Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 393 i Farms and Farm Machinery

The new R-Series represents the next stage in the evolution of the compact equipment industry. Bobcat has launched its R-Series skid-steer and compact track loaders as part of a new premium range of loaders for the company. Australian Bobcat distributor Clark Equipment is starting to land inventory of the T66 and T76 compact track loaders and marketing manager Matthew Hammond says it’s an exciting change. “We think it is taking Bobcat’s dominance in the loader industry to the next level, and it is going to be a big jump up – it is something the market hasn’t really seen,” he says. “Essentially it is a generational jump up from the M Series to the R Series – it is bringing in a lot of new technology and new features as…

Machine Sync, the technology that allows a harvester to control the speed and guidance of the chaser bin working beside it, has been updated to provide new features, broadened compatibility and new products. With the latest update, Machine Sync will become available to horticulture and forage producers as it is rolled out across self-propelled forage harvesters and tractor to tractor applications specific to the industry. John Deere production system manager Ben Kelly says Machine Sync can automate the unloading process improving safety and productivity, representing a huge step towards improving multi-machine automation and operational logistics. “The expansion of Machine Sync on more equipment now makes it accessible to producers across a far greater range of commodities – from grains to horticulture and forage,” Kelly says. “It brings powerful efficiency gains…

Originally from Inverell in NSW, Chandler has a 25-year background in agriculture, most recently as chief economist for John Deere at its Illinois headquarters in the United States. Chandler says he is excited to have the opportunity to apply his global knowledge and John Deere’s leading-edge research and development capability to benefit Australian and New Zealand industries. “My work looking at global agriculture trends for many years has reinforced how competitive our farmers have to be in export markets without the government support many of our competitors receive,” he says. “That competitiveness comes from Australian and New Zealand farmers being world leaders in innovation for as long as they’ve been farming. “John Deere has also had to keep changing to stay in business for more than 180 years, so we…

The financial wellbeing of farmers and farm managers improved 4.3 per cent, compared to the national average, which declined 6.4 per cent in the five months to August 2020, according to the ANZ Roy Morgan Financial Wellbeing Indicator. The report also found that regional Australians experienced a much smaller decline (0.7 per cent) in their ability to meet financial commitments, compared to a decline of 8.6 per cent experienced by those living in capital cities. ANZ’s head of agri insights Michael Whitehead says there are numerous reasons for the improvements to farmers’ financial wellbeing this year, many of which are unrelated to COVID-19. “Now that the drought has broken, farmers are not only enjoying more reliable crops, they have more grass for cattle and sheep, which means feed costs are…

Farmers… need farm mechanics and workers that can safely use farm chemicals and the latest ag tech. Most older farmers would be aware of the important role that Australia’s farm-based post-secondary agricultural colleges have historically played in educating those who want to work on the land, but few would be aware that most of the original colleges have long since disappeared. Outside of the privately-run Marcus Oldham in Geelong, almost all of the other colleges across Australia have either closed their doors, been absorbed into the state government vocational training system or been picked up by one of the universities. At their peak, from the end of the Second World War to the 1980s, they offered generations of farmers access to diploma- or degree-level education in an applied farming environment,…

MILK MONITOR This new sensor keeps an eye on the correct calf milk mix. Rearing calves on any farm is time consuming, but moreso on a dairy farm where automatic calf feeders have proved invaluable and ensure animal-friendly and needs-based calf feeding. Powdered milk, and also whole milk to a lesser extent, is usually used in the automatic feeders and a combination of both is possible. Fluctuating dry substance contents in new powdered milk batches necessitate constant checking and adjustment of the automatic feeders’ basic settings to achieve a consistent powdered milk concentration in the feeder milk and optimum feed qualities. In practice, this important activity is occasionally forgone due to time constraints, as the milk replacer concentration has to be adjusted manually on the automatic feeder after calibration. However,…

