Haith is honoring its mobile grader’s diamond anniversary. Since its introduction in December 1963, the machinery has grown to be one of the company’s best-selling items; over 300 have been made over the previous 60 years.

“The technology found in today’s graders is significantly more advanced than that utilized in the 1960s. However, the focus on customization and meeting the customers’ bespoke needs remains to this day. Today’s grader features a heavy-duty hopper, auto crop flow control, a choice of cleaning systems, touchscreen HMI control, and shaft-mounted drives. Haith also provides a range of optional features, including soil extractors, optical sorter integration, and stainless or mild steel construction,” according to a recent press release.

BH Savidge & Son purchased the most recent mobile grader to leave Haith’s South Yorkshire factory. The company chose to purchase Haith’s flagship model, the PRO SF 2400s.

The PRO SF 2400 has all the standard features along with a galvanized gantry with anti-slip treatment for operator safety and gentle crop handling. It can handle over 100 tonnes per hour in a yard or a field. Haith’s special road kit and rear steering axle ensure that, even at 14 meters in length, the machine handles like a typical farm trailer.

Ben Savidge is delighted with the grader’s performance so far.

“We worked with Rob Highfield in early 2023 to design the grader, having seen a similar one in Norfolk. We had previously had a high-capacity grader made by another firm, which we could not move and required very high power to run. We’ve known for a few years that we needed a mobile grader. This year, we needed to grade 2,000 tonnes more than last year and knew we would be working at our main base and another farm. As we wanted to invest in one machine to work at both sites and future-proof ourselves, the Haith mobile grader made perfect sense. By working with Haith, we have been able to build something exactly to our requirements. We are also confident in the quality of Haith’s work as we operate their bagging trailers. Everything is over-engineered, and we hope that this machine will last us for years to come; so far, it is doing the job of two machines on many other farms,” Savidge mentioned.

Haith’s mobile machines have always been popular with growers and packers looking for both performance and flexibility, but the company has been exceptionally pleased with sales and inquiries in the last four years.

“I think there’s been a resurgence in interest in mobile machinery, whether that be grading or sorting. Mechanization and automation are increasingly important to growers and packers of all sizes, and the ability to move their machinery around is very popular now. We have a very healthy order book at the moment. Hopefully, when we come to celebrate the mobile grader’s Blue Sapphire anniversary in five years, we will be marking the 350th mobile grader leaving the factory,” Duane Hill, Haith’s managing director, concluded.