In The Field May 2025

Before moving to the UK, I maintained agricultural and construction machines in my native New Zealand. The prospect of working overseas brought me to London, as a diagnostic engineer for a double-decker bus and coach manufacturer. Following a move to the South West, I’m now a service engineer at Bateman.

I joined Bateman over 2 years ago. I spent my first four months ‘hands-on’ in the factory. You follow a logical path, from the chassis to the cab, moving onto tanks and booms, then finishing in PDI.  You build an invaluable knowledge-bank. There’s so much experience and know-how in the factory.

As a service team we cover the length and breadth of the UK. The furthest I’ve travelled was to a job on the outskirts of Edinburgh. A machine service in Land’s End was much closer to home, but generally my work takes me to Cumbria, Lancashire, Lincoln, Norfolk, and everywhere in between.

Over the years, our engineers and support staff have worked together to understand the challenges we might face, therefore, we are able to plan accordingly. For example, if we’re carrying out a boom service, we take a few extra bits to cover for the unexpected.

The feedback we receive from customers is very positive. They are amazed at how we always have the bulk of the parts on the van to keep them running. We also carry a few universal parts, these might not be the exact part required, but they will get the machine back spraying, whilst the actual part is ordered.

There are occasions when I don’t have the part I need, usually if it’s an urgent breakdown visit. This is when ‘Geoff Freight’ comes to the rescue! I can call Geoff, who’s at the factory, explain what I want and when I need it, he loads his truck and before I know it, he’s on the farm. I think customers really appreciate that even if the problem’s tricky, we will work through it with support from the factory.

Manufacturing most of our parts in-house makes a massive difference. Once a machine reaches 17 years, a lot of manufacturers are not interested in supporting it. Whereas at Bateman, I’ve worked on Hi Lo’s built in the early nineties! If we haven’t got a part in stock, we’ll make it. That ability to me is just mind boggling, to support every machine we’ve ever made is astonishing.

Because we only make sprayers we’re totally focused on spraying. Our machines are extremely good products, they do what it says on the tin. We’re not trying to use everyone else’s technology and put it together. A Bateman sprayer is built solely for spraying by people that understand spraying. I love the fact that we can sell a machine today and keep it going for the rest of its very long life.

Coming from New Zealand always sparks a conversation on farm. Everyone’s got a relatable story. Either they’ve been there or their son or daughter is currently working there – a lot of people travel to NZ to help with the harvest. We often share a laugh over a coffee and a biscuit.

Everybody loves a Bateman engineer! The customers are always very welcoming and a pleasure to deal with. I like to think I’m playing my part in maintaining our reputation for back-up that’s second to none. It’s the first thing I’m reminded about, whether in the factory or on farm! My response is typical New Zealand “She’ll be right”.