Exhibitors will be amazed to see the transformation of Sydney Dragway. Australia’s infrastructure projects are pushing ahead at a great pace; the latest news on the economy is good and reports are all positive across the earthmoving industry. Australia’s borders have reopened and life is starting to return to normal. Expo management has been busy working with the team at the Sydney Dragway to ensure the 2021 National Diesel Dirt & Turf Expo will be the best yet. With the upgrade of the Sydney Dragway, it is rapidly becoming the action epicentre of Sydney, as evidenced by the relocation by both the Speedway and the popular Summernats to this premier site. Exhibitors will be amazed to see the transformation of Sydney Dragway, which includes expansive new areas of hard stand,…

At the Farmsafe Virtual Conference, hosted in November by the Public Health Association of Australia, Derek Schoen, director of mental health charity Beyond Blue, discussed the metal health challenges faced by regional and remote communities. He pointed out that seeking help for mental illness can be difficult, especially for those who live in rural communities, with one of the biggest barriers being distance, with just 3.5 per cent of psychologists, psychiatrists and other mental health professionals servicing outer regional, remote, or very remote areas nationwide. This means that those services that are available are often at capacity or people have to travel a long way to get to them. “We know people in remote and rural areas face unique mental health challenges. Isolation and financial pressures are an ongoing concern,”…

Recognising the use of drugs as a health and social issue and addressing these issues could be significant in solving the problem of drug use in society. This is one of the important messages that came out of the New South Wales ‘Ice’ Inquiry led by Professor Dan Howard SC. Presenting the inquiry’s findings at the 2020 Farmsafe Virtual Conference in November, Howard, who also served on the NSW Mental Health Tribunal, mentioned some of the key recommendations submitted to the NSW government as part of the inquiry. It has been estimated that “in excess of three per cent of people in Australia have some association with amphetamine as a cause of death and it is way ahead compared to other countries”, says Howard. The data shows that people living…

The latest Claas Arion 620 CIS is powered by a six-cylinder 6.8-litre PowerTech engine, putting out a maximum 158 horsepower (118kW). This engine is well proven in other machines for its reliability and for being virtually bulletproof. Claas has developed the software that controls the engine, and uses a variable geometry turbo to give more torque across a wider engine speed range to improve productivity and save fuel. Emissions meet the Tier 4 interim standard, so this model has no AdBlue requirement. With exhaust gas recirculation and a diesel particulate filter, burn cycles to clean this filter are automatic and barely noticeable, other than a light on the dash and slightly high rpm for a short period of time (although there is a button to delay it if the timing…

The Farmall range of tractors has been a staple of the Case IH brand for 95 years. It’s an icon, and for farmers across the globe the Farmall has been a trusty workhorse, tasked with anything and everything on the farm. But a new generation of Farmall has arrived – the JXM – joining the likes of the Farmall B, JX, C and U, and Farms & Farm Machinery was given an exclusive first look and test drive. You won’t see any fancy gizmos or GPS monitors on the Farmall JXM, but what you do get is a hardy all-round tractor that will complement hobby farmers or smaller-scale farmers looking to include a utility tractor for more general-purpose work. ENGINE The 90hp (67kW) JXM was a blast to drive. Starting…

As in Europe, John Deere dealers in Australia and New Zealand will distribute Kramer machines. The first dealer is Cervus Equipment in Victoria and New Zealand. Kramer-Werke GmbH is a medium-sized manufacturing company in southern Germany that places great value on its own research and development, it says. The Kramer brand represents all wheel steer loaders, telescopic wheel loaders and telehandlers with high levels of manoeuvrability, stability and efficiency for applications in agriculture, construction, gardening and landscaping, municipalities, plant hire business parks and recycling companies. “Our company is characterised by innovative and customer-oriented product development, whereby the implementation of customer requirements should be at the forefront above anything else, with the aim to provide machines for professional application”, Kramer-Werke GmbH managing director Christian Stryffeler says. The first five machines in…

