More a grade than a smudge with new KB

With Eastern States manufacturers on their proverbial knees because of the drought, all eyes have focused on a bountiful WA harvest and potential customers.

And while KB Engineering, Deniliquin, New South Wales, marketing manager Bob Healey admits there’s a certain truth in that, he is keen to tell WA farmers about the company’s great product – the KB Grader Board.

Arguably the biggest pain involved with clay spreading is the second operation – smudging, employing a smudge bar.

Normally it’s a home-made three metre frame of welded railway iron pulled behind a tractor to smooth out the clay “lumps”.

If you’ve got an inexperienced operator, it can be a hit-and-miss operation.

Which is another pain.

And, of course, it’s a time-consuming exercise.

But Mr Healey said for a small number of WA farmers, smudging was no longer required after spreading clay – they are owners of a KB Grader Board.

It’s 12.2m in width and provides a true grade to level the clay.

The working width alone will get the attention of farmers, as it did South Stirlings farmer John Howard, who heard about it being used by several Esperance farmers.

Mr Howard’s tractor driver Scott Ganza is in no doubt the decision to buy a Grader Board was a good one.

“We did 80 hectare with the Grader Board in four to five hours,” Mr Ganza said.

“That compared with our smudge bar, which is about three feet (1m) in working width, doing 10ha in the same time.

“It did a brilliant job and was a big time saver.”

Mr Healey estimates he has cut the amount of smudging hours by two thirds.

“It’s very simple to operate and it takes about two minutes to manually fold for transport,” he said.

The KG Grader Board is a bent steel frame with a grader blade on the bottom.

It also has been designed with a hydraulically-controlled adjustable tilt on the blade to suit working conditions and horsepower (recommended 90 kilowatts to 134kW, 120-180 horsepower).

A cleverly-designed pivot system enables the manual fold-unfold and in working position, transport wheels are hydraulically raised while ground wheels are lowered.

“You can basically use the board to skim, straight grade or adjust the height of spread with the transport wheels acting as height adjusters by pushing the blade backwards,” Mr Ganza said.

READ MORE:

“The adjustment on the wheels is easy to operate and quick.”

According to Mr Healey, the KB Grader Board also can be for land levelling and firming seed beds before sowing and any general work required to provide a smooth finish.