Big claims have been made for Agco’s multibrand Ideal combine, but with a radical new design, has the gamble paid off for early customers? Jane Carley catches up ith one company using the combine to find out more.
Ideal for the future
R
eplacing two New Holland CR9080s with a pair of Fendt Ideal 8T combine harvesters is described by Lincolnshire Field Products (LFP) senior farm manager Paul Langford as a ‘leap of faith’, but it as also a move made ith specific business goals in mind. With 1,750 hectares of combinable crops just one part of the Spaldingbased enterprise, the cereal harvest has to be fitted in to a tight indo between vegetable work and the potato and sugar beet harvests. Mr Langford comments that the opportunity to increase capacity and save fuel were two factors in considering the deal. He says: “We were looking to go from . to . metre ft to ft headers and the direct drive and improved crop flo of the deal as promised to match the improved output ith fuel savings. The combines tend to work in pairs, so to take advantage of this the two 8Ts have been set up with machineto machine communication. ne has the manufacturer’s full Ideal Harvest
settings software package, with the second machine taking all its settings and A lines from the first. They are also equipped with ‘Fendt Connect’ telemetry, using Agco’s server to transfer harvest results into Gatekeeper and send machine data such as fuel and AdBlue consumption direct to the farm office. Harvest data is uploaded as soon as the operator confirms that the field is completed, and is separated from other information so that it can be accessed by invited third parties such as an agronomist.
Yield maps
“This enables us to study yield maps promptly and act on information such as lower yielding patches located in areas shaded by trees or subject to pigeon damage, e plains r angford. “Also, we have already been able to assess fuel savings, with the Ideals using some litres a day each less than their predecessors. Mr Langford points out that the Ideal design means many of the features were familiar to the drivers
Because of the action of the rotors, straw quality is decent BEN WALKER
as it uses established components such as the Vario Terminal and joystick used in the Fendt tractors and sprayers in the company s fleet. ‘Combine A’ operator Ben Walker comments that Ideal Harvest gives him the ability to visualise crop flo for the first time, using readings from sensors in the threshing and separation areas which are displayed on a tablet in the cab. “I input my required settings and deal arvest confirms them, and can then view where the crop is along the rotor and sieves at any time and quickly make adjustments to solve
any issues. reviously had to use my e perience and make assumptions using only what was in the tank and loss monitor readings. The variable wheat crop in 2019 has also made good use of the firm s Harvest Plus cruise control, set to maintain the intake rate at the feeder housing at a pre-determined level by adjusting forward speed according to crop density. r alker can also fine tune his preset rate on the move, as conditions change. r alker says An e treme rain event in une flattened much of the heat in the area, but the o erflo header’s belt design has tackled that and this year s difficult oilseed rape with aplomb – an improvement on e tendible type tables.
Conditions
utputs have been about to tonnes/hour in testing conditions, with Mr Walker noting that in the peak of the wheat crop he was getting some hours on half a tank of diesel “The combine’s twin rotors compact the crop less and only run at 800-1,000rpm, compared to the , rpm of the s rotors. You get the same separation but ith lo er fuel consumption. All straw is baled, going to a variety of markets, Mr Walker says: “Because of the action of the rotors, straw quality is decent. As ith any rotary combine, the crop-on-crop threshing means that Wider tracks – sourced from Agco’s Challenger plant at Jackson – proved to be beneficial in wet harvest conditions.
78 Lamma 2020 p78, 79, 80 BB JR SM.indd 1
www.lammashow.com 10/12/2019 12:40
