Posted on 01/23/2017 10:56:06 AM PST by blam
William Thonton
January 23, 2017
The Oggun tractor, which will be manufactured in Fyffe, was developed for farmers domestically and in the developing world as a low-cost alternative to heavy farm equipment. (William Thornton / wthornton@al.com)
In a new factory off Main Street in Fyffe, a business this week began marketing a product it says could revolutionize agricultural for the small farmer all over the world.
CleBer LLC hosted the opening of its plant which will manufacture the Oggun Iron Horse, a tractor designed for small-scale domestic and international farmers.
The tractor, which can sport a 19 horsepower Honda gas or Kohler diesel engine, weighs 1,500 pounds and uses hydraulic steering and brakes. It is built to sell at $10,000 in the gas model, and $13,000 in diesel.
The Oggun was designed so that all of its components are non-proprietary, so it can be fixed and maintained without having to order expensive, model specific parts - usually patent protected - that might be hard to acquire in the developing world.
The Oggun factory, which adjoins Liberty Steel Manufacturing, could produce up to 10,000 tractors a year. But first will come marketing, said Horace Clemons, one of the founders of CleBer.
"This is where the real work begins," Clemons said.
Clemons and his business partner, Saul Berenthal, have a background in personal computers and software. But Berenthal, a native of Cuba, believed a tractor like the Oggun could be a boon to the small farmers of his homeland.
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(Excerpt) Read more at al.com ...
My Mother grew up on a 1000 plus acre farm right on the Alabama/Florida line. Most of it was in Florida. They had 40 mules and ten sharecroppers. After Grandpa Mac died the farm was divided up among his 5 Sons.
When Daddy got back from WWII, Mother had saved over $3000 from his allotment and he sent his entire paycheck also. They bought a small 40 acre farm and Daddy did the same thing. He plowed all day with Old Maude, a huge horse.
Mother said that they made some really good crops but still when he got the chance to work at Tyndall AFB in Panama City, they sold the farm. I was only 4 but I can remember opening the smoke house and seeing all kinds of smoked meat including coils of sausage.
Over forty years ago, I saw Korean farmers using small tractors very similar to these.
I wish them luck.
I’d be in the market for a small tractor like this, but with the rear engine, I can’t see how it would work. I already have a light front end going up hills on my old International and it has the engine in the front. Maybe there are no hills in Cuba or Peru...
I picture towing a standard bush hog and trying to lift the deck only to have the front end of this tractor sticking up in the air.
No kidding! Me too! I have a small 1.5 acre tract that I could fully utilize with that thing. Enough veggies for me all year and a bunch to sell. Great idea.
Yeah, I know. There’s nothing ‘revolutionary’ about it. Seems that AC or IHC made something similar back in the 30’s.
YES, as if this was some sort of new idea.
A Honda XR650L has 40 HP for $6500.
Typically a tractor engine is rated for HP under industrial conditions. It can put out the rated power for thousands of hours.
That motorcycle engine will put out 40 HP for dozens of hours max. Only under heavy acceleration. It spends most of its life under 10 HP cruising down the road. And might last several hundred hours doing that.
As a tractor that thing is a POS though. No roll over protection, no good way to add a loader. I doubt it is legal for sale in the US.
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You can buy a 22 HP diesel Mahindra tractor, with roll over protection for ~$12k in the US. Lower in the 3rd world. 7 year warranty. Mahindra is the best selling tractor in the world. Based in India, but made in factories all over the world.
Makes that look like the homemade kludge that it is.
The DR is good but you can’t put a crown on the road with one. Actually it bevels down the crown, I know from experience.
“only to have the front end of this tractor sticking up in the air.”
Owners of these will probably resort to welding old engine blocks and other heavy things onto the front end of it.
“3 pt hitch and PTO, yes, bucket....no.”
I put a used bucket on the Allis D17 about 10 years ago. I don’t know how I lived without one for so many years. My back is so much happier not wrestling around heavy objects.
Get yourself a nice little Ford 4000. Make sure it is a standard though since the select-o-speeds are hard to find the parts for the transmission.
A good little 4000 in fair shape should cost you around 3 to 5 thouseand bucks.
Too light and not enough horse power.
It wouldn’t pull a 5 ft brush hog in tall grass and too light to move much dirt or snow.
I would have to pass.
I do like that it doesn’t have green paint or a certified technician tied to it.
Here ya go boys..you can get one for about 3 grand.
I don’t need one, but I might be interested if my wife could ride with me.
Out here in Californicator land, some of us, who arrived before the current real estate boom sometimes have a lot of property. If my current yard man ever left (he has been with us for close to 3 decades), I would buy one of these with some neighbors, who use the same great guy.
“...their plans were originally to make it in or export it to Cuba.”
WFT? Cuba can’t even make a freaking tractor? I thought all those socialist countries were chock-full of geniuses.
I can tell you from personal experience that 19 hp isn’t enough to brush hog.
My 30 hp gas tractor just couldn’t drive a 5 ft brush hog through grass more than a foot tall.
My 40 hp diesel did OK with the 5ft brush hog.
When I finally bought the 50 hp diesel, I could move up to a 6 foot brush hog. The extra weight also made blading much easier.
If I had it to do over, I would have started with the 50 hp tractor and use the money I saved towards a skid loader.
You are correct sir.
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