Unimog filling time and cost gaps in transport at a premium British cheese dairy.

Nothing cheesy about this story: The produce of the British dairy farm run by the Huntbach family is in great demand in their home county of Cheshire and beyond. So much so that their old tractor struggled to keep up with the high demand. Now the Huntbach family has replaced it with a faster workhorse with a name that epitomises performance: a Unimog U 430. 

A company with a heritage.

The Huntbachs have been running the Hayfields Dairy farm in Audlem, Cheshire, since 1949. For a long time, milk was the staple of this British company. But since the last dairy cow left the estate in 2018, the Huntbachs have been focusing on their passion: cheese and butter.

Their award-winning products enjoy great popularity with customers at pubs, restaurants and shops in the region. Since the coronavirus pandemic, customers have also been able to order from Hayfields Dairy using an online shop. High numbers of requests arrive together – and they all need to be fulfilled.

Unimog saving hours.

The high-quality milk that Hayfields Dairy uses as its raw material comes from specially picked farms in Cheshire, Shropshire and Staffordshire. In the hope of maximising their workflow, the Huntbachs had purchased a “fast” agricultural tractor. But its speed was not nearly sufficient to meet the company’s intensive demands.  

A Unimog U 430 has recently taken over the job. Its performance speaks for itself: in one day, it can cover up to 400 km – while using its hydraulic system to drive the pumps on the 16,000 litre milk tank trailer that it tows. The powerful new machine with all-wheel drive is not by any means inferior to its predecessor for working on rough ground, according to the proprietor Rob Huntbach, who is a grandson of the founders. Quite the contrary.

This highly dependable and powerful machine is far quicker on the road and much more efficient in collecting milk from suppliers, Rob Huntbach adds. "The Unimog has cut driving times by up to three hours and can even save us over 75 litres of fuel on some workdays. In financial terms, it's a no brainer!"

Inspirational vehicle, first-class service.

The Huntbachs bought the Unimog U 430 from Unimog dealer Lloyd Ltd. The implement carrier is powered by a 7.7-litre six-cylinder engine generating 220 kW (299 hp). It features a fully synchronised electropneumatic transmission (EPS), allowing drivers to switch between manual and automatic mode at the touch of a button – even while driving.

The Huntbach family decided that a short version of the 12.7 t implement carrier would suit their requirements. The Unimog U 430 has a factory-fitted tipper body, while the front-mounted attachment device and DIN plate as well as an engine PTO (power take-off) allow operation with various attachments.

The Unimog sales specialist Simon Holmes at Lloyd Ltd arranged a two-year extension of the Unimog’s standard three-year warranty. The vehicle is serviced at the customer’s premises by one of the dealer’s mobile engineers. "I am extremely impressed with the Unimog. The service has consistently been first-class," the proprietor Rob Huntbach enthuses.