New Holland IntelliSteer™ PLM helps remove over two tonnes of metal after Glastonbury Festival

• IntelliSteer™ PLM guidance system used by Glastonbury Festival site to remove metal from fields with a giant magnet

• Precision magnet operation has significantly reduced incidents of metal contamination in forage

• IntelliSteer™ has greatly improved the accuracy of the operation and reduced operator hours

The IntelliSteer™ smart guidance system from New Holland is helping ensure that 900 dairy cows and 135,000 revellers at the Glastonbury Festival can use the same fields without providing a serious risk to the cattle.

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Worthy Farm, the home of the world renowned Glastonbury Festival, is home to 900 dairy cows and 300 followers (heifers). However, when the Festival ends the 1000 acre site is covered with waste including over two tonnes of metal which needs to be recovered.

This is achieved with a powerful magnet, front-mounted on a New Holland T7.235, with the search for metal being enhanced by the use of New Holland IntelliSteer™. Effectively clearing the fields of metal rubbish is vital for the dairy herd who will often graze on the site within three or so weeks after the festival has ended. Removing metal with help from the IntelliSteer™ system has reduced the incidence of cows ingesting metal by around 90 per cent.

Michael Eavis CBE, owner of Worthy Farm and founder of the Glastonbury Festival, still maintains an active interest in running the farm and describes the magneting operation as “one of the most important things that has been implemented during the past 15 years”. He says: “The magneting operation is very important for the day-to-day running of the farm. Anything left from the festival could potentially get into the cows’ feed so we do all we can to prevent this.”

Worthy Farm purchased New Holland’s T7.235 tractor with the IntelliSteer™ in August 2014 specifically to help with metal collection and to date has already clocked up 1340 hours. Powerful magnets guided by the PLM IntelliSteer™ system pick up any ferrous materials that they pass over. The most common items are tent pegs, gas canisters and one and two pence pieces. All the collected metals go to the local scrapyard for recycling.

The magnet is attached to the front linkage of the T7.235, allowing it to be raised for transport and lowered for collecting. In collecting mode it works at 50 to 75mm off the the ground with a forward speed of 2.5kph.

The IntelliSteer™ system has proven a real time and money saver on the farm as reducing overlap has increased work rate by approximately 25 per cent. The system accurately maps fields and provides field sizes and distances which is useful information when planning to run water pipes.

Steve Kearle, Farm Manager for Worthy Farm, says: “The IntelliSteer™ means we can be sure that the magnet has covered every inch of the fields. It’s the first time that we’ve had an auto-guidance system on one of our tractors and already it’s making a big difference. The Intellisteer gives us the assurance that not only have we covered the field, but we haven’t wasted time going over the same area.”

Over the year, employees of Worthy Farm will sweep the 1000 acre site four times. The site is grass harrowed regularly to help bring items to the surface so that the magnet can collect more effectively. An aerator on the back of the T7 helps the ground recover after being trampled by around 135,000 people during the five days of the Glastonbury Festival.

Brad Haldene has worked at Worthy Farm for five years and is the primary T7 tractor operator, doing 90 per cent of the magnet work. He says: “The IntelliSteer™ has helped me be sure that we haven’t overlapped and that we haven’t missed any metal on the ground. The advanced mapping system makes it far more efficient and means there are no opportunity for errors.”

Worthy Farm has three T7.235 Auto Command tractors (one fitted with the Intellisteer while the other two are PLM ready), one T6.160 Auto Command tractor and one Boomer 3040 as part of its tractor fleet. The tractor fleet is mainly used for the farm but has to be flexible enough to perform festival duties as well. Farm manager Steve believes the T7.235 is perfectly suited to the important magnet task as well as other tasks on the farm.

Steve says: “The T7.235 is a good size. We chose it to suit the tasks we have at the moment and those we expect to have in the future. Other than the magnet job, the T7s are used for transport, feeding, hauling and tanking – they can take on pretty much all of the tasks on the farm. The front linkage which TH White fitted gives us great flexibility, so that has been really useful.”

Ben Wilcox from TH White based in Frome has been working with Worthy Farm for the past 40 years and sold the latest fleet of T7s as part of a trade-in deal. During the Glastonbury Festival, TH White provides the farm with eight tractors – mainly New Holland T4s and T5s – that are hired for 8 to 12 weeks to tow flat bed trailers that move equipment around the site.

Ben says: “We have a long-standing relationship with Worthy Farm where we provide them with a variety of machinery not just for the Glastonbury Festival but also for day-to-day farm operations. We were one of the first New Holland dealerships to acquire PLM Certified Level 3 status and we have a dedicated precision farming specialist providing customer support and training.”

In future, the Worthy Farm team is looking to develop a new tool which will help them remove other non-ferrous metals including alloys and aluminium that are currently collected manually by volunteer litter pickers after the festival.