WORKING six hours without a re-fill almost completes the story before it starts.
That’s the productivity of a Duncan Renovator AS5000 air seeder, according to owners Graham Armstrong and his son Brodie, Tutunup (south Capel).
The Armstrongs were the first WA farmers to buy this model – from Bunbury Machinery – and as they near the end of their seeding program, the third with this model, comments could be summarised as, “it works well and it’s reliable”.
This year, the Armstrongs set a 890 hectare program, sowing ryegrass for grazing, silage and hay and an additional 70ha for oaten hay.
The AS5300 was equipped with leading wavy coulters, which Graham said were set “as deep as I could get them, 30-60 millimetres with the tine points set at 15mm”.
“I would say they are essential for this machine because they cut the trash and leave a groove for the roots to go down and it also provides a pathway for moisture.
“From a seeding depth point of view, it’s basically set and forget so there’s no worries about seed getting buried too deep.
“We get about 30 hectares done in about six hours without re-filling which is why we went for it because it holds 900 kilograms of seed.
“It’s compact and road legal.”
The AS5300 is equipped with 36 tines and twin bins, each with 1000 litre capacity.
In the Armstrongs’ case, both bins are used for seed only with the preference to spread fertiliser with a Marshall Multispread.
The main frame is built from 75x75x8mm rectangular hollow sections while hinging and supporting steel is 20mm plate steel.
It has an advanced electronic metering system and can be customised to suit the demands of the customer in different ways, including bin size and configuration, tine spacing, rollers or harrows, to make it one of the most adaptable models of its type on the market.
According to New Zealand-based Duncan Ag, with a five metre (16.5 foot) working width, the AS5300 improves productivity compared with drop-box predecessors.
But it retains a narrow transport width, 3.1m (10ft), to negotiate narrow gateways.
The fan and air distributors are sourced from an Australian manufacturer while the 2.5 centimetre (1 inch) coil tines are sourced from South Australia.
The metering units come from Europe and hydraulics from New Zealand.
Duncan’s T-boot with tungsten leading edge is standard.
The AS5300 was an easy choice for the Armstrongs, after a long “partnership” with a Duncan MK3 gravity-feed drill, which also provided high performance and reliability.
It’s still in the shed for that season when two units are needed at once.
More information: Darren Pulford, Bunbury Machinery 9792 3923.
