When you receive a Siromer tractor, you will find a not quite flat package consisting of 1200 kg of metal, fiberglass, rubber and hundreds of nuts and bolts. In addition to this, you will also find several strange looking black bumps. If you look closely enough, you’ll also see what looks like an engine plus a flywheel, lurking somewhere.

The question is, how the heck can this seemingly hilly set of parts do the essential work on the farm? Will you ever spread mud or climb that steep hill while I tend my sheep?

When my old John Deere was failing, I just didn’t have the money to buy a new one. I looked at a couple of noisy old Masseys and talked to a few people at the Great Yorkshire show and that’s when they first told me about the Siromer Tractor.

At first I scoffed. I mean, a tractor you build yourself?

Well, the prices seemed too good to be true. In fact, they quoted me about a third of the price of a similar tractor from Europe or America. So, my arm twisted by my wife, who was somewhat concerned that I would succumb to a terrible misfortune on my old Deere, I placed an order with some skepticism and, before me now, was the Siromer Tractor … or at least the component stack were!

I looked at the pile and placed them on the grass. I pulled out the battery box, roll bars, fender, weight bars, wheels, electrical system, fuel tank, hoses, air filter, and what seemed like a myriad of other “bits.” It was actually easier than I thought to identify the pieces and pretty soon I had a fairly organized matrix on my lawn.

Next, I sat down with a cup of tea and read the instruction manuals. Now if you thought an Ikea backpack was bad, you haven’t seen anything! With this, I got a parts list that was 105 pages long, a 25 page maintenance manual, and a 70 page instruction manual. They obviously weren’t taking chances here! It was a lot like having a giant Meccano game.

First of all, I attached the wheels to the chassis. Work done!

For the next 2 and a half days, I methodically worked through the manual and little by little the tractor was assembled. Apparently a mechanic can assemble a Siromer tractor in about a day. The record is supposedly 2 hours. For others, the process may take longer, but Siromer is proud to proclaim that they haven’t had anyone yet who couldn’t put one together.

My final job was to proudly hold the spotless-looking seat. Then I nervously filled it up with diesel and water. I don’t know what I expected when I turned it on, but I didn’t expect to be circling my farm in a few minutes, amazing!

Siromer tractors have proven to be extremely popular with thousands in use every day in the UK. Besides farmers and smallholders, there are some rather unusual uses. A squeegee in Liverpool makes his round in one. Glider clubs have them, as do helicopter companies and schools. There is even an agricultural university that has bought them for the sole purpose of having students practice building them.