AFGRI Equipment Esperance held its annual header school recently to provide owners with updates on the S-Series models and tips on achieving maximum productivity.
But it was a school with a difference with owners providing their own thoughts on how the header should operate.
According to AFGRI salesman Dermot Lombard, who organised the school, it was an attempt to "engage with owners, rather than going through the standard features."
And the positive feedback to the branch signalled the school's success.
"Every harvest is different, every crop is different and particularly along the South Coast, settings are always different from crop to crop," Dermot said.
"The guys with the most experience are the owners and we had hundreds of years experience in the room when we talked how to handle frosted crops, for example, which is the big talking point this season.
"We went through things like cutting, feeding, threshing and separating, cleaning, grain handling and residue management and it sparked lively discussion."
Of course with one green eye, Dermot is confident the new headers will handle what will be a difficult harvest.
"When you've got frosted crops it can take it out on the headers with more horsepower required to get the material through but if you get the settings right, you can make it less harder on the machine," he said.
"Our main message was to tell owners about our service and the availability of our experienced staff to respond to problems and provide advice.
"And we are ready with our on-farm service to help out with any glitches.
"Our ultimate goal is to ensure owners have as little downtime as possible with their headers."
And owners, remember, technology is only as good as the operator.