For the major winter crops, wheat production is forecast to increase by 106 per cent from last year to 31.2 million tonnes, the second highest on record. New South Wales is on the verge of a record-breaking winter crop, with forecast production of more than 17.6 million tonnes driving near all-time high production prospects for Australia overall. ABARES executive director Steve Hatfield-Dodds says production in key cropping regions in New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia was boosted by favourable conditions during the critical grain development phase. “Crops in these states were generally in very good condition at the end of winter, and the favourable rainfall during September and October was perfectly timed for the growth cycle,” he says. “Production is expected to be a record high in New South…

Commonwealth Bank’s executive general manager regional and agribusiness Grant Cairns says New South Wales has led the growth, with lending up more than 100 per cent in the state, compared to the same time last year. “For many of Australia’s farmers, this year has been a rebound from drought with favourable growing conditions, a successful winter crop in many regions and strong optimism about yields and quality of harvest,” Cairns says. “Over the past few months we’ve seen financing in the sector increase dramatically – largely driven by farmers purchasing agricultural machinery for this year’s crop season. “We’ve seen asset finance for ag machinery, particularly tractors and harvesters, increase significantly. Across the country, new asset financing for tractors is up 119 per cent – the highest volumes with seen in…

Eurobodalla Agricultural Show – Moruya Held at the Moruya Showground in Moruya on the south coast of NSW, the Eurobodalla Agricultural Show will focus on local produce alongside animal shows, showjumping and a vintage and veteran vehicle show. WHEN: January 23-24, 2021 MORE INFO: https://eurobodallashow.org.au Berry Show – Berry The Berry Show is an annual agricultural show held in the picturesque rural town of Berry on the NSW south coast. The show has been promoting excellence in the local community for over 132 years. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, this year’s show will primarily be an agricultural, horticultural and community judging event. WHEN: January 29-30, 2021 MORE INFO: http://berryshow.org.au Wagin Agricultural Show and Woolorama – Wagin Over two days, the community comes together to showcase the diversity of agricultural life in…

The 2020 Valvoline Truck of the Year Award marks the culmination of the third year of the highly-popular Truck of the Month feature in Owner//Driver. The team here at Owner//Driver has chosen the 12 finalists, but the responsibility of selecting the winner is now turned over to you – our valued readers. Among the nominees are some amazing trucks – so we don’t envy the job ahead of you! Read on to find out how to vote, and what you can win for your efforts! HOW IT WORKS To be eligible, trucks must have appeared as a Truck of the Month in Owner//Driver magazine over the past 12 months. The outright winner will be decided by popular vote – with the winner featured in the March 2021 issue of Owner//Driver…

As one of the key players in the loader wagon business, Strautmann produce wagons for bulk silage harvesting, as well as specialised machines for zero grazing (cut and carry) for dairy goat and sheep milking operations. As well as wagons, Strautmann also produce a range of solid muck spreaders, loader attachments and mixer wagons. However, one of the jewels in its crown is the impressive new Giga-Vitesse CFS 3602, which we got to spend the day with near the foothills of Te Aroha. Having done a little research, it’s clear to see that rather than sitting back and accepting that they are ticking along successfully, in Germany – the home of Strautmann – the foot is firmly on the throttle in terms of Research and Development; some of these features…

The upfront statistic is rather galling. Of the 248 child drowning deaths that occurred in Australia between 2009–10 and 2018–19, 10 per cent occurred at lakes and dams. A total of 112 people drowned in dams from July 1, 2008 to June 30, 2018 – of which 20 per cent were children aged under four years old. Typically, 288 unintentional drownings occur annually – of which 55 per cent occur outside major cities and 37 per cent occur in inland waterways – which is the largest proportion of any aquatic location. Speaking at the Farmsafe Virtual Conference in November, Royal Life Saving Society Australia national manager of research and policy Stacey Pidgeon said in many cases these drownings occurred when adults were preoccupied with work, letting the child wander off.…

