground the slots cut by the discs created a superhighway for slugs.
Love this video Dan - The Britains model and the real thing :-) I had and still have the Britains model 130 and always especially loved it for the weights under the step. Such attention to detail.
I had a britain’s 130 way back. Pulled it with a 135 no less. If I ain’t dreaming, there was a weight set for it also in the steps. My uncle had a 130 in Co. Wicklow Ireland 🇮🇪 early’80’s.
Good video Dan 👍 my only recollection of a real MF130 was im sure i remember the ad in the Power Farming magazine 🤔 back in the day, certainly never saw one up here 🏴
Interesting video Dan thank you. 🙂👍 I had no idea 130 ever existed, only 30 drills that used to be a common thing towed behind a Lely or Howard power harrow bridgelink combo around here, one farm I know of still uses one for grass and cereal's and they also own a Moore drill which seems to be a hit,(our ground is good and crap !!) and like many of those drills, tractor restorers like them for their wheels to go with 35's and 135's to make them authentic, this should be interesting to see pulled behind the 3095.☺️👍
Our dealer here in the states sold that drill as a Massey Ferguson 427 which really was made by Lilliston from what my old Massey Ferguson dealer says great video Dan
best of luck with the new toy Dan. Not sure it will do as good a job fro you with the grass seed as the rows will be too far apart. Most direct drills for grass have very tight spacing's. you may end up having to do two passes to get sufficient cover.
Brilliant video Dan, sadly I have never had either the actual or the model. I did do a fair amount of ploughing as a child much to my mother’s annoyance. Used to leave unsightly lines in the shag pile so I’m told, I on the other hand thought it looked great
Hi dan i own a 130, on cereals to direct drill you need very light land as slot closure is a real issue as slugs will just run the lines on heavy land also they will open back up when it dries out you need a set of following harrows to cover behind you or even run a 8ft Cambridge roll that will work. I have gad good results on discd ground then rolled then drilled on barley n wheat lose worked ground will soon bulldoze up infront thats when the 30 is the tool. On grassbox you won't be able to get all the pipes into the coulter holes as the far front ones are to acute angle to work what i did was metal pipes mounted on a piece of angle across the drill pipes set inline with the slots to feed the seed into the coulter slots it works a treat also drilled cover crops though the grass box to very good results
I was doing it all wrong! because I had the exact same Britians model and I used to plough my carpet first then roll it then disc it then seed it and harrow it in. I wasted all that time!. In all seriousness I didn't know that the 130 was a direct drill. We had a MF 30 drill at home on the farm and I just thought the 130 was either an upgraded 30 or a larger drill. I've never seen a 130 but a neigbour once told me they were 135 wheels on the drill but I've no idea whether that's correct or not. I think your probably right about Britains making more drills than MF, I would be surprised if they made more combines than MF as well. Back to carpet farming I used my 2680's (yes I had 2) for most of my work, all my 590s died, usually the wheels came off with to much farming or a badly judged foot! I still have most of my Britains stuff including the drill and the 2680 which is now in retirement sitting on my desk!
Have 2 x MF 130 Britain’s models and only after realising there there a 130 not a 30 🤭 have a real life MF30 also, and she earns her spot in the shed every year sowing spring barley. Very interesting video keep up the good work. 👏
I was offered a 130 drill for sale maybe 10 or 12 years ago, it wasn't in working order and after some investigation it appeared parts availability would be a problem so I declined the opportunity. I did however have a couple of the Britains versions, I think at least one is still knocking around.
My neighbour had an MF130 drill. It was not a success on their land which had quite a bit of black grass and wild oats. It was not used for many years in total. Not sure whether it was a combine drill they had or whether they were ever available with the fertiliser hopper and distribution as was available on the excellent 30 drill. EDIT You’ve answered that in minute 6. So it was available as a combine drill. To drill a 15 row using grass seed through coulters will require two passes at different angles to fill up the gaps, because grass will not tiller enough to fill a single pass’s gaps between the rows.
Interesting video. i have never heard of an MF 130 direct drill, a 3m Bettison was all the rage near me. I do have a controversial opinionm on Direct drilling and the current Min Till. I think it is the work of machinery manufacturers and Dealers trying to generate more sales and ultimately profit. Man has been inverting soil for hundreds of years to grow crops to feed themselves and others. It is a tried and tested procedure, but unfortunately for theManufacturers and Dealers, ploughs do no need replacing frequently enough, so they come out with these new ideas to generate revenue & profit. Just putting on my tin helmet.
