McHale Plant Sales to host first auction

Komatsu, Zetor and Merlo distributor McHale Plant Sales is to host its first reserved auction of used tractors, plant and machinery at its headquarters in Birdhill, Co Tipperary, on Tuesday 20 May.

More than 100 lots will go under the hammer in what McHale managing director Michael McHale says “should be the largest event of its kind ever held in the mid-west”.

The range of items being put up for sale will include farm machinery, construction plant and many other items of farm equipment and miscellaneous parts/attachments.

All lots will be set aside for viewing on the day prior to the event and from 8am on the morning of the auction. Cork auctioneer Denis Barrett, a man experienced in machinery sales, will be conducting the auction. Bids will be taken from those present as well as online via the www.i-bidder.com portal.

Where are your tyres going?

Tyre Recovery Activity Compliance Scheme (TRACS), Ireland’s largest tyre compliance scheme, is asking vehicle owners to deal only with reputable tyre suppliers, who will ensure that their used tyres are being properly recovered once they become waste.

Fifty-five thousand tonnes of tyre waste is estimated to be generated in Ireland each year. In 2012, approximately three million tyres, mostly car tyres, were imported into Ireland for supply, of which TRACS accounted for 75%.

TRACS also accounted for nine in every 10 waste tyres collected and treated, either in Ireland or abroad.

A full list of importers, manufacturers, retailers and waste collectors who have registered with TRACS is available on the website www.tracs.ie.

The TRACS database traces tyres from when they are imported to when they are sold, right though to when they are discarded, reused or processed for recovery.

Anyone who is involved in tyre retail, wholesale, importation or recycling in Ireland has to be registered by law with a compliance scheme such as TRACS.

Claydon successfully defends patent dispute

Claydon Drills has successfully defended and upheld a challenge to the patent on its twin-tine seeding system (European Patent No EP1608214B1), following an unsuccessful action brought by German company, Amazone-Werke.

The Claydon patent relates to “a new method and apparatus for sowing seed directly into uncultivated land, including minimally cultivated seedbeds or, without modification, for conventional drilling” and was filed in November 2003.

The focus of the patent is the use of a leading tine for digging and forming a shallow trench of loosened soil, followed in line by a second tine fitted with lateral wings, which is used to plant the seed in the trenches formed by the leading tine.

The system was developed and patented by Suffolk farmer Jeff Claydon.