"A BRIDGE" between tractors you drive and tractors that drive themselves is how the Case IH AFS Connect and Pro 1200 control and information systems were described to farmers at a Ride & Drive Day recently.
Boekeman Machinery, with dealerships in Wongan Hills, Dalwallinu, Northam and Dowerin, put on the Ride & Drive Day for the local launch of the Case IH Magnum AFS Connect series and Case IH Steiger Quadtrac AFS Connect series tractors fitted with the latest Pro 1200 multi-touch screen console.
Many of the 35 visitors to the Ride & Drive Day, held on Graeme White's farm near Wongan Hills, took the opportunity to test drive the AFS Connect Case IH Steiger 550 models on show - a Quadtrac pulling an Ausplow E600-20 Easitill deep ripper and a wheeled 550 towing a Grain King Nyrex Titan 4600 field bin.
They also tried the new Case IH Magnum 280 AFS Connect towing a Marshall Multispread 916T.
Some also tried out the latest Case IH Patriot 4430 self-propelled sprayer, with automatic boom height control and advanced spray technology to automatically compensate for ground speed differential along the boom during turns.
The day was also Boekeman Machinery's local launch of the JCB Fastrac 8330 Series 5 general purpose tractor, which was released in December and, with a road speed of up to 70 kilometres an hour, is recognised as the world's fastest production tractor.
Visitors put the Fastrac through its paces too.
There was also a Case IH 8250 Axial Flow harvester with auto height and lateral tilt control for the Case IH 3050 12.5 metre Varicut rigid front on display, with the features explained by Andrew Boekeman from the Northam dealership and Tristan Job from the Wongan Hills dealership.
Sam Moss from Boekeman's Northam dealership explained improvements such as a longer bale chamber, standard weight scales and moisture meter, reduced maintenance requirement and stronger knots produced by the TwinePro knotter on the Case IH LB434 XL square baler on display.
Ausplow national service manager Ray Beacham and chief executive officer Chris Farmer, along with Tim Boekeman from the Dalwallinu dealership, explained the features of the E600-20 Easitill deep ripper.
The model displayed had 20 tynes at optional 820 millimetres depth and at 600mm spacings for a total cutting width of 12m, but 457mm and 508mm spacings are also available and standard tyne depth is 750mm.
"It's a traditional deep ripper, but the ground is not totally shattered between tynes so you can get back on it quickly for spraying, spreading or seeding," Tim Boekeman said.
"The good thing about selling locally-made products like Ausplow and Grain King is the local manufacturers really support their products fantastically, they really do back them up."
Martin Trewin from Grain King explained the features of the Nyrex Titan 4600 chaser bin on display, which is now built on dual axles with load-sharing suspension and lock out steering on the rear axle.
It comes standard with brakes and a road lights kit and has a 550mm (22 inch) auger for fast unloading.
Technical specialist Matt Roesner outlined the features of the Marshall 916T Multispread which was displayed with lime curtains for spreading in windy conditions.
He explained how the i4M technology now fitted to the Marshall spreader allowed application rates to be automatically adjusted to match soil profile maps to put fertilisers or lime where they are most needed more economically.
Seed Terminator was represented by chief executive officer Paul Sandercock, WA product specialist Brett Asphar and WA commercial manager Peter Vella, with new screens and components for the combine harvester attachment on display.
JCB Australia and distributor CEA were also well represented with JCB's Pacific regional manager John Plummer flying in from Melbourne for the day.
He was joined by JCB Australia chief executive officer Phil Withell, CEA general manager dealer network Matt King, local JCB representative Craig Tucker and JCB's Australian Fastrac manager Andrew Hacker.
Mr Withell explained the features of the Series 3 JCB 542-70 AGRI telehandler which was released last year and was on display at the Ride & Drive Day.
He said the 542-70, rated at four tonne maximum lift and seven metre maximum boom height, was the most popular model in the JCB telehandler range - JCB was first to produce a telehandler and makes all major components itself.
The Series 3 features increased lifting performance and a new CommandPlus cab providing extra space, more comfort, less noise and better visibility.
With Mr Tucker at the controls and the telehandler bucket full of lime sand, Mr Withall demonstrated the "soft stop" adaptive load control developed by JCB as part of its "total load control" to automatically prevent the machine overbalancing and tipping forward when the boom is being extended under load.