Never seen a real 130.Had the britains one and seen leaflets for the 130.Seen plenty of 30's working in essex.Used to use one on a david brown 1212 with cage wheels or a case 1494 when the 1212 was used for rolling.
An absolute clinker Dan. When I was a young boy neighbours bought one and pulled it with a new County 1174 but it wasn't a success as back then slugs and couch decimated the crop as we never had the chems or knowledge. After 2 years they went back to ploughing.
I've drilled many an acre with a 130, complete with the rear weights, behind a dual wheel 595 In fact I've still got a 130, several in fact in the loft Sadly I know very little about the actual MF version
I didn’t realise Dan the 130 was a direct drill.I have the Britain’s one and the only real massey drill I have seen was a 6 meter which was probably a 30.
The tyres on the model are the wrong way round ! Tut tut Britains - or has somebody been playing with it 😂 In answer to your questions I also knew of the MF30 but not the MF130.
According to the Walter Hall books - Britains ag. engineer consultant - he'd said to do a 30 but MF against his advice insisted on doing a 130 to go with the drills launch.
I did exactly the same Dan, carpet acres lol. Initially behind the Britains 135, then 590 with duals. 👍👍👍🇬🇧🤣
I think that the 30 and 130 drills were made at the Howard factory, of Rotaspreader and Rotavator fame, in Norfolk. Never did visit that one but did visit GKN Sankey’s factory that made MF500 series and Ford bubble Q cabs, road truck cabs along with wheels for tractors and trucks. They also made armoured military vehicles there at GKN Sankey. I remember visiting to see the production processes there in my youth during the mid 1970’s, which was at the end of 100 series sales and the early days of Q cabs. An amazing time and a world class factory, as was the UK’s Coventry tractor factory back then. All gone now.
I had a few of the Britains 130 models. One is currently sitting behind a Ford 7710 on my shelf, a lovely combination
Like you I covered a few acres (square feet 🤣) with the britains kit as a kid, my memory was that it was a 595 they made though not a 590 ? still got a few bits and pieces including the MF combine ( 760 or 725 ?)
red 135 was my favorite MF but I had a yellow industrial one with a loader also. Happy days.
Nice addition to your collection. 👍
Nice one Dan
No fertiliser, no rust.
Nice bit of kit
I've sown many a carpet acre with the Britain's version back in the day! I still have it and I think you're right with the theory.
The drawbar broke on mine had to mend it with a paper clip, also had a 590 with twins ideal drilling tractor
Carpet farming days great fun never rained always dry
I used the Britains version early on too. We have a full size version in the barn but has not been used for a long time. Ours has the full set of concrete and wheel weights. Considering resurrecting it to get the extra SFI payment as farm too small to warrant the modern kit.
No spares available on the discs, bearing hubs, springs plus its an imperial drill so no tramlines.
Snap dan so have I .got loads of Britain’s models .love your posts thank u from suffolk 😊😊
Please keep the great videos coming friend from Scotland 😊
That drill is in fantastic looking order. Well done on getting it. Never used one but did see one back in the early 80s. I did have the britians version and drilled 1000s of carpet acres. I don't have it anymore as I sold all my toys 20 year's ago and made enough money to buy a real tractor!
We did a tear-down of one of those at Ag College in about 1980. Like the Bettinson that was also popular at the time, it was based on well proven machines. The big difference/ advantage over the Bettinson was that the discs were on a parallel linkage frame, ensuring more constant depth. Of course the linkage would wear out faster.
The main problem with direct drilling then was not so much the machines, more the overall system. At the time they were being developed, stubble burning was still popular. Grass weed control was not great, and on heavy ground the slots cut by the discs created a superhighway for slugs.
Just like you I had a 130 as a kid and last year bought one at a show and have it attached to a 595 on my desk to rekindle my childhood.
Ford 7000 and a 130 used extensively in 74/75/76 for drilling across 2000 acres across Staffordshire & Shropshire
Love this video Dan - The Britains model and the real thing :-) I had and still have the Britains model 130 and always especially loved it for the weights under the step. Such attention to detail.
