WITH harvest getting into full swing in the central and northern Wheatbelt areas, the first commercial units of the new version of the Integrated Harrington Seed Destructor (iHSD) are rolling and growers are reporting largely smooth sailing with the running of the machines.
The latest vertical, mechanical-drive system uses the same mill set as the hydraulic version, with independent testing confirming up to 99 per cent plus kill rates of targeted weed seeds at various harvester speeds.
Invented by Western Australian grower Ray Harrington and developed by UniSA with investment from GRDC, the iHSD has undergone continuing development by DeBruin Engineering, together with national distributor, McIntosh Distribution.
Johnny Inferrera, McIntosh Distribution, said about 90 units would be operating in WA over harvest and 90 per cent already were rolling.
He said the systems were running at the optimum kill rate speed of about 3000rpm, which also was maintaining full header capacity.
"The first units to start have now done over 150 hours and have been working in crops ranging from 0.5 to 3.5 tonnes per hectare and they are rolling along well,'' Mr Inferrera said.
He said growers were impressed with their easy operation, as well as with unique features such as rear hatch access for easily checking grain losses, a stone trap to help prevent foreign objects coming into the system and a simple bypass for windrowing and/or harvesting without the iHSD.
"Growers like the trap door," he said.
"They can see any dirt and rocks and one customer has found a little bit of a steel post in the stone trap.''
At Cunderdin, Norm Jenzen, who has a 4000-hectare wheat, barley, canola and lupin program to complete, had a new vertical iHSD fitted to the family's Case IH 8240 harvester and he said it had been "running very sweetly''.
Mr Jenzen, who was impressed with the service and support for the system from McIntosh & Son at Merredin, said it was running at 3015-3030rpm and at travel speeds of 8-10 kilometres per hour in barley.
"We've done some oats, which was fine and the barley is a bit short this year and we are cutting it a bit lower too, so we are taking it easy,'' Mr Jenzen said.
"Patches are doing three tonnes a hectare and we are still doing 25-35 tonnes an hour.
"It's going fine and there's plenty of power.
"We just grease a few nipples each day and it's been all good.''
Mr Jenzen the rear hatch access and stone trap were key attributes the family liked about the iHSD after considering alternative systems.
"To check grain losses, we just opened the big door and rock trap, did a few short runs and used a drop tray, and it was beautiful,'' he said.
"We got the losses down to 16 kilograms a hectare.
"You can open the back door and go windrowing if you want - like if lupins are green and you want to windrow them, or you are doing straw for the hay guys.
"If you have a clean crop and you are doing straw, there are no modifications - you just open the door.
"You can also get in and still look at your sieves.
"We open up the trap door every day and we have had a couple of little rocks at the bottom of it.''
After previously windrow burning, which could also get out of control at times, Mr Jenzen said the iHSD would reduce his stress and effectively save a month of his life.
He said radish was their main problem weed, in addition to ryegrass and while he didn't expect to catch every seed, he knew what would be caught would be destroyed mechanically.
By possibly saving late glyphosate sprays in barley, it also could help avoid grain quality discounts.
Near Carnamah, Scott Bowman has a new vertical iHSD on the family's John Deere S680 for their wheat, barley, canola and lupin program this harvest and he said after more than 100 hours, "everything is running well''.
"The service from McIntosh & Son at Moora was also very good and we have had people out from McIntosh Distribution and DeBruin,'' Mr Bowman said.
"It's definitely using a lot of excess power from the S680, but you always have excess with the S680 so it hasn't slowed down the harvest at all.
"We've been travelling at 6-14km/h this year
"The screen in the cab is simple and we have a camera in the back from chaff-lining, which is handy.''
The Bowmans also earlier have been managing the weed seed bank through windrow burning and using a chaff cart.
Mr Bowman said via the rear hatch access and a drop tray, it was easy to get the sieves correct and they opened the iHSD and header trap doors every morning to prevent dirt and chaff build-up.
He said they also had investigated the ability to windrow straw while the chaff went into the mill.
Richard Davies farms in the Coorow and Carnamah areas and had the vertical iHSD fitted to a new header for this harvest, a New Holland CR9.90.
After more than 120 hours into a 5000ha canola, lupin and wheat program, Mr Davies said they had not encountered any issues with the running of the system.
"We are also putting it to the test in the conditions, with short crops and we are going low to get the ryegrass, and going low gets the obstacles,'' Mr Davies said.
"Our harvest speed has been about 11-13km/h with the wheat.''
He also agreed the rear hatch access made it easy to check grain losses once the header was set up.
Mr Inferrera said the new vertical iHSD could be fitted to later model John Deere, Case IH and New Holland harvesters, with no permanent modifications required.
Growers interested in further information about the latest system and early orders for 2020 can contact their local McIntosh & Son dealer.
