Tractor Tuesday - Uwe's Tractor?

The drizzle arrived last night and most of the farmers had done all their mowing and slurrying yesterday - lots of good "Country Air" about.

No tractors to be seen on the dog walk but my pumpkin blip on Saturday had reminded me of a tractor I have wanted to Blip for a while. So for the love of Tractor Tuesday, took a detour to get the shot.

The tractor has been here for many months, probably over a year and I suspect belongs to a hobby type person who seems to be in to fire wood. Clearly it was what ones refers here as a "China Tractor" to mean anything that comes from the Far East. Took the main photo and then moved closer to find out more. Could see the numbers "404" on the side but no more but an emblem above the radiator grille with the big letters "OVE". So took a photo and then suddenly thought, "Hold on - you know that emblem". And sure enough a closer looked revealed the letter "R" had been removed from the front & back and it was indeed a "ROVER" emblem which the Brits will remember from the now dead once bicycle, motor bike and car manufacturer. In my youth it was an up market brand of the various companies that owned it.

No idea why the owner had adapted the emblem (see extra photo) but all I can think of is that a German with forename "Uwe" is a wandering, seafaring, roving type and has adopted his Viking name "Ove".

It's a 2015 built, 4WD, 40hp Bocheng. Can't find out anything about German distributors. The main Bocheng China website shows an amazing selection of machinery they make - seemingly everything in agriculture and construction. I think these small tractors cost around 13-20,000 Euros.

Again in my youth one joked about Toyota and Datsun (later Nissan) rust buckets and flimsy Suzukis, Yamahas and Hondas. So I won't make the mistake again of knocking these "China Tractors". Our village fire brigade chief, also a hobby horse keeper, has had one for several years. Must ask him how he rates it now. Have to say I would be very happy to have the one in the photo.

Germany's Top 10 tractor registrations from Jan-Aug 2016 are:
Fendt - 18.6%
John Deere - normally #1 but just beaten in this time slot
Deutz - 8.7%
Claas - 8.6%
Case.Steyr - 7.8%
New Holland - 6.2%
Kubota - 6.1%
Massey Ferguson - 4%
Valtra - 2.6%
Iseki - 2.4%