When ZETOR proves good

The town of Malešov is located in the Kutná Hora district in Central Bohemia region. Apart from the historical centre, which was listed as a conservation area in 2003, the town also comprises the outskirt towns of Maxovna, Albrechtice, Polánka and Týniště. Týniště is a picturesque village covering the area of only two square kilometres and it is where you can find the farm of Ing. Josef Hampl Sr., his son Josef Hampl Jr. and his family. On the farm, they are assisted by ZETOR tractors. As Mr. Hampl says, they have never considered a different brand.

Their current fleet of ZETOR machines includes six tractors out of total twelve which have been used on the farm since 1950s. And each of them has its own story. ‘Three out of the twelve were bought as completely new,’ says Mr. Hampl. ‘The first one was ZETOR 25 with a side mower made in 1949. It was brought by my father right from Zbrojovka Brno. The second one was ZETOR 3321 SUPER which I brought from the Nezbeda family in Kojovice in February 2000. It was our first tractor from the N&N Košátky Company. The last new tractor, FORTERRA HSX 130, is still brand new. It was brought last December by my son, also from N&N Košátky, from the premises in Kropáčova Vrutice,’ says Mr. Hampl describing purchasing new farming machinery, which has been carried out for three generations. Other tractors which have been performing farming and other jobs on the farm, were bought as used. All of them were or still have been excellent workers, though.

Mr. Ing. Josef Hampl with his son

What is the history of the ZETOR brand on this farm in Central Bohemia? ‘I was literally brought up on Zetor tractors. I started driving them as soon as I was able to reach the pedals,’ Mr. Hampl tells the story. ‘My father was driving Zetor 25 which helped farming the total of 32 hectares of land on his farm in Poličany by Kutná Hora. Collectivization of farms in March 1950 stole his dreams, his farm with hectares of land as well as the tractor, rulley, two-blade plough with four-blade extension, thrasher, press and electromotor. In 1991, he has applied for property and farming land restitution and once again started farming on his own land. Until then, he had been employed on a collective farm as a cattle feedlot manager; therefore, he started both with animal breeding and crop growing in 1992. At that time, he had 13 hectares of land and 13 cows. The rest of the land was rented to the then users of it,’ remembers Mr. Hampl.

The land was farmed with ZETOR 6911 and ZETOR 5211, which was part of the restitution. ‘This tractor had a lot of operation hours from the collective farm and then it worked more than 20,000 more on our farm before it was sold again. At that time, it was very difficult to get Zetor,’ points out Mr. Hampl. To help with crop growing, another used ZETOR 7711 was bought. As mentioned earlier, cooperation with the N&N Košátky Company started in 2000 when ZETOR 3321 SUPER was bought from them to help with animal breeding. In 2002, Mr. Hampl’s father bought ZETOR 16245, which was brought over from a farm in Germany and offered greater comfort for ploughing, shallow ploughing and preparing soil for sowing. In 2006, ZETOR 5211 was replaced with a more up-to-date model from 1994. ‘Animal breeding was terminated in 2008 as a result of the decline in milk price. I also took over the management of the farm as my father died that year,’ remembers Mr. Hampl. Since then, the Hampl family have focused exclusively on crop growing; they now have 45 hectares in the vicinity of their farms in Týniště and Poličany. They grow cereal, mainly wheat, and their land is also used as hayfields. They also have some animal helpers: three sheep who forage the garden, hens and a hunting dog.

In addition to farming, the Hampl family work in services; and they connect work in this area with ZETOR tractors as well. In 2009, ZETOR 7341 SUPER was bought for sewage water management, handling bulk and construction material and pallet fork transport. ‘The latter two activities are performed by PROXIMA 8441 bought in 2011 from N&N Košátky Company as a used one with 3,000 operation hours, which is a well run-in tractor,’ says Mr. Hampl. This tractor also helps with community maintenance: in winter, it clears snow on local roads, open spaces, carparks and company premises; in the summer, equipped with a mower and tedder, it mows and mulches free land. ZETOR 7341 SUPER with a built-in satnav is used with a sprayer, carried spreader and sower. All other jobs are done by ZETOR 7745 that can work with a hydraulic arm to load fertilizers and sowing seeds and FORTERRA 12441 bought in 2016 for ploughing, shallow ploughing, soil preparation and sewage water disposal. In harvest period, two ZETORs with drop-side trailers are available to two in-house harvesters to dispatch crop to a nearby grainery stock.

In late 2020, the Hampl family decided to extend their ZETOR fleet by purchasing a completely new FORTERRA 130 HSX to replace its older predecessor FORTERRA 12441 and help the old ZETOR 16245. ‘It is the third tractor we bought from N&N Košátky Company.’ The services of the N&N Košátky Company are a great benefit to the Hampl family. ‘They visit and help us anytime we need,’ says Mr. Hampl appreciating service and aftersales services of the company.

The latest ZETOR tractor is equipped with front three-point hitch with hydraulic couplers, rear hitch with a hook and front axle suspension. Together with cab suspension, they provide the best operation comfort.  All models of the FORTERRA range are unique for its robustness and performance. The new generation of engines in Stage V emission standard offers significantly lower fuel consumption and exhaust emission. The results of the test performed by researchers at Mendel University confirmed that the new engines have by up to 19.2 % lower fuel consumption than engines in Stage IIIB emission standard.

FORTERRA uses in-house developed and manufactured gearboxes, which guarantees high quality of transmissions. FORTERRA HSX is equipped with five-speed gearbox 30/30 with two speed ranges, three-stage PowerShift and three-stage Powershuttle. It offers 13 gears in the working range. The new 40 ECO gearbox allows reaching maximum speed (40 kph) at lower revolutions (1,800 rpm). Such optimization leads to fuel savings of up to 15-20 % and reduces noise and engine wear. The tractors are equipped with Bosch (EHR) electrohydraulics with HitchTronic (automatic control of rear three-point hitch). ‘We have quickly grown accustomed to the comfort that FORTERRA offers. We appreciated the high quality of the tractor in the winter that brought 20 cm of snow and temperatures as low as minus 18 degrees Celsius – it dealt with it perfectly,’ concludes Mr. Hampl.