I had a britain’s 130 way back. Pulled it with a 135 no less. If I ain’t dreaming, there was a weight set for it also in the steps. My uncle had a 130 in Co. Wicklow Ireland 🇮🇪 early’80’s.
there was indeed, two silver coloured die cast metal blocks, a tad longer than the yellow plastic bales if I recall
Good video Dan 👍 my only recollection of a real MF130 was im sure i remember the ad in the Power Farming magazine 🤔 back in the day, certainly never saw one up here 🏴
Yip I had the Britain's 130 as a kid. It's still around but the draw bar has snapped off. Many carpet hectares have been drilled with it😅
Love it! Still have the Britains 130 and my 9 year old son is a keen carpet farmer. As an older dad, I still get to play with it.
Thanks Tim
Interesting video Dan thank you. 🙂👍 I had no idea 130 ever existed, only 30 drills that used to be a common thing towed behind a Lely or Howard power harrow bridgelink combo around here, one farm I know of still uses one for grass and cereal's and they also own a Moore drill which seems to be a hit,(our ground is good and crap !!) and like many of those drills, tractor restorers like them for their wheels to go with 35's and 135's to make them authentic, this should be interesting to see pulled behind the 3095.☺️👍
Great to add to the collection and have a use for it!
Our dealer here in the states sold that drill as a Massey Ferguson 427 which really was made by Lilliston from what my old Massey Ferguson dealer says great video Dan
Lovely old piece of kit Dan. Great video
best of luck with the new toy Dan. Not sure it will do as good a job fro you with the grass seed as the rows will be too far apart. Most direct drills for grass have very tight spacing's. you may end up having to do two passes to get sufficient cover.
No no &no
It looks great condition hope to see it working at some point 👍
Brilliant video Dan, sadly I have never had either the actual or the model. I did do a fair amount of ploughing as a child much to my mother’s annoyance. Used to leave unsightly lines in the shag pile so I’m told, I on the other hand thought it looked great
Looks a good drill for reseeding or overseeding grass Dan
Great video Dan I love the vintage Thursdays. Like you I collect old Ferguson and MF stuff, it’s getting very rare now. Great find.
Hey there, where are you from?
@@timhenning18 Hi Tim County Antrim NI
@@FlyingFergyMan have you ever been to Germany?
@@timhenning18 once, very long time ago, it was school trip. where are you from?
@@FlyingFergyMan Germany
I had a Britains MF130 seed drill and “planted” many square metres of our carpet as kid, again with a Britains MF590.
we had a 130 dd which we changed up to a bettinson dd twice the width to get more output
hi dan yes i still have a britains 130 drill and as a younger boy i drilled many hundreds of acres on the carpet great fun back then 👍
Hi dan i own a 130, on cereals to direct drill you need very light land as slot closure is a real issue as slugs will just run the lines on heavy land also they will open back up when it dries out you need a set of following harrows to cover behind you or even run a 8ft Cambridge roll that will work. I have gad good results on discd ground then rolled then drilled on barley n wheat lose worked ground will soon bulldoze up infront thats when the 30 is the tool. On grassbox you won't be able to get all the pipes into the coulter holes as the far front ones are to acute angle to work what i did was metal pipes mounted on a piece of angle across the drill pipes set inline with the slots to feed the seed into the coulter slots it works a treat also drilled cover crops though the grass box to very good results
Thanks for the advice, very useful 👍
Just purchased a MF 500 seed drill
Nice drill. Nice 3095
Got the britains 130,had mine behind a britains 2680, we had some hard pulling carpet.👍
Yes Dan I still have my Britton’s drill complete with the silver weights! Had it from new , and iam 58 years old!!
I was doing it all wrong! because I had the exact same Britians model and I used to plough my carpet first then roll it then disc it then seed it and harrow it in. I wasted all that time!. In all seriousness I didn't know that the 130 was a direct drill. We had a MF 30 drill at home on the farm and I just thought the 130 was either an upgraded 30 or a larger drill. I've never seen a 130 but a neigbour once told me they were 135 wheels on the drill but I've no idea whether that's correct or not. I think your probably right about Britains making more drills than MF, I would be surprised if they made more combines than MF as well. Back to carpet farming I used my 2680's (yes I had 2) for most of my work, all my 590s died, usually the wheels came off with to much farming or a badly judged foot! I still have most of my Britains stuff including the drill and the 2680 which is now in retirement sitting on my desk!
