Whatever happened to…: …. the Terra-Gator

This story starts in the early 1980s when there were no strict application regulations and slurry was splash-plated all year round. Dutch slurry contractor Kurstjens' search for a high-capacity and light-footed machine to reduce damage to land during the winter ended up with the US-built Ag-Gator.

At the time, there were a few Ag-Gator 1004s and 2004s running in the UK on sewage contracts. The Dutch contractor is widely acknowledged as being the first to bring a four-wheeled Ag-Gator 2004 to the Netherlands around 1984/1985. Affectionately referred to as the ‘swamp’ machine, other Dutch contractors soon saw the merits of the concept and Kurstjens sold a handful of units each year.

is knowledgeable Dutchman Dorus van Esch, who joined Kurstjens in 1988 with a multitude of roles, including sales, brochures and marketing. He reckons that the big breakthrough for self-propelled slurry machines came in the early 1990s when the Dutch government outlawed the splash plate and imposed strict slurry volumes (maximum nitrogen and phosphate levels) and timings. Subsidies were introduced to develop new application technologies, and Kurstjens, together with researchers at Wageningen University, developed a dedicated tanker-based injector system. Some 10-15 units were installed on Terra-Gators in the first year.