BRUCE Rock-based company Tecfarm has released a controlled traffic (CT) chaff cart in response to farmer demand.
Tecfarm principal Tom Lewis said the cart was on three metre (10 foot) wheel centres and with its slimmed down profile, it is great for road transport.
“It’s a much simpler design than the Smartcart so we can price it lower,” Mr Lewis said.
“Being more compact, the CT is lighter, so it’s well suited for smaller as well as large headers.
“It is available in two models with respective capacities of 30 cubic metres and 40m3.”
The new CTs are standard with Tecfarm’s exclusive touch-screen controller for manual or auto control of the rear door of the cart and enable an operator to program the height of dumps.
“That’s very important at spraying time and to lessen VM in wool,” Mr Lewis said.
A noticeable design change for 2018 is the frameless front conveyor which eliminates tyres causing damage on tight turns.
According to Mr Lewis, Tecfarm has become the market leader for chaff carts since the first model was unveiled in 2009.
Now manufactured by Primary Sales, Midvale, Tecfarm Smartcarts have also attracted a steady demand from the Eastern States.
“Most of our customers have mixed farm enterprises and that remains a strong market,” he said.
“In crop-only areas, we’ve found the chaff cart is competing against a range of weed collection or destruction systems.”
Mr Lewis said the Tecfarm Smartcarts had found a niche, particularly with farmers who need a high capacity residue collection unit to complement the larger combine harvesters.
The aim in designing Tecfarm Smartcarts hasn’t changed and the CT carts are offered to complement the range of options.
“We wanted very high capacity with minimal blockage issues, low power requirement to operate, simple to attach and detach from a harvester and to be cost-effective to own and operate,” he said.
“All those things are incorporated in the CT model.”
Carts are fitted with a draper-type conveyor belt feed and connected to the header via a single point attachment to a hitch mounted through to the header’s front axle.
Large low pressure radial tyres are standard.
The conveyor is positioned behind the header to ‘catch’ the exiting material, providing a good percentage of straw in the mix, to enhance burning if the heaps are not used for stock feed.
p More information: contact Tom Lewis on 9061 1808 or at tom@tecfarm.com.au, or Matt Barrett-Lennard on 0447 180 958 or at matt@techfarm.com.au