When it comes to NZ-manufactured tip trailers, Farmec is a recognisable brand, with owner Gary Baker at the helm and continuing to innovate
When it comes to New Zealand-manufactured tip trailers, Farmec is a recognisable brand, with owner Gary Baker at the helm and continuing to innovate.
One of the newest to exit the Christchurch workshop is an impressive Farmec CT12, dubbed the ‘Black Beauty’, about to begin an illustrious career shifting everything in sight in Murchison, and proudly sold by CB Norwood.
Farmec founder Gary Baker, who got off the boat in ‘99 and promptly decided Kiwis deserved better than whatever European machines were getting shipped in, has just notched up 30 years in ag manufacturing.
With thousands of units scattered across the country, number 2000 in the Farmec trailer saga just clocked over – the customised Black Beauty trailer pictured here.
As to how the Farmec legend grew: Gary’s not content with average. He’s the bloke who will listen to you bang on about how you want a swing-round tailgate, a deck wide enough to load a digger, and you want toolboxes for strops and chains? Too easy! Plus, a distinctive black paint job with a blue strip? Sure, because why shouldn’t your trailer look cool!
The Black Beauty CT12 is not your off-the-shelf, paint-by-numbers tip trailer. It’s custom-built, with swing-round tailgate for loading diggers, deck 100mm wider than the usual, with a low loading height and sitting on 500/50 x 17’’wheels (on an 80mm braked axle, smaller hub for the smaller rim) – so it sits lower, but still hauls like a barge.
Earthworks and civil jobs have become the bread and butter for trailers these days, and as Gary points out, there’s a temptation to go big or go home. But he’s not having a bar of that.
“Be careful you don’t buy a trailer that’s just too big and heavy for the conditions,” he says, with the learnings of a man who’s seen it all before.
Because sometimes, carting more soil doesn’t make you more money – it just means you’re spending more on tyres and burning diesel. Gary’s advice, delivered with understated wisdom is simple: Get the spec right, buy the right gear, talk to the experts.
Farmec’s bathtub monocoque design, with a nine-foot-wide body and a low centre of gravity is engineered with 12mm floors and 8mm sides – thick enough to survive a serious misjudgement from a digger bucket.
“Civil work is all about cubic metres per hour, and if you’re shifting 30,000m³ of topsoil, the Farmec trailer will move it 40% quicker than the imported trailer of the same tonnage, which is probably the difference between making money or not if on a meter rate not an hourly rate.”
For more information, visit farmec.co.nz