Twenty-nine year old Tim Pannell of ‘Abardare’ south of Naracoorte in South Australia recently invested in a Massey Ferguson 9790 combine to build on his farming operations and contract harvesting business.
Tim, along with his brother Michael and father Joe, run a cropping and livestock operation consisting of 1450 merino ewes and 1100 hectares of crop; of which 650 hectares is share farmed in the local district. The Pannell family farm wheat, barley, oats, canola, peas, beans, lupins, lucerne and white clover seed. The lucerne and white clover is grown under a centre pivot transferred between two pivot paddocks.
When deciding to upgrade from their previous combine, Tim looked straight at Massey combines for their simple setup and large cleaning area of 4.36m² (2,205in²).
“It’s the simple combine layout that made the Massey combine look attractive,” said Tim. “There are limited things to adjust or tighten up, so it’s simpler to maintain than my previous combine.”
Tim purchased the combine for the 2008 harvest and was amazed at the high capacity of material flow and how well the combine self cleaned. “Best throughput I’ve ever dealt with,” said Tim. “The rotor handles the green material in tough conditions and the amount of material you can put through the rotor is amazing – especially in canola. Plus there are no hot spots where material builds up risking a fire.”
Part of the 9790’s ability to reach such high capacity is the hydrostatic controlled rotor drive. The rotor drive design eliminates the need for a complicated variable speed belt and right angled drive system. The rotor speed is electronically controlled so that the rotor will maintain a constant speed though all crop conditions reducing slugging on the rotor, and maintaining a constant crop flow for maximum threshing capabilities.
“The rotor holds on longer when pushing the combine hard and recovers a lot quicker compared to my previous machine when ever I hit a tough spot,” said Tim.
In addition to the speed controller Tim has also found the ability to reverse the rotor from the cab is a big time saver. “The unplug system is a savior, I just flick a switch and we’re moving again,” said Tim.
With Precision Farming starting to play a major role in Tim’s harvesting business, accurate technology is critical to Tim’s business future. From high to low yielding cereal and small seed crops, Tim depends on getting consistent and accurate readings from his record keeping, yield mapping and variable rate applications. His GTA Suite PC software doesn’t let him down, helping him to reduce yield variation and sustain productivity.
“It’s the first yield monitor that I’ve dealt with, that records small seeds accurately,” said Tim. “We’re getting accuracy as low as 200 to 300 kg per hectare. I haven’t seen a system read in such light yield conditions before.”
The new C2000 ISOBUS terminal also delivers quality machine control to Tim’s operation. “Functions are a lot easier to read, and it’s easier to move around while harvesting than it ever was with my previous machinery,” said Tim. “That’s critical when I’m harvesting white clover half an inch off the ground.”
Tim purchased an AGCO 36 foot draper front to harvest both the cereal and small seed crops. Tim is running the knife half an inch above the ground. “I made a slight modification to angle the knife closer to the ground, it works really well,” said Tim. “As it is so close to the ground the odd stone gets fed into the combine, thankfully the stone trap is excellent so I don’t have any problems.”
With the MF9790 exceeding Tim’s high expectations he is currently preparing to extend his contracting business as he goes into the 2009 harvest.
