WITH 5400 hectares (13,500ac) of harvesting to be done over the next few weeks, Beaumont farmer George Hulm will get a good evaluation of his new Case IH 8120 combine harvester.
But with little over 30 rotor hours achieved so far he already has a good idea.
"We traded our (Case IH) 8010 header on this one after last year's harvest and basically we knew it was a good machine," he said. "We wanted to upgrade to get a bit more power."
Taking off a crop of Buloke barley yielding 2.5t/ha, George wasn't disappointed with the header's performance, though no doubt he would have liked to have put it through its paces in a higher-yielding crop.
"There are a few handy upgrades that make it user-friendly such as the longer out-loading auger," he said. "It's a little longer which just keeps the chaser tractor away from the header a bit more.
"And the design has been improved to almost eliminate catching areas for straw which can be a bit of a problem especially when you're harvesting barley on windy days and the chaff tends to build up anywhere it can settle.
"The extra horsepower means that we're not over-working the engine and it is always a good feeling to know you've got a little bit more extra grunt when you need it without pushing the engine too hard."
George is happy with the Case IH 12.2m (40ft) draper front which encourages a uniform feed to almost eliminate blocking problems in the feeder house.
"You get a nice smooth thresh which shows up with a good sample," he said.
On his own farm, with his father Geoff operating the truck, George is content to keep up to his father but when he starts contracting work in the district, the work pace undoubtedly will lift.
"There's no doubt we can push more productivity," he said. "I'm easily getting 42 tonnes an hour but I have averaged 50t/hr in some crops on the coast in a good year with the 8010 so this new machine should be capable of doing the same."
All Case IH axial-flow 20 Series combines feature power rise for whenever crop conditions demand it while grain tanks on the 7120, 8120 and 9120 models are equipped with quick-folding bubble-up auger and grain tank extensions.
A 7.3m (24ft) unloading auger is standard on all three models and is capable of unloading at 113 litres a second.
The 20 series also is the only combine on the market to use shaft drives for the rotor, feeder house and cutting platform.
No belts, a reversing rotor and the ability to clear blockages from within the cab take further hassles out of harvest.
A standard, hydraulically-driven cleaning fan is forward speed synchronised to maintain effectiveness and an end-of-row function can reduce the fan speed when raising the front, thereby reducing lost grains during turning when the combine runs empty.
All models in the 20 Series are powered by Case IH engines, matched to suit power demands - 8.9L for the 7120, 10.3L for the 8120 and 12.9L for the 9120.
