SaMASZ Mower Road Trip was a hit!
Perhaps this should be called the Stormy Road Trip! Arriving during Cyclone Gabrielle was not the best welcome for the SaMASZ Australasian & Asia Pacific Sales Team and Lead Service Manager. But despite the profound impact of Cyclone Gabrielle, the trip proceeded, and it was fantastic to welcome SaMASZ reps, Lukasz and Krzystof to NZ shores.
For customers, this road trip was an excellent opportunity to shape the next generation of mowers to suit NZs harshest conditions. And for the SaMASZ duo, seeing the mowers in action across both the North and South Islands was a great chance to canvas dealers, contractors, farmers and potential customers. Closer to home, the FarmShop workshop crew appreciated talking about the finer workings of SaMASZ mowers.
Dealers asked the tough questions and many farmers shared what they loved about their SaMASZ mowers, including contractor Steve Wood from Dargaville. After grinding out more than 10,000 hectares, the SaMASZ team were impressed with his mower condition, with Steve adding:
“I’m hoping to get another 10,000 hectares out of it! This is our go-to mower. I’ve seen it run over many things that cockies have left in the paddocks, fence posts and so on, yet we’ve had nothing go wrong - its solid. Before we bought it, I made sure the parts would be available, gear box bits, spools etc. I even bought parts, but they’re still sitting in the shed.”
Based in Northern Poland, SaMASZ supply over 50 markets worldwide, with FarmShop securing the agency in 2019. Despite being a small customer, they recognise our conditions are some of the toughest in the world. We also have a growing demand for large machinery to offset labour shortages. Visiting us is one thing but listening to our feedback and fine-turning machinery to suit our unique challenges is commendable.
During this trip, there was very little request for changes. The alterations made since the last visit have made a big difference to performance and operator satisfaction. Changes have included enhanced stone protection for the South Island market, a superior/secure knife pin holder (even with its quick blade change feature), pitched blades for a cleaner cut, fine-tuning the hydropneumatic sensors for best possible suspension across all terrain, and enhanced self-cleaning features on all 2023 models.
Even the simplest of edits can make a big difference and SaMASZ have promised to change-out the cord colours i.e. to make it easier when adjusting the park, mowing and transport positions. They may also look at changing an oil bung to make it easier to view the oil level.
While the weather caused a few hiccups and made mowing impossible up north, the team still visited Kaiwaka FarmShop and contractor Steve Wood in Dargaville. Mech Agriculture in Palmerston North enjoyed a morning catch-up with SaMASZ and hosted Agtech Machinery in the afternoon. Joden Townshend held a demo in Ashburton, followed by Johnny Burnside from Rangitata Dairies in Geraldine, and finally David O’Neill Contracting in Omarama. Not bad considering a cyclone was thrown in the mix!
Thank you to everyone who took the opportunity to attend a demo. Machinery is a significant investment, and we’re sure this exercise helped you to build trust and confidence in SaMASZ mowers.
Finally, cheers to Lukasz and Krzystof of SaMASZ – we hope you enjoyed the kiwi hospitality and the weather hasn’t put you off returning!
