The Midlands lime spreading business operated by Dave Chandler is looking to a successful and profitable future after investing in a new Mercedes-Benz Unimog U400 with purpose designed and built lime spreader and hopper.

The Staffordshire-based contractor is busier than ever as farming yields – in both arable and livestock/dairy – fluctuate and farmers look to maximise profits by improving the quality of their land.

The new Unimog U400 has a larger payload than its predecessor, allowing Dave to spend more time spreading and less time travelling to re-load with lime.

The business, which Dave bought from his father, Peter, has been built on using Unimogs for nearly 30 years. “When farmers see us arrive with the Unimog they are more than happy to let us on the fields, even when it’s wet and the ground is soft. The Unimog is almost purpose-designed for this business,” Dave says.

Central Tyre Inflation, which allows the driver/operator to lower the pressures of all the tyres, increasing the ‘footprint’ and spreading the weight, means land damage is minimised and there are no ruts created. This means that the Unimog lime spreader rolls over the top of growing crops instead of digging them out.

Lime spreading is a barometer of the economic state of the agricultural industry, Dave believes. When revenues are low, farmers cannot spend money for the future health of their land; when profits rise, good farmers are able to invest in longer term strategies, and that includes the health of the land.

Today, as farm gate prices are beginning to reflect the value of the yields as well as the work put in by farmers, Chandler Lime Spreading is seeing business growth.

The new Unimog U400 is not just the ideal lime spreading vehicle; it also has significantly better fuel consumption than tractors, even fast tractors, and it can be registered under VOSA as an on-road vehicle, as well as being able to handle all types of ground.