THE Treasure farming family, at Moonyoonooka, were early adopters of harvester-integrated weed seed control and now believe they have the ideal system to help keep weed numbers down.
Brothers Warren and Daniel, together with their father Quentin crop most of the family's 2400-hectare 'Appa Springs' property to wheat, barley, canola, lupins and some hay.
The main rotation includes two years of cereal followed by an oilseed or pulse break crop.
Last year they upgraded to the new vertical, mechanical Integrated Harrington Seed Destructor (iHSD), installed on a New Holland CR10.90 harvester they have had for the past three seasons.
Warren said after four years using the horizontal mill system, the switch to the vertical design brought significant benefits.
"It eliminated the bridging issue that occurred once conditions became damp in the evening," Warren said.
"It would block up over the openings into the mills and so we were having to stop every evening.
"With the vertical system, we had no bridging issues at all, so we would stop when we were ready to stop.''
Reduced horsepower draw also meant the Treasures enjoyed improved harvester capacity running at just over 3000 rpm, allowing more tonnes per hour through the header, as well as lower fuel usage.
"With the horizontal unit, if we had a long day, starting at 8.30 in the morning, we had to refuel at dinner time to ensure we would go through the evening," Warren said.
"We didn't once have to refuel at dinner time with the vertical mill and we were doing bigger crops this year as well."
The wheat yield average was a tick over 3 tonnes a hectare, barley just under 4t/ha and canola at 1.7t/ha, with crops benefitting from a cool finish despite below average rainfall.
Reduced maintenance was another plus with the new vertical Seed Destructor.
"We were not having to stop every couple of hours and clean a radiator,'' Warren said.
"With the hydraulic version, in the morning we had to warm the oil up, engage and slowly get up to full speed.
"You don't have to do that with the vertical system - you just use the header as normal.
"You engage, go straight in and away you go - there's much less stress on the driver.
"It's so much simpler and the parts are cheaper.''
Warren said the stone trap and ability to check grain losses and undertake a kill stall procedure all provided peace of mind.
"We destroyed one of the horizontal mills," he said.
"I think a bolt came out of the header.
"We found several rocks in the stone trap.
"We clean it out once a day in the morning.
"If we bulldozed a bit of dirt, we would check it - we would empty out the stone trap at the front of the header and on the Destructor.
"We took the hatch off, dropped a belt off and used a cover tray for grain loss checks.
"It's also good to do the kill stall procedure with the vertical system to check how your calibration and machine is operating.
"We couldn't do that with the horizontal machine.''
The Treasures also windrowed barley straw at harvest for baling, with the chaff passing through the Seed Destructor, while canola was both swathed and direct headed.
"The horizontal mills didn't like green canola, but with the vertical system, tested with swathed canola and free standing, we had no issues at all," Warren said.
"We didn't even desiccate the canola and it handled it with no worries - we were impressed.
He said he was also wrapped about the reduced and more even wear of the vertical blades of the new Seed Destructor after its first harvest.
"We think we will get the same, if not longer, wear with the vertical mills,'' he said.
Independent testing has shown the Destructor can kill up to 99 per cent of weed seeds and Warren said they were confident in the weed seed kill performance.
"We are confident, but you still have to get the weed seeds into the mills,'' he said.
"Being close to the coast and with thick bulky crops, we have to get to that low (beer can) height to get the weed seeds.''
After four years of harvester-integrated weed seed control, the Treasures are realising the weed control benefits.
"We are still seeing fewer volunteers, radish seems to be dropping off a bit and ryegrass hasn't got worse,'' Warren said.
"Once ryegrass dries, it falls on the ground, so if we come to some thick ryegrass, we put the front on the ground and slow down.
"We haven't done a general knockdown over the whole program for four years with the lack of early rain, so it's got to be having an effect in keeping the weed numbers down.
"In-season, we haven't had any more weeds to deal with.
"We go with Sakura for the ryegrass and Velocity for the radish and have had no post-em (emergent) grass control - it's really good.
"The crops have been fairly clean.''
He said continued support from McIntosh & Son Geraldton for the family's Seed Destructors also had been excellent.
Invented by WA grower Ray Harrington, the Destructor is designed and manufactured by de Bruin Engineering and distributed nationally by McIntosh Distribution.
The core mill technology was developed by UniSA with funding and support from GRDC.
The vertical, mechanical system can be fitted to later model John Deere, Case IH, New Holland and Claas harvesters, with no permanent modifications required.
Growers can take advantage of an early order program recently announced on the Harrington Seed Destructors to upgrade their harvesters with the machines and effectively beat price rises during 2021.
Producers also can take advantage of the Federal government's extended $150,000 instant asset write-off to aid their purchases.
- More information: contact your local dealer or Johnny Inferrera, McIntosh Distribution, on 0429 904 870.