Farms & Farm Machinery looks back at some of its most popular reviews from the last decade. This month, seven of our best 100-200hp tractor reviews Designed as heavy-duty machines, these tractors are targeted at the larger farmer or contractor for roles such as mowing or twin rotor raking where manoeuvrability rather than the extra weight and cost of a larger six-cylinder machine is required. Aside from fewer cylinders and lower horsepower and weight, the 6130 and 6140 tractors are packed with most of the same features as the larger models of the Deutz-Fahr range. SHADES OF GREEN I tested a Powershift version 6140 Agrotron during a drive day near Lake Taupo, towing Kverneland and McHale hay equipment. This new model is available in two different horsepower ratings, 130 and…

To see the McCormick X7.650 in action, we opted to get some raking done as well as a direct drilling job, in order to have the tractor perform under a range of conditions. This allowed us to get a better feel of the transmission, hydraulic controls and functions. Although we didn’t need to change it, the reversible power take-off (PTO) makes life easier when changing from 540 to 1,000 PTO implements. The four-speed PTO 540/540E/1000/1000E is standard, as you would expect from a tractor of this size. With raking for the baler and a small paddock to sow, there were plenty of opportunities to test out the functionality, power and ease of use of the McCormick. Aside from the paint scheme, the McCormick X7.650 has had a revamp from the…

Similar to the way ISOBUS enables different brands of equipment to communicate in the paddock, DataConnect is designed to connect multiple manufacturer cloud platforms, so data can securely and smoothly be exchanged between them. John Deere precision ag segment manager Ben Kelly says the DataConnect system means farmers will be able to monitor their entire machinery fleet using their preferred platform, without having to switch portals or manually transfer data from one system to another. “DataConnect allows customers who have a mixed fleet, or are in the process of transitioning from one manufacturer to another, to have their data seamlessly connect,” he says. Kelly says one of the greatest barriers to the adoption of digital technologies has been the incompatibility of data between manufacturers, and the landmark partnership with John…

Stag Machinery Group is poised to assume responsibility for the Case IH dealerships in Toowoomba and Dalby, previously operated by Wideland Ag. This new business is the result of a partnership between Craig Brimblecombe of St George Machinery Centre, and Noel Baines, owner of Ag Requirements in Gatton. Stag Machinery Group is now operating from new locations in Toowoomba and Dalby. Both St George Machinery Centre and Ag Requirements will continue operating as usual. “It’s an exciting time and we’re looking forward to getting to know the farmers of these two important Queensland agricultural regions,” Brimblecombe says. “Customers can be confident we’ll not only meet their sales and service expectations, we’ll exceed them with the enthusiasm, knowledge and experience our teams bring to the table.” With horticulture the dominant form…

The Australian developers of a precision irrigation and fertiliser platform have won a $10,000 prize after a two-week global mentoring program for startups. Swan Systems was among 45 companies from 14 countries and from a field of 340 applicants to be invited to take part in the FoodBytes! Virtual Pitch 2020 program. From that field, Swan won one of three $10,000 prizes, the only one dedicated to AgTech, for its platform that helps growers precisely schedule, monitor and report on water and nutrient consumption to improve economic and environmental outcomes. FoodBytes! judges say the technology transforms historic, current and predictive data from multiple sources into actionable insights – adding that they recognised its potential for a significant impact on the key issue of water management. Swan executive chairman Rod Campbell…

Gary Northover is executive director of the Tractor & Machinery Association of Australia (TMA). He can be contacted on (03) 9813 8011 or at gary@tma.asn.au 2020 is now on course to deliver sales well above the 13,000-unit mark. Optimism in the agricultural sector is extremely buoyant at present, with a great harvest underway across the nation supported by the Instant Asset Write-Off Scheme, which has now been extended to June 2022. The monthly picture in all states is tending to fluctuate a little more than usual as dealers try to cope with social distancing, stock supply challenges and the very hectic nature of the market. Activity though was strong in most states, with NSW again the standout, up 84 per cent on the same time last year and now sitting…

