Together with his wife, vet Harald Skagemo lives and works on a farm in Meldal, an hour south-west of Trondheim. “As long as I can remember, I always dreamt of being a vet and working with big animals,” he says. He uses a Fendt 313 Vario and a Fendt 516 Vario to manage his mixed farm of grassland (35 ha of which he owns and 50 ha he leases) and 400 ha of forest. They also keep 60 dairy cows, 100 cattle and 15 sheep. “The sheep are just for fun,” laughs Skagemo. His wife, Sigrid Johane Muan Skagemo, grew up on the farm, which the couple took over 16 years ago. His wife has been running the business full-time ever since, but Harald Skagemo also puts his every spare minute into the farm.

Since the vet/farmer works an average of eight hours every day, reliability and working comfort are crucial to him. “I'm not getting any younger and working both on the farm and at the practice is hard, but I love what I do. That's why I decided to use a Fendt. I was so pleased with it that I bought a new ProfiPlus Fendt 516 Vario model this October,” explains the Norwegian. He uses the new Fendt 516 Vario on his farm, as well as to maintain roads and paths with a specially-made attachment.

In the winter and although they have the two Fendt tractors, the Skagemos need help to carry out winter service work. Their farm is located up a 4.5 km long mountain track with 90 wooden houses. In the winter, up to 1.5 m of snow can fall here. So, they enlist the help of a neighbour and his Fendt 724 Vario, plus a large snow blower to clear the road to their farm. “It's extremely hard work. That's why our neighbour works with the 700-model, because it has the right amount of power needed. Back in the summer, he programmed in our road by GPS and can now clear the snow away down the last centimetre, despite thick snow cover,” says Skagemo, explaining how the VarioGuide works. When this work is done, the Skagemos can do the winter service with their own machines until the snow cover becomes too thick again. The Fendt 724 Vario usually comes out twice a year. The last time was the end of April, because, in Norway, snowmobiles are no longer allowed from 30 April, and the roads should be clear again by then.