John Deere Harvester 1470H 8W in Schottland

Scotland is a beautiful place. I don't think I would move anywhere. It's where you're brought up.

Scotland is a beautiful place to work. You've got the rolling hills, all agricultural land. Just a few miles east you've got all the rocky landscapes and out to the ocean. Here in Aberdeenshire I mean the hills are. They're pretty hills. We're here in Harvesting Timber with a John Deere harvester.

My impression of the 1470 is a massive improvement. The 1470 is a super machine. Between the tangle and the big trees and the loose ground this is a rough job for extreme machines that's why they're here. It's a perfect job for two extreme machines and that's what the two machines are. Your machines are only as good as your operators but you're not all drivers. They're the same. Some drivers are fearless. With that machine if a driver is prepared to go it will go where no one has been before.

I think the new 1470H eight wheeler is a step ahead from the six wheel version I've had. The visibility, the power. The engine is the other way around so there's no noise in the car so it's just a perfect working environment. The stability is unbelievable. The climbing ability is brilliant. It's going to be a game changer for us. The way we do Harvesting.

Crane is 100 trees both easier. The back axle and XR go for extreme conditions.

The carb follows where the head is going so if you're grabbing a tree out to the right the carb just follows to where you need to be cutting. That's quite important for stones and stuff at the bottom of the trees. The two machines are all linked together with the mapping so whatever I have cut the fouda knows exactly where they are. I left school when I was 15 years old and I landed in the industry with my grandfather. He brought his own business and then my father took on the business in Forestry so naturally I would progress into that as well. I left working with my father many years ago in the start of this company.

I started when I left the school back in the farm with no money so it started in 1980. I've always done it and part of life is what we do. We don't know nothing else. The way I live and I like doing it, I bought a harvester in 1987. I've only used a few drums of diesel a day and it broke down every day. It's a lot easier now because the machines are machines back then it was preparing every day.

The joined ears I think are so reliable. The spare parts are all there. As soon as you have any problems in the wood, they're out. You get the machine fixed, back up and running. Possibly the same day so you can't fault that for service. I don't know anybody else that does a service like that.

We've always had a brilliant relationship with John Deere. Don't tell a joke but John Deere's the best.