Boekeman Machinery's Lyndon Zetovic and Mr Hacker explained the upgraded features of the Series 5 JCB Fastrac 8330 front-wheel-assist tractor with an 8.4 litre engine rated at 335hp, but boosted to 348hp maximum power under load, constant variable transmission, fail-safe hydraulic steering and - importantly with its speed capability - big twin-caliper anti-lock brakes on both axles.
It also has a CommandPlus cab and a category four rear drawbar, but the biggest difference between the Series 5 and earlier models was its advanced active hydraulic front suspension rather than the springs and dampers used previously, Mr Hacker said.
"Apart from a much more comfortable ride for the operator, it gives the machine much greater capability to be ballasted to pick up linkage implements and spread the load to maintain traction," he said.
But the big red tractors with new technology attracted most interest on the day at the local release of the AFS Connect models.
Wayne Stoner, Boekeman Machinery's veteran Case IH Steiger specialist from its Dowerin dealership, said Boekemans sold four ranges - lighter 450 and 500 models and 550 and 600 models which were physically the same size tractor but with more weight - all powered by a Tier 2 12.9lt engine.
The 550 and 600 models have saddle tanks with 1800 litre fuel capacity and the 450 and 500 models have 1080 - all have new cabs with better forward vision and cab suspension, the AFS Connect models come standard with cameras front and rear and a 14 LED lights package for 360 degrees night vision.
Boekeman's technology specialist Ewan McLintock explained the biggest feature was the AFS - it stands for advanced farming systems - Connect platform which allows remote data transfer.
"Revolutionary technology has been put into this machine now," Mr McLintock said.
"Case sees this machine as the bridge between non-autonomous vehicles and fully autonomous vehicles built without cabs - this will take you into the future in the agriculture space," he told visitors to the Ride & Drive Day.
Russell Harvey from Boekeman's Dowerin dealership said similar things about the upgraded Pro 1200 touch-screen display now used in the new AFS Connect models as he explained the features of the new Case IH Magnum 280 AFS Connect.
"The Pro 1200 is the future, the step between the tractor we drive and the autonomous tractor," Mr Harvey said.
"You, as the owner, will be able to see what your tractor is doing remotely - that's where the built-in cameras come in - you'll be able to see what the operator is doing, where your tractor is in the field and what the application is."
The Pro 1200 has "a lot more user-definable parts of the tractor now either on the handpiece or on the console", he said.
Mr Harvey said the operator could now adjust the ride characteristics of the Magnum's front axle and electro-hydraulic cab suspension with soft, medium and hard settings using the Pro 1200 - the seat also has the same settings - to suit terrain, speed and application.
He said the Magnum series horsepower range was from 250hp-400hp, generally with about a 10pc power boost available for extreme conditions.
Boekeman Machinery dealer principal Stuart Boekeman said the family was very pleased with the Ride & Drive Day.
"It's been great to get suppliers and growers together and talk about new products and new features and answer some of the difficult questions growers may have, then in the afternoon being able to drive the product in the field and sit in the seat and experience the machine's operation first hand," Mr Boekeman said.
"We've been fortunate that we've had support from manufacturers from all over Australia here today.
"It's a busy time for growers because obviously we've had rain recently and there's a fair bit of optimism, but there's also a fair bit of work on the farm at the moment with weeds and spraying, so we're happy with the attendance."
With freight and shipping still impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic around the world, Mr Boekeman encouraged growers considering upgrading their equipment for the new season to "get in early".
"The Ausplow product is particularly is in high demand, so you need to get in early and order - the new Ausplow DBS (seeder bar) product was sold out before Christmas for the coming season," he said.
"With imported product there are issues with shipping and costs and we've seen that price increases are imminent.
"We're lucky that product we've got on the ground now has the price locked in, but anything coming we're worried that because of the pressures of shipping, the increased costs are going to be passed on."
Mr Boekeman said the company supported Australian manufacturers like Seed Terminator, Grain King, Marshall and Ausplow and where an implement was made was something growers should consider when looking to upgrade.
"We're very bullish about the (agriculture) industry as a whole - we've just built a new dealership at Dowerin six months ago and that has set us up for the future there and we continue to invest in our premises and our people to support our customers," Mr Boekman said.
Mr Boekeman thanked the White family for hosting the day on their farm and Boekeman Machinery staff for the effort they put into preparing and on the day itself.
