THE MASSIVE 2016-17 harvest has been welcomed by croppers across the country, but has created its own set of problems.
One of the major talking points at last week’s Wimmera Machinery Field Days at Longerenong, near Horsham, was the challenges presented by the heavy stubbles.
While some farmers have access to disc seeders, which will slice through the stubbles and place the seed accurately providing there is no early break, those with tined machines are nervous they may not have the capacity to plant through five tonne to the hectare plus stubbles.
With this in mind, it is little wonder that Chris Taylor, Belle-Vue Trading, Warracknabeal, said there had been good interest in the Speedtiller, manufactured by Cowra, NSW based business K-Line Agriculture.
The dual-purpose disc tilling machine is used for a variety of purposes, but Mr Taylor said it was especially good for cutting and incorporating stubble into the soil profile.
“The stubble can be cut and incorporated at depth, even with heavy stubble loads,” he said.
“The break-down rates of the stubble incorporated are very good and farmers have said the stubble will be an important source of soil carbon.”
The Speedtiller can effectively incorporate stubble to a depth of 12.7cm, according to K-Line.
This ability to mix in the stubble with the soil also means K-Line claims traditional problems with discing ground, such as soil and water erosion are drastically reduced with the Speedtiller.
Mr Taylor said the machine can be used for all aspects of seed bed preparation, saying it achieved good results as a leveler.
“It is a good one-pass tool for seedbed preparation,” he said.
K-Line said the machine’s strengths included its adjustable discs, which allow farmers to minimise the ridging effect so common after cultivation and its heavy duty jump arms, designed for penetration, superior trash flow and long life.