This as the OVK Group launched its new mechanisation complex in Bethlehem on Friday, February 19.

The R12 million facility will be home to the Massey-Ferguson and Challenger machinery range and will cater for sales, service and spares. The OVK Group says it is truly proud of the new complex.

Chairperson of the Board, Gillie Scheepers, says they identified a shortcoming in terms of mechanisation services.

“We have 10 000 members and yet we didn’t have a fully functional mechanisation division. So we then entered into negotiations with Agco, which is the mother company of Massey-Ferguson and Challenger.

“We needed to provide our members with mechanisation (solutions), in other words, tractors. Tractors are an integral part of any farming operation, you need to have a tractor to pull a plough, which doesn’t run on its own.”

He says things are just going to get bigger and better going forward.

“We want to go big. We want to go very big and we want to do it as well as we can. There are a lot of things that we need to improve, and which we will improve. But this complex we have opened shows that we mean business.”

The facility, which has been operating since December, also hosts a client financing office.

Another highlight during the event was the official introduction of the Massey-Ferguson Global 6700 to Southern Africa.

General Manager for Massey-Ferguson at Barloworld, Johan Joubert, says the tractor is intended to provide customers with a reliable, durable, easy-to-operate multi-purpose farming machine.

Sabrina Dean/OFM News