AN expanded cropping program this year triggered a decision by Esperance farmer John Wallace to buy a second CLAAS Lexion combine harvester.
And with high-yielding crops to take off, including canola "going" three tonnes to the hectare, Mr Wallace feels vindicated by his gut decision to maximise optimum harvest conditions in a region where weather can wreak havoc with harvest plans.
"We needed to have the ability to take off as much crop as possible while conditions were good and it has proved the right move because it has been a stop-start affair with rain and wind," Mr Wallace said.
Facing a 5000 hectare harvest program, he opted to buy a low hour Lexion 780TT (Terra Trac) model from CLAAS Harvest Centre, Esperance to add to the Lexion 770TT he bought from the dealership in 2018.
"There was no question about what I wanted because the Lexions are brilliant in canola while being a perfect fit to handle cereal crops in variable conditions," he said.
"These machines have conventional drums and two long rotors (4.2 metres), an impressive turbine jet fan system and a whopping sieve area.
"The APS threshing system will also hold up capacity in cold, hard harvesting conditions.
"The sea breeze brings in humidity which makes the straw tougher and ropey and harder to process but the threshing system on these headers handles that."
Other features Mr Wallace likes is the ride, "particularly over ameliorated soil" and the quiet cab.
"It's also a very balanced machine and we were generally operating between 1600 and 1800rpm, which is also where you're getting your maximum torque," he said.
"I went for the 780 because it had the CEMOS (CLAAS Electronic Machine Optimisation System) in it and it had more capacity than the 770."
The 780 has a 504 kiloWatt (626 horsepower) 16.5 litre Mercedes engine which also gave a little more "comfort" with a mechanical drive Integrated Harrington Seed Destructor installed in it.
Mr Wallace also has a similar model fitted in the 770.
He said the Lexions handled the South Coast harvests with ease.
"We could have harvested at 16 per cent moisture day-in, day-out but you've just got to analyse the cost of doing that (grain drying costs)," Mr Wallace said.
"The machines excelled in all conditions and from 5pm onwards they sailed away from other rotary combines I've driven."
But it's the CEMOS technology that Mr Wallace said set the Lexions apart from the opposition.
It is a dialogue-based system that is now automated in the 780 series, self-setting for the various situations an operator may encounter, continuously adjusting features such as grain separation and cleaning.
This is designed to have the machine always operating at maximum capacity and efficiency while still keeping grain quality at its best.
Components controlled by the automatic system include rotor and fan speed along with the sieves, which assists with the cleaning process.
These functions are shown on the system terminal so operators can keep a track of what adjustments are being made.
The rationale is to maximise throughput, minimise fuel consumption, maintain high grain quality and optimise balance of the machine.
The company also has introduced the 'Cmotion' control switch, which handles much of the operation of the header.
The system is designed to be as intuitive as possible with data accessed anywhere via the internet, and information such as yield mapping, viewed graphically for easier dissemination.
With so much going on, hydraulically, heating can become an issue, particularly affecting capacity, however Lexion engineers have it covered with a Dynamic cooling system which Mr Wallace described as "second to none".
Dynamic cooling incorporates a variable fan drive that automatically adjusts the cooling capacity as required by the engine, which CLAAS said saved up to 15kW (20hp).
Located horizontally behind the engine, the radiator draws in clean air from above the combine through a 1.6m wide rotating sieve filter.
The air is then directed downwards through the radiator and engine bay, before leaving through louvres that direct the air down the side of the header, creating a curtain of air that prevents dust rising.
As a result, the engine bay is kept far cleaner, which in turn, means less maintenance.
