UV-C Treatment: Viticulture game changer
A system that combines UV-C light for disinfection could provide chemical free treatment of plant pathogens and diseases such as powdery mildew and botrytis on berry, vine and tree crops.
Well-known for its heavy-duty silage wagons, Palmerston North’s McIntosh Farm Machinery looks to have raised the bar even further with the release of its Titan Max Series.
One of the strongest and most durable wagons available in New Zealand and beyond, the “Titan Max” is designed to meet the needs of larger farms and herd sizes, who will typically feed multiple loads each day.
At the heart of the machine, McIntosh has addressed one of the major problems of conventional feeder wagons – the stretching of floor chains that, if left unadjusted, sees chains jumping off and damaging chains, slats and sprockets.
While the majority of manufacturers, including McIntosh, have 10mm or 13mm floor chains, McIntosh now have the option of 16mm/ 32 tonne breaking-strain chains, with three or four chains per wagon, depending on capacity. They also address the traditional method of chain tensioning via threaded rods and locking nuts, by fitting a novel tensioning system that can be described as “idiot proof”.
Used in heavy earth mowers to keep tracks correctly tensioned, McIntosh’s solution is to use grease pressurised idler roller assemblies to keep the floor chains at the correct tension, checked visually with a pressure gauge mounted on the outside of the wagon.
Available in four sizes, designated as the 1400, 1500, 1700 and 1900 models, each has a nominal capacity of 20, 21.5, 25 and 27 cubic meters capacity, respectively. Carried on walking beam tandem axle assemblies, the wagons are set up for ease of maintenance with centralised greasing locations on the outside of the wagon for the walking beams, floor and elevator drive shafts and the rear idler sprockets, meaning there is no need for operators to venture under the wagon.
Featuring a 1200mm wide cross conveyor, a 5mm thick Corten steel floor and stronger, heavily profiled sides increase durability, which is further extended by additional lower sidewall wear plates and a galvanised cross conveyor frame. Supplied as standard with LED lighting, rear orange beacon, grease gun holder, tapered mudguards and a swivel drawbar tongue, options include load cells, additional floor chains for the smaller models, extra heavy-duty axles and oversize tyre equipment.
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