Using the CowToilet may even be a source of income as pure urine can be used in the production of fertiliser. A cow toilet developed by Dutch company Hanskamp AgroTech BV has won the only Gold Medal for innovation awarded at 2020’s Eurotier – a significant animal husbandry show held every two years in Germany, organised by the German Agricultural Society DLG. The show did not take place this November due to the COVID-19 restrictions and is set to make a virtual return in February 2021. During the recent virtual show preview, DLG presented the gold medal and seven silver medals to products from a list of 80 entries. Based in Doetinchem, The Netherlands, technical innovator Hanskamp has developed a cow toilet that collects urine in an effort to reduce…

There are new model trucks and trailers that are crying out to be shown off. How did you see in the New Year? Has there ever been one we’ve looked forward to more? Yet, it’s like none we have ever celebrated. Did you make a New Year’s resolution? How about ‘in 2021 I am not going to miss the Brisbane Truck Show’? For all the good intentions about giving up junk food, exercising more, spending more time with your partner/kids/mum/dog, this one is fully within your powers to pull together. We could talk about how good it’s going to be to catch up with colleagues, customers and mates in the flesh, but let’s look at this purely from a professional perspective. This is the biggest business-to-business event that will have…

Speaking at the Farmsafe Virtual Conference held in November, Mick Keogh said that this new standard was developed in an effort to reduce the number of deaths and serious injuries caused by quad bikes. With 149 deaths related to quad bikes between 2011 and 2020, 17 in this year alone, Keogh pointed out that “two thirds involved rollovers”, most of the deaths and serious accidents were on farms, and “a significant number involved children under 16 on adult-sized quad bikes”. “There is quite a terrible amount of damage being done by quad bikes; though we recognise how useful they are as well,” Keogh said. “One of the things that really struck us about quad bike safety is that the profile in age terms of those killed or injured by quad…

With more than 100 hectares of sweet potatoes to tend to, Doug and Ann Nilsson need a lot of horsepower. In keeping with their passion for investing their energy in something they enjoy, they also boast one of the largest Kubota fleets in New Zealand, with an impressive 17 tractors, including the M7-171 models, first released in 2016. To put the machine through some meaty challenges, we hooked it up to some Breviglieri tillage gear, ranging in size from 3.5 metres up to five metres. The five-metre power harrow provided the biggest ask putting it under some pressure, but I was really impressed by the Kubota’s performance. The sweet potato ground we had for testing was harvested back in early spring when things were still wet, so the ground was…

The Rex 4 100 GT from Landini, perhaps Italy’s most famous agricultural brand, has more than the admirable reputation of its parent company to live up to. The new Rex 4 100 GT was nominated for the Best Specialised Tractor award at Italy’s giant EIMA International expo in 2018, and won the Technical Innovation Award for its Advanced Driving System. So it’s certainly an advanced design – but does it lead to La Dolce Vita? ENGINE AND TRANSMISSION Under the bonnet of the Rex 4 100 GT is a Tier 4, 2.9-litre four-cylinder Deutz engine. Despite being a little smaller than the Perkins engines used in the previous Rex tractors, the Rex 4 nonetheless packs a pretty serious punch. It pushes out 95 horsepower (70.8kW) and 400Nm of torque, with…

As technology is rapidly moving forward, it’s not often that a new series of tractors is released and the current model stays as a stablemate. Bucking the trend, the Rex 120 GT has been a great success for large growers and contractors, primarily due to it having the agility of a narrow orchard tractor but the performance from the 110 horsepower (82kW) engine is like strapping a V8 to your lawn mower (which is a genius idea by the way). Needless to say, I was very happy with the performance from the little Rex – but a key question for me was: being a specialised tractor, will it be ridiculously small and leave me with my knees around my head? The answer was very pleasantly no! I didn’t know what…