McIntosh happy to come to you

If you’re going to invest in a new piece of machinery, wouldn’t it be great to give it a test drive first — in your own paddock.

Well you can — just ask your machinery dealer or McIntosh and Son.

The Albany and Katanning branches set up a series of one-on-one demonstrations with clients from Amelup to Jacup and down to Gairdner to trial a 12.5metre (41foot) Morris contour drill and a Morris 7180 tow behind cart.

McIntosh is even supplying their own tractor for the job.

McIntosh and Son salesmen Ryan Thill and Jamie Douglas said the demonstration, for clients who looking to upgrade in the next few years, is a chance to compare seed placement and germination in the field with what they are currently using

“The one-on-one demos are a good chance to see the bin and bar working and moving rather than just having a look and kicking the tyres at a field day, ” Ryan said.

“It is hard to get farmers away from what they are doing at busy times of the year such as seeding, to come and have a look at a machine in the field, so we are bringing it to them.

“Plus you can relate the customer and get to know what they require for their program — it’s all about customer service.”

The contour drill being trialled has been on the market for three years in Australia, and features parallel linkage for precise seed and fertiliser placement for improved germination.

It comes in a three or five-frame model ranging from 7.62 metres (25 foot) to 26.21m (86 foot), with narrow transport options available.

The independent openers are a low horsepower requirement, saving fuel and row spacing options are 25.4cm (10-inch) and 30.5cm (12-inch).

Seed depths range from 0–5 inches.

The independent openers run off a passive hydraulic circuit with an accumulator and has up to 600 pound breakout and can be adjustable on the run.

On the three outer tynes of each wing is the Morris paired row duel shoot opener.

Throughout the bar, is the primary sales ‘in line’ duel shoot opener which place a narrow ribbon of seed in each row with low soil disturbance.

Amelup farmers Darren Moir and brother-in-law Paul Richardson are keen to compare the contour drill against their 9000 series 40 foot Morris bar.

“Our current bar has done us well for the past nine years but we are starting to think about upgrading, ” Darren said.

They set aside 12 hectares from a 120ha paddock planted with 2248 soft wheat for the demonstration planted at a depth of 2cm on 10 inch spacings.

With 45mm received during seeding, germination should be pretty good and Darren said they will focus on comparing a few areas.

“We’ll be looking at how well the press wheels work and there is the paired row on each end which looks interesting, ” Darren said

“And we’ll watch to see how it handles the trash.”

The one-on-one demos are a good chance to see the bin and bar working and moving rather than just having a look.Ryan Thill