Magazine - Shed Raider Anco Turf Farm

By Rob Jenkins in Shed Raider on 23rd Oct 2009 8:00

Shed Raider 
Anco Turf & Seed Cranbourne West.

Turf Manager - Alistair Errey
 A team of 10 work on the Cranbourne farm.
The main shed itself is only a few months old and measures 36 X 15 X 9 metres. This was only one of the many sheds on the site.
 
For 30 years Anco has been growing and supplying quality Instant Turf to Melbourne and Victoria's landscapers, golf courses, racetracks, sportsfields and home gardeners. They are responsible for turf on many a famous racecourses such as Flemington, Caulfield, Sandown and Mornington. Anco grow a wide variety of grass types including Sir Walter, Australia’s biggest selling lawn grass.

All of Anco's turf is grown on fumigated sandy soils ensuring the turf you receive is of the highest purity and weed free. They have farms located across Melbourne at Cranbourne West, Clyde, Five Ways and Torquay making them one of the biggest turf farms in Australia.


 

Inside the Sheds:
John Deere 5420 Tractor 
John Deere 5425 Tractor
John Deere 5310 Tractor
John Deere 5820 Tractor
x2 John Deere 6210 Tractors
John Deere 2850 Tractor
Massey Ferguson 5435 Tractor
x3 Saliba Rotary mower 
Saliba Tri deck mower 
x2 single deck mowers
Toro greens mower
Toro 6700 D Fairway Mower
Agri vator 
Land Pride Solid Stand seeder
Tow behind Land Pride seeder
Hardi Master Sprayer: 1000 litre with a 12 metre boom
Brouwer Turf Harvester
x2 Massey Ferguson Brouwer Turf Harvesters
Trebo Autostacker 
x2 quad motorbikes
x2 turf washers: 1 standard size and 1 for big rolls 
Big roll turf harvester
John Deere 3235A
Ransomes Victa Fairway Mower 
Sailba line planter 5822
An old Ford tractor 3910
Big linear Irrigator
Manure spreader: 8 cubic metres
Barley 1 ton fertilizer spreader
2m Koro Field Top Maker
Harley box rake
Tipping Trailers  



Just some of the various implements in the yard:
x2 Land planes
x2 Selley rotary hoes 
Chisel plow
Deep ripper plow
Grader blades
Mag Rig "Big Blue"-reverse rotary hoe
Various slashers
 


Turf Manager Alistair Errey answers some questions about the fleet of machinery:

Favourite Machine: Has to be Trebo the new harvester, it's amazing and our new Hardi boom is fantastic.
Oldest machine: Our old Ford tractor on Trelleborg tyres, not sure of the exact date but we bought it in the 80's and its still going great.
Biggest Lemon/Donkey in the Fleet: That old John Deere 3235 in the corner or my ute!
What's On Your Wish List: An auto-slaber turf harvester.
Most Expensive Equipment: The Trebo harvester takes the cake easily.




Having a look around the Anco sheds was akin to what I imagined it was like for the person who spotted the iceberg on the titanic, there is heaps more machinery than first meets the eye! We only touched on it, and this is just one of the farms.

Anco have only recently built some new sheds, wash down facilities and a new chemical shed. Everything about the place is big! From the land to the amount of tractors it needs to run. It's easy to see why this is one of the biggest turf growers with the combined farm acreage. Once again there was a healthy mix of machinery on display. John Deere was dominant with tractor numbers, although a new Massey along with a few old ones broke up the green. The oldest machine was a old Ford 3910, still working hard like it has been doing on various Anco farms since the 80's.

A handy tip would have to be the family of cats living at the farm. What better way to keep the mice away? When you have a large open farm like this rodents will always be a problem, so having a few cats about is a great way to solve the dilemma.

It was also the first time I had seen an old Ransomes with Victa badging. Not uncommon back in the day I'm sure, but not something you see in every shed. The Koro Field Topmaker was also in the sheds, this is an impressive piece of kit with various uses. Then there was the Trebo Autostacker, without sounding like Anco and Trebo have put an envelope in my back pocket, these Harvesters have got to be one of the most impressive pieces of kit on the turf market today, it's worth going to buy some turf just to ask if you can see it being cut up!

Outside the main sheds was like a home for every implement every made, it even gave Cobbity Turf Farm a run for it's money, almost! The sheds had implements for every job and any size tractor, these boys take growing turf seriously!

How do you grade a shed like this Rob I hear you ask? Good question I always seem to be getting myself in this difficult situations trying to grade the impossible!



After much thought Anco has to be graded an A
The reason being the shear amount of kit all in fantastic order, heaps of new sheds and a tidy chemical set up and of course the cuddly cats- not that I love cats but it helped to soften the heart!

Well done Anco and thanks for a fantastic visit.




Remember if you loved Anco's Sheds as much as me be sure to vote for them as your favourite shed at voting time.

Read more articles in Shed Raider, by Rob Jenkins or from October 2009.