BEVERLEY broadacre farmer Duncan Young, Yangedine, is rapt with his new John Deere C Series Air Cart - the C650.
Mr Young had the cart delivered in April and along with full time farmhand Harry Legg, he has been using it in their canola seeding program.
Last week they were set back a few days due to the weather, with more rain received in one day (56 millimetres) than the month of May last year, but they hope to finish their canola program soon and get stuck into the cereals.
Mr Young has customised the new aircart, making some changes to the standard version.
The C650 weighs almost 18 tonnes empty and holds almost 24t of product - the first bin is a dedicated canola seed bin (small seeds), the second bin is for seed, the third bin is for MOP (potash) and the fourth bin is for MAP (compound fertiliser).
Mr Young said the plastic boxes on the cart were easy to access for filling and cleaning from the platform.
The platform offered a good amount of room, has easy access to load canola bags at the lower level and an impressive safety railing on the upper level.
Bin lids were easy to open and the very large openings made conveyor positioning quick to undertake.
He said the "aircart lights up like a Christmas tree at night due to the large number of standard LED lights".
The bins are equipped with internal LED lights, individual weigh scales, sonic sensors and cameras for monitoring each bin.
This is all linked to the tractor cab screen and can also be accessed on the side screen of the aircart.
"It is plug and play - being all John Deere it is a seamless interface," Mr Young said.
He decided to go for a tow between box instead of a tow behind box like he previously had, this has resulted in better performance with weight on the drawbar of the tractor and less shunting when operating in hilly terrain which is prevalent on his main farm.
Instead of the 75mm (three inch) drawbar pin, Mr Young has opted for the stronger Bredal ball hitch which he uses on all his implements.
"It is good for undulating country with no pin slop using the ball hitches," he said.
"The load rating is 25t downward and 60t horizontal, so there is no chance of snapping it."
Mr Young has added an oil cooler to one of the twin fans that are standard on the cart for the seed and fertiliser, with the heat exchange system is set up on the fertiliser airstream.
"That warms the air and stops plugging," Mr Young said.
He has also replaced the standard 800 duals with single BKT tyres which allow the cart to conform to his CTF system which he has been doing for more than 15 years to reduce soil compaction.
"The VF 900/60R42 BKT tyres have a 10 per cent higher load rating than the cart needs and 15pc higher than the standard duals," Mr Young said.
This is important on the farm because it is 80pc red loam soil with the remaining 20pc lighter country.
"Being in a higher rainfall zone I have found by going to a CTF system we can manage trafficability in wet conditions," he said.
Ag Implements sales consultant Ted Chester, Northam, said the main challenge he had was finding the correct single tyres to carry the aircart for CTF.
"I started by trying to find a good track system that would fit the specifications, but there just didn't seem to be one type of track that suited what we needed," Mr Chester said.
"I then turned to tyres through supplier STW that had LSW tyres that fitted the carrying capacity required and in the end went with the VF 900/60R42 BKT tyres because of their extremely high load rating.
"I also worked with our parts department and found a heat exchanger from Prime Hydraulics to fit onto the Air Power 2 fan for the fertiliser tubes to heat and dry the air.
"They were very helpful and we have had an excellent result with the product."
Mr Young organised the extended drawbar on the P540 bar from Eagle Eye Engineering.
It was needed to ensure the C650 elevator had plenty of clearance from the front levelling wheels on the bar when folded.
He said he chose the John Deere brand because of the local service and back up from the dealership.
"I'm green (John Deere) because the service we get from our dealership in Northam is second to none," Mr Young said.
"Service and backup to me is worth more than haggling over ten grand off a new piece of equipment, one serious breakdown and no access to parts can cost more than that.
"The Ag Implements team including the mechanics and parts team are easy to deal with and know what they are doing."
Three years ago Mr Young purchased a 9470RX tractor which so far has clocked up 2500 hours.
He said the tractor gets used throughout the year and at harvest pulls a 36t chaser bin.
Mr Young said the tracks were lighter on the ground giving more traction than tyres in hilly conditions.
He made the decision to exit the sheep industry 18 months ago and while running large sheep numbers in the past, he is "happy with the decision to go 100pc cropping".
