SOUTH Australian-based Seed Terminator this week announced former AFGRI Equipment Esperance header specialist Joe Limbaugh has joined the company.
His role will be as a header specialist in WA, following 16 years of involvement in header product development and evaluation in the United States and two seasons supporting the Seed Terminator with AFGRI.
His previous role with AFGRI was as Harvester Product Specialist, ensuring maximum header performance and uptime.
AFGRI is the biggest Seed Terminator dealer in Australia, providing installation of the Seed Terminator, harvest support and spare parts.
Last harvest the company oversaw 30 machines across its 14-branch John Deere dealership group.
AFGRI operations director Gollie Coetzee said Mr Limbaugh "will surely make a difference in helping AFGRI in our quest to give our customers the best solutions on the market".
"With his relationship with AFGRI and our customers this is a great positive advantage for our partnership with Seed Terminator," Mr Coetzee said.
According to Seed Terminator director Nick Berry, Mr Limbaugh would work closely with customers, ensuring they maximised weed seed capture.
"He will report directly to our engineering continuous improvement program for driving performance and uptime," Dr Berry said.
"We're really excited to have Joe on board and it's great to have some talent that really understands how harvesters operate."
Mr Limbaugh said he was looking forward to meeting new people and continuing to help improve harvester performance while optimising the performance of the Seed Terminator.
According to Dr Berry, 2019 Seed Terminator models will incorporate new multi-stage hammer mill technology, trade-marked as Aero-IMPACT 3.
"Refinements to the system mean there's significantly less power draw of about 31 per cent and longer wearing mill components," Dr Berry said.
"We're honing in our cost per hectare.
"And the weed kill has been measured at 97pc, operating above 2500rpm.
"But we're achieving good kills rates independent of speed and even at 2250rpm, our tested figures are 93pc."
The Seed Terminator is manufactured in WA and according to Dr Berry, because all rotating components are fully machined in an aerodynamic profile, the no-load power is down and the tungsten coated parts are lasting longer.
"Our screens are working really well, preventing any seeds from escaping until they are sheared, crushed and ground."
Dr Berry said 81 headers fitted with the Seed Terminator were in operation during the 2018 harvest with positive feedback from owners.
"The units were fitted to all major brands, including CLAAS and Massey Ferguson, of Class seven to 10 headers," he said.
"From the feedback we can claim proven reliability of all components, less wear and there's plenty of confidence in the mechanical drive system."
The Seed Terminator has been designed as a simple one-pass solution to destroy weed seeds.
Weed and volunteer seeds present in the chaff material leaving the cleaning shoe, are intercepted and pulverised using the Aero-IMPACT system.
It incorporates a mechanical drive system that is driven by the harvester engine, with minimal moving parts, incorporating only shafts, belts and a gearbox.
The Seed Terminator dealership network in WA includes AFGRI Equipment, Boekeman Machinery, Farmers Centre 1978, Farmers Centre WA and Staines Esperance.
More information: Joe Limbaugh 0428 822 409 or joe@seedterminator.com.au
