Over the whole of its 40 years and three owners, Steven Pennington says that his DOMINATOR 96 has never been further than 12 miles from Morris Corfield's Craven Arms depot, where is was sold new in 1984.

The DOMINATOR is fairly unique in that it is one of the few combines still in existence to be fitted with a MANNS hillside rear axle lift kit. “When we bought the DOMINATOR it was a conventional combine. Some of our fields are fairly steep and after we had had it for a couple of years, we came across the lift kit which had been in the nettles round the back of MORRIS CORFIELD’s yard for years, which we ended up buying off them for £200,” recalls Steven.

“We had no idea whether it still worked, but fitted it with new hoses and with some advice from MORRIS CORFIELD my son James did the conversion. Other than working out how to plumb in the hydraulics, it was quite a straightforward job and it has worked a treat since then. The rams still have their original chrome and seals and the kit has more than paid for itself. It’s saved us a lot of grain over the years.”

Each summer sees the DOMINATOR harvesting the 32ha of winter barley that the Penningtons grow as feed and bedding for their 300 head of cattle and 900 ewes at Cardington near Church Stretton.

“Our first CLAAS combine was a MERCURY, which is the only new combine we have ever bought and in due course that was replaced by a MATADOR, which we had for many years. That was followed by a DOMINATOR 85, which was the first combine to have a cab, which transformed the job, but we only had that for a couple of years before the 96 came up. It was local, I knew its history and only paid around £14,000 for it.

“For its age, the DOMINATOR was a very well designed combine and I love driving it. When we bought it, the DOMINATOR had a 12ft cutterbar, but it had had a hard life so after a few years we found a 15ft cutterbar in the north of England to replace it. It was only when we needed to get a new knife bar for it, that we discovered that the 15ft bar we had bought was too short and that the cutterbar was actually 17ft! Considering its working on a slope, the DOMINATOR copes very well with the amount of crop going through it, and having the rear lift kit is quite useful at the headland in a thick crop in order to lift the rear of the combine so that the hood can clear the swath.”

Other that retrofitting a grain monitor and adding a rear camera, the Penningtons have not had to touch the DOMINATOR, and other than general wear and tear and a new set of front tyres it has been faultless. The only major job they have had to do is to overhaul the brakes a few times which, says Steven, is quite a big job for them but important to do for working on steep ground.

“It’s been a very economical combine to run but the most important thing for us is the support that we get from MORRIS CORFIELD. The teams at both Broseley and Craven Arms are fantastic and it speaks volumes that they are still able to get parts overnight if necessary. James is a trained engineer, so does all the maintenance, but Mark Price at Craven Arms and Mark Rowson and Norman Duppa at Broseley are always there to help and provide assistance and the benefit of their extensive knowledge. I can’t speak highly enough of them,” concludes Steven