Well, we’ve done a thing again.
Last year, our Dutchman tree spade was delivered, and ever since it landed, we’ve been debating what to mount it to. While we have been moving trees, every job it’s been on so far has necessitated a hire machine, usually a Bobcat, and while these have been good, the need to cable tie the wiring to the boom with the harness either jammed through the window or the door and the spade joystick gripped between my knees has been a pain.
I knew we needed to be on a skid steer, preferably a tracked one, but being in the UK rather than the US, the list of suppliers is pretty short and then when you mention you don’t want to hang a mulcher on it, but you have got this great big yellow thing sitting in the shed for moving trees that needs to go on it! Well then, it’s even more difficult.
But, back in April, we had to trip to Caterpillar’s training centre near Leicester, and they let us hang the tree spade on the front of their shiny demonstrator. While they did draw the line at letting us pick all the trees up in the car park and move them all into different spots, we did get to play for a bit, iron out what the options were, what would work best for us and equally importantly, how much it was going to be, and when we could have it
Fast Forward Six Months
Well it’s here.
We knew from the day of the order, because of the specification we’d gone for, it was going to be a November delivery. There wasn’t another one of its type in the UK, and we’d got to have a factory build, but by god it was worth the wait. So far, I’ve driven back and forth in the shed, pressed buttons and read the manual. We’re hoping to have the spade on in the next few days, and then we can crack on with moving trees and hedge lines alongside spamming everyone with videos and pictures of it.