Like many others have done a lot of hours on the carpet with my MF 130 and yes I have a feeling it is in the loft.
That'll look great on the 1200
Have 2 x MF 130 Britain’s models and only after realising there there a 130 not a 30 🤭 have a real life MF30 also, and she earns her spot in the shed every year sowing spring barley. Very interesting video keep up the good work. 👏
I've sown many carpets and rugs with a 130 but eventually bought a siku one pass 😂
Drilled many an Acre with an MF 30 drill behind Ford 7000s and Ford 7700, we even done some Direct Drilling on our lighter Land.
I was offered a 130 drill for sale maybe 10 or 12 years ago, it wasn't in working order and after some investigation it appeared parts availability would be a problem so I declined the opportunity.
I did however have a couple of the Britains versions, I think at least one is still knocking around.
Presumably the wheel circumference is critical to accurate spreading?
Yes, I've used a 130..sadly it was the plastic one on top, back in the 1980's haha
I have the same toy from when I was a kid
My neighbour had an MF130 drill. It was not a success on their land which had quite a bit of black grass and wild oats. It was not used for many years in total. Not sure whether it was a combine drill they had or whether they were ever available with the fertiliser hopper and distribution as was available on the excellent 30 drill. EDIT You’ve answered that in minute 6. So it was available as a combine drill. To drill a 15 row using grass seed through coulters will require two passes at different angles to fill up the gaps, because grass will not tiller enough to fill a single pass’s gaps between the rows.
I had a toy one too,probably still got is somewhere
I had a Britain's 130 seed drill that I attacched to my britains mf 590 in the early 1980s,I regretted giving them all away as I got older :(
Of the only drill made by Britans was the 130 then i had, have one too. Only seen the 30 in real size.
Used a 30 but never heard of a 130 unless it was a VAX cav sri
Only other one I have ‘seen’, was in an online auction a year ago or so, Cheltenham area I think.
Interesting video. i have never heard of an MF 130 direct drill, a 3m Bettison was all the rage near me. I do have a controversial opinionm on Direct drilling and the current Min Till. I think it is the work of machinery manufacturers and Dealers trying to generate more sales and ultimately profit. Man has been inverting soil for hundreds of years to grow crops to feed themselves and others. It is a tried and tested procedure, but unfortunately for theManufacturers and Dealers, ploughs do no need replacing frequently enough, so they come out with these new ideas to generate revenue & profit. Just putting on my tin helmet.
Never seen a real 130.Had the britains one and seen leaflets for the 130.Seen plenty of 30's working in essex.Used to use one on a david brown 1212 with cage wheels or a case 1494 when the 1212 was used for rolling.
I have a Britains 130 drill 👍
How much of a learning curve for me that never used one .as in setting up and maintaining?
I never knew a mf 130 drill existed.
yeah got the Britain's . . think my old boss has that drill ,. will call and see ..
Can't help you with the questions, but I do like to say that you found a very nice drill. Hardly any use on it, by the looks
An absolute clinker Dan.
When I was a young boy neighbours bought one and pulled it with a new County 1174 but it wasn't a success as back then slugs and couch decimated the crop as we never had the chems or knowledge. After 2 years they went back to ploughing.
The only drill I’ve ever had is a Dewalt🤣🤦♂ and I was a playmobile man rather than a Britain’s 😆
I've drilled many an acre with a 130, complete with the rear weights, behind a dual wheel 595
In fact I've still got a 130, several in fact in the loft
Sadly I know very little about the actual MF version
Never seen one before I think I had one of the brittans models
I got a model 130 drill 2 models from Britain's
I didn’t realise Dan the 130 was a direct drill.I have the Britain’s one and the only real massey drill I have seen was a 6 meter which was probably a 30.
The tyres on the model are the wrong way round ! Tut tut Britains - or has somebody been playing with it 😂
In answer to your questions I also knew of the MF30 but not the MF130.
Yep only seen/used and still have the Britains version 😂
Many happy hours carpet drilling with a 130 pulled by a dual wheel 595 - does anyone know why Britains did the 130 and not the 30?
According to the Walter Hall books - Britains ag. engineer consultant - he'd said to do a 30 but MF against his advice insisted on doing a 130 to go with the drills launch.
🇮🇪🇮🇪🙏🙏👍👍
Never Seen One
I had a Britain's massey drill only used a massy 30 drill a 3 and a 4 meter one's 😅