WESTERN AUSTRALIAN graingrower Daniel Bradford was the first in the country to put the new Morris 10 Series air cart to the test last year and while a tough season meant he couldn't add it to the family's farm equipment fleet, he wished he could have.
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Mr Bradford farms with his brother, John, at Bunjil, east of Perenjori in the northern Wheatbelt, cropping about 10,000 hectares including leased land to mainly wheat and canola, plus some barley.
Recently released to machinery dealers across the country, the latest Morris 10 Series complements the manufacturer's 9 Series air carts and comprises seven models for Australia ranging in capacity from 20,890 litres up to 34,701L.
It offers growers some impressive benefits, including:
A robust, fully integrated, Australian-inspired design featuring a stainless-steel liquid tank.
Load cells under every granular tank to assist calibration correction.
An electric metering system for superior low-rate accuracy and next generation section control.
Rapid fill times via a conveyor and the use of a dual purpose, Morris 'Optimizer' tank to ensure tanks empty together.
The 10 Series has been extensively tested in Australia over the past two years to ensure the design suited local conditions and growers' preferred machine setups.
The Bradford's property, located near Mongers Lake, comprises red land, gravels and some tough breakaway country through to sandy soils, and despite dry, difficult conditions, similar to this season, the biggest 10 Series air cart model largely didn't miss a beat for the family.
"You could definitely tell it was built well," Mr Bradford said.
The 10 Series frame is a fully boxed and trussed design that incorporates Morris Duraloc interlocking technology carried through from the Morris Quantum air drills, while the tyres used on the largest carts can each carry 26.5 tonnes.
"We also have a 14,000L tow-behind liquid cart and we liked the way we could fill everything up, put high rates of fertiliser out and just keep going for 14 hours," he said.
Mr Bradford said the load cells positioned under every granular tank, which remove the discrepancy between calibrated and applied rates by tracking density changes as each product is metered and alerting operators to update calibration if desired, "should be a given on every airseeder you buy".
"You could see what was left in your tanks, you could see if you were on your rate and how many hectares there were to go - it's a godsend," he said.
Mr Bradford said via the new electric metering system, which is driven by a brushless alternator and motors and continues to use Morris' renowned spiral-fluted metering wheels, they were able to sow canola down to 1.5 kilograms per hectare, which was a big saving considering the cost of seed.
"The lowest we could get to with our system this year was about 1.9kg/ha," he said.
"We tried to get it down to 1.5kg/ha, but it kept jumping up without our knowledge."
Mr Bradford said the section control with the 10 Series cart reduced overlap in their program down to about two to three per cent, whereas this season their overlap reverted back to more than 10pc.
"Over 10,000ha, the reduced overlap saves a lot," he said.
"With the lower rates and the load cells as well, it's all getting back to maximising your efficiency - that's what you're after.
"Everything costs a fortune to put in the ground, so you have got to get it right and make the most of them."
Mr Bradford said when filling the tanks on the 10 Series cart, the Convey-All single belt conveyor was extremely quiet compared with rattling augers, while the use of an app to easily set calibrations and avoid the need to go back into the tractor cab was "awesome".
"It was a big cart and it's definitely the future of farming," he said.
After previously using a Bourgault air cart and 3320 paralink hoe drill, the Bradford's upgrade investment for this season acquired a 23,000L Morris 9 Series air cart and 27-metre C3 Contour drill, which allowed them to sow 400ha over a 24-hour period.
Pulled by a John Deere 9570RX four-track tractor, the C3 Contour is fitted with the tyne assembly used on the Morris Quantum air drills and Mr Bradford said despite limited rainfall, the early crop germinations were excellent.
"We had about 50 millimetres of summer rain, started sowing dry on the 20th of April and then we had 17mm on the 1st of May," he said.
"The canola all came up.
"We couldn't believe the germination with the C3."
