A SPECIALLY-designed cotton “stripper” aimed at the dryland cotton industry has done the rounds in the Namoi Valley this season.
The CS690 has been tried and tested by a few growers around Bellata, picking 2500 hectares.
John Deere Limited tactical segment manager Royce Bell said the machine was more efficient in dryland crops due to its ability to change row configurations to suit growers’ needs.
The stripper can be configured for skip row or six row picking to suit both dryland and irrigated planting configurations.
“Once you get moderate to high yields the stripper may be limited in ground speed to get the high amounts of cotton harvested,” Mr Bell said.
“The stripper doesn’t have spindles, but uses brushes and bats, pulling everything off the plant – all trash, leaf and cotton – before being passed through the cleaner on the back of the machine on its way to being baled.
“It has saws like in a gin stand and the cleaner takes some of the trash out of the cotton before it gets made into a module.”
While it was released globally in April, Australian growers won’t have a chance to purchase the machine for another growing season.
The machine has brought all the round-module technology to a stripper, with the same improvements in labour.
Mr Bell said while John Deere wasn’t expecting a huge rush for the machine, plenty of growers have shown strong interest.
Bellata cotton grower Bruce Kirkby said it wasn’t a question of if, but when, he’ll purchase a CS690.
While the machine won’t be available for use until the 2015-16 cotton season, he’s keen to snap one up after trialling it at his property, “Koiwon”.
Mr Kirkby, who’s been growing cotton since 1992, used the stripper for his 1250ha of dryland cotton and said it was a complete change labour-wise, cutting labour from 10 men for four basket machines to just one driver and two off-siders.
“The stripper’s much more efficient – it’s as good as three or four basket machines,” he said.
“I pay more than $4500 in wages each day of the cotton season. If I run that machine for a month I’ve saved nearly $140,000 in wages,” Mr Kirkby said.
“It’s not necessarily hard to get people to work – it’s entertaining them when it rains. If it’s wet they may not work for a week.”
He said the machine could strip about 100ha of cotton a day and was more fuel-efficient than running four basket machines.
“That’s a massive area to cover with one machine in a day,” Mr Kirkby said.
“If you have four (basket) machines and your best operator’s doing 25ha a day, you’re not going to get 100ha stripped.”
