Smart Machines: Oxin gains traction in the US
Marlborough-based agritech company Smart Machines has reached a significant milestone in its mission to revolutionise vineyard management.
Adding to its extensive range of harvesting attachments for its Big X self-propelled harvesters, Krone has introduced a new whole-crop header, said to offer outputs of around 20% more than the existing XDisc 620 unit.
The new XDisc 710, with a cutting width of 7.1 metres, has been developed to utilise the full potential of a powerful forager more efficiently, using cutter-bar technology based on the EasyCut mower technology already employed in the XDisc 620.
In operation, the speed of the 900mm diameter integral feed auger can be optimally adjusted to the intake speed of the forage harvester in three stages, depending on the required cutting length of the crop.
A clever option, available solely for the Big X Series, is the integrated header transport chassis that eliminates the need for a separate transport trailer, so significantly reducing changeover times between paddock or site moves.
The transport chassis is equipped with a single axle on the right-hand side of the header, with the drawbar, with its folding support jack located on the opposite side. In operation, when the hydraulic system has been coupled and the header raised, the driver swivels the drawbar and the axle of the running gear directly from the cab.
In the paddock, both transport kit components hydraulically swivel behind the header, with the process is reversed for transport, before the header trailer is attached to the forage harvester’s tow coupling.
Other XDisc 710 options include vertical side knives, which are also offered on the XDisc 620, raised and lowered individually from the cab, to provide blockage-free cutting when working in tangled or heavily lodged crops.
Later this month, Ardgour Valley Orchards apricots will burst onto the world stage and domestic supermarket shelves under the Temptation Valley brand.
Animal rights protest group PETA is calling for Agriculture Minister Todd McClay to introduce legislation which would make it mandatory to have live-streaming web cameras in all New Zealand shearing shed.
ACT MP and farmer Mark Cameron is calling on Parliament to thank farmers by reinstating provisions within the Resource Management Act that prevent regional councils from factoring climate change into their planning.
Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) has declared restricted fire seasons for the Waikato, Northland and Canterbury.
The first Global Dairy Trade (GDT) auction drew mixed results, with drop in powder prices and lift in butter and cheeses.
ACT Party conservation spokesperson Cameron Luxton is calling for legislation that would ensure hunters and fishers have representation on the Conservation Authority.
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