Agricultural contractors, Chris and David Haworth, have set the bar with Seed Hawk purchasing four toolbars over the past nine years
Their business, AgTrac Services Pty Ltd, manages more than 16,000 hectares of winter crops on behalf of a number of corporate clients in central and southern NSW.
The Haworths purchased their first two Seed Hawk toolbars in 2008 for use on the Wyalong Rural Investment property, Oakhurst, 35 kilometres east of West Wyalong.
“We were looking at purchasing a new parallelogram seeder when we saw the Seed Hawk demonstration rig at the Condobolin Conservation Agriculture Field Day in 2007,” Chris Haworth said.
“The local distributor agreed to do a trial on our place and we put him in some pretty tough country that had not been cropped for a long time.
“To our surprise, the crop came up quickly and evenly.”
The Canadian made toolbars claim to deliver accurate seed placement, even over rough terrain or in high trash conditions and at high operating speeds,.
Separate knives on the laid-back hydraulic tyne place the fertiliser about 20 millimeters deeper and 40mm to the side of the seed row.
“At first, we found the concept a bit challenging but the more we thought about it, having the ability the separate the seed and fertiliser was a good idea,” Mr Haworth said.
“The separate knives mean we can place urea and MAP separately to the seed.”
The openers feature hydraulic breakout control with adjustable trip pressure while depth control is achieved via 10 centimetre contour following press wheels, which also pack and seals the furrow.
“It was a bit of a learning curve in the first season but it’s quite easy once you get your head around it,” Mr Haworth said.
The addition of the Warakirri Asset Management properties, Cowabbie and Mukoora at Ardlethan, to AgTrac Services’ cropping program last year saw them purchase two additional Seed Hawk 45 series toolbars.
The five section units fold to a 4.5 metre transport width.
“We have a bit of road travel to contend with, particularly with our Ardlethan operations, so being able to fold the machines to a legal size is important,” Mr Haworth said.
Both units are equipped with the optional Seed Between Row (SBR) technology.
A curved paddle sensor detects stubble, with two hydraulic cylinders guiding the hitch to keep the openers between the rows.
This helps prevent soil throw, creating a cleaner and firmer seedbed.
The standing stubble and depressed furrow also helps to create a moist and warm micro-climate, further improving germination and emergence.
The four machines are setup differently to suit the needs of the Haworth’s individual clients.
“The openers on the toolbars at Oakhurst are on 333mm spacings whereas they are on 300mm spacings here at Ardlethan,” Mr Haworth said.
“We’re using 470 horsepower (345 kilowatt) tractors and operating at speeds between eight and 10 kilometres an hour.”
The brothers have sown more than 80,000ha of crops over the past nine years.
“In nine years, we’ve worn out one set of front tyres, three or four sets of knives and some press wheel bearings, but that’s just normal wear and tear,” he said.