100 years of Farmall Tractors
Returning after an enforced break, the Wheat and Wheels Rally will take place on the Lauriston -Barhill Road, North-East of Ashburton on 6-7th April.
Anyone familiar with precision grass harvesting will remember the domination of the drum-type trailed harvesters of the 1980s and ‘90s.
This was overtaken by the popularity of flywheel type machines, which delivered more output, less fuel consumption and a better chance of surviving foreign object ingestion.
Those flywheel-based machines evolved from rear-linkage mounted, reverse drive machines that were the norm when forage maize became popular in northern Europe. This was at a time when self-propelled units were only just starting to appear.
German harvesting specialist Krone is now looking to turn the clock back and creating a sense of déjà vu with its latest development project – a prototype reverse-drive forage harvester that has been undergoing testing in maize.
Designed to be mounted on prime mowers like the Claas Xerion 5000 or the Fendt 1050, the prototype weighs over six tonnes and can be equipped with Krone’s six to 10 row maize, conventional grass pick-up or direct-cut, whole-crop headers.
It features a chopping cylinder from the Big-X harvester range, and hydraulically-driven header and feed rollers.
The prototype is said to be a match for Krone’s Big-X 480 cousin in terms of output and chop quality, with reduced fuel consumption and a significantly lower capital cost.
Analysis by Dunedin-based Techion New Zealand shows the cost of undetected drench resistance in sheep has exploded to an estimated $98 million a year.
Shipping disruption caused by Houthi rebels in the Red Sea has so far not impacted fertiliser prices or supply on farm.
The opportunity to spend more time on farm while providing a dedicated service for shareholders attracted new environmental manager Ben Howden to work for Waimakariri Irrigation Limited (WIL).
Federated Farmers claims that the Otago Regional Council is charging ahead unnecessarily with piling more regulation on rural communities.
Dairy sheep and goat farmers are being told to reduce milk supply as processors face a slump in global demand for their products.
OPINION: We have good friends from way back who had lived in one of our major cities for many years.