At the BCG Main Field Day on Wednesday 13 September, machinery will be highlighted during three sessions including harvester fire prevention and management, shielded sprayers and controlled traffic farming.
Machinery is critical to the current farming system and provides a multitude of benefits including efficiencies, data collection for decision making and logistical improvements.
Machinery is also a large capital investment for all farm businesses and regular maintenance, especially during harvest is imperative to prevent harvester fires and crop damage and ensure personal safety.
Research by the Kondinin Group showed that about seven per cent of harvesters annually will start a fire, with one in ten of these machines causing significant damage.
Information on harvest fire prevention, management, warranties and insurance will be discussed by a panel of specialists at the Main Field Day including Banyena grower Frank Burchell who will talk on his own harvest fire experience, and how he and his brother Chris worked with Horsham Hydraulics to engineer an air flow system to be fitted to harvesters.
Richard Nagorcka of Horsham Hydraulics will participate in the event to share information on the Tornado air flow system, and will be alongside O’Connors Farm Machinery Birchip branch manager Zach Holmes who will share information on the Muster II Fire Suppression Systems which alarm the driver of a fire and automatically extinguish fires on harvesters.
Ensuring your machinery is adequately covered through warranties and insurance is paramount, especially as we enter the harvest period. Sitting on the panel to discuss insurance of harvesters is WFI area manager Rod Caldow.
Addressing other areas of machinery at the event will be Kinnabulla grower Linc Lehmann who will talk about the development of his shielded sprayer (he will have it on-site), the weed management benefits and opportunities it provides for reducing the likelihood of herbicide resistance.
Department of Agriculture and Fisheries Queensland economist and controlled traffic farming (CTF) specialists James Hagan will be at the event to talk about the benefits of CTF and the machinery replacement costs.
Some of the other topics on the program include the latest on the mice situation, frost identification and management, early sown wheat, YLS, SFNB and Septoria disease management, pulse variety development and marketing and much more.
The BCG Main Field Day is on September 13 at the BCG main research site at Curyo, corner of Grogans road and Sunraysia highway, 25km North West of Birchip. For more information about the event visit www.bcg.org.au/events or phone 03 5492 2787.
