Agricultural machinery is a massive part of my life on the
farm. I have witnessed its development, continual automation and technological
advancement throughout my life and now we are living in a golden age of ag kit!
In this blog we are going to look at the very icon of the industry: The combine
harvester:
Farmers look at many factors when buying a combine. Costs for
fuel, staff and depreciation are key - as well as dealer back up, brand image
and the size of the harvesting job! There is a diverse array of products on the
market. Yes there are brand leaders and some are Deerer than others, but now
those who need to cut a lot of corn quickly have a new toy to play with…..
The Naughties have seen the development of the high capacity combine harvester. A tool
used by farmers to meander around intermittent weather conditions, prevalent in
contemporary European summers and produce stunning results when munching up the
acres. This is high volume kit operates at the technological edge of the
industry.
The distinguished German firm Claas laid down the gauntlet in
‘05 with the Lexion 600. They had been working up to releasing a major player,
updating their range subtly every couple of years since the late nineties and
teasing punters with marginal increases in power.
But this beast topped nearly 590 horse power and had an
output of about 3500-4000 acres a season. A phenomenal statistic; especially if
you only have a 48 hour harvest window on a wet week in August. The release of
this mighty Lexion saw one machine replacing what would normally be three. Those
that were worried about putting their eggs in one basket were backed up by
dealer support and service plans to make sure you didn’t miss a minute in the
field.
Next up, the stalwart of combining culture; New Holland
followed suite in ‘09 with their effort - the CR9090. This beast boasted
similar stats but most still maintained the Lexion had the edge.
The New Holland CR9090 steps up!
Finally in 2011 John Deere stepped up with a new version of
their S690i. A seductive centurion in the field with a phenomenal power rating
of plus 600 HP. This king’s stag has sleek refined lines; accentuating the
classic John Deere identity.
John Deere brings the power!
The S690i was released to be capable of holding its own with
the competition and suitable for the demands of large scale harvesting. But in
this merry-go-round of might, this party of power and this thumping of
throughput, more was still to come!
Claas released a re-booted Lexion; the 770 in 2010. A second-generation
high capacity machine with a 42 foot long header as standard. This time there
was state of the art luxury as well as clear mechanical engineering on acid! It
boasted a spacious cockpit with a field illumination system that could give
Blackpool a run for its money
Claas re-booted its flagship in 2010
This week sees the official unveiling of the new Claas Lexion
780, ready for harvest 2013 it will be the biggest most powerful combine this
illustrious player has ever produced. This incredible piece of kit nudges 600
horse power and can cut 70 tonnes of crop an hour!
It can hold 12500 litres of grain in its tanks. What’s more it can discharge this mammoth volume at 130 litres a second! The heart of the Lexion 780 is 16 litre Merc V8 turbo diesel pumping pure and prestigious horse power through it veins...
It can hold 12500 litres of grain in its tanks. What’s more it can discharge this mammoth volume at 130 litres a second! The heart of the Lexion 780 is 16 litre Merc V8 turbo diesel pumping pure and prestigious horse power through it veins...
Up to 70 tonnes an hour throughput!
Adblue additives are used to adhere to strict tier 4i
standards with regard to its emissions. Yet with the monstrous Merc lump
sitting up top at the back it can still turn on a sixpence as if it was doing
the tango wearing an open tunic but still holding onto its modesty!
The 'Vario 1200' header is 42 feet long!
The 780 has three ‘driving strategies’, which you can
programme in using a full colour interface system called CEMOS Automatic. This
nifty addition exposes your business management skills to there fullest as you
set the combine running to what you think your requirements need to be. It is
revolutionary artificial intelligence building on the foundations of its introduction
to the Lexion fleet in 2010.
Option 1 allows you to set the combines pace to maximise your
grain quality. It will personally alter relevant settings in the guts of thing
in order to give you museum grade grain samples!
However, should you be worried about the diesel cost of
revving the tits off it don’t be! Option 2 allows for focus to be solely on
fuel consumption as this beast can be turned into a rather lucid Lexion at the
touch of a button.
Finally, throughput: Option 3 gears it up so you can put the peddle
to the metal, throw fucking caution to the wind (and persistent rain) and Get
On. You can if you wish opt for a balance of all three. Yeah
that’s it play it safe. And whilst it’s driving its self you can play chess
with it and loose!
Automation is in abundance with this machine. The CEMOS
Automatic system adjusts it to your harvesting conditions or your economical
expectations, CRUISEPILOT adjusts the forward speed of the combine to optimise
its threshing and AUTOPILOT uses lasers or GPS to make sure the cutter bar
never has a gap.
So a clever three-prong parade of progressive gadgets with a
sole purpose of upping productivity allowing you to increase your profitability
in this expanding sector. You can then get the best out of the worst
conditions, as all ‘high capacity’ combines should do.
Ok it will cost you half your lottery winnings and have sales
rep’s gagging to sell you add-ons, servicing plans and up-sell you fluffy dice,
but its horses for courses when you have to get the job done.
Ultimate precision.
It may have less horsepower than the big Deere S690i but
where it’s leaner in power its leaner in its efficiency too, a nifty new
cooling system saves power on demand. Like for like this optimising effect
steps it to the top of the charts.
These high capacity machines are brimming with the latest computerised systems
automating them in the field. Technology allows the operator to understand the most
logical way of cutting a field by minimising the amount of manoeuvres necessary
to do it and mapping it out in colour. These combines can see where they are
going and react to obstacles. They can unload their massive grain tanks in
under two minutes and keep going long into the night, lighting up strips in the
filed that even Vegas would be proud of.
One such technological development is causing me a degree of concern
however. We are well on the way to driverless farm kit, which can have an effect
on jobs in long term. Everyone knows this and to a degree accepts it.
When older country folk recollect seeing threshing machines
and traction engines for the first time, they thought the same things. But my beef isn’t with robots, or their
implication on the job market. The agriculture family tree will always need an abundance
of highly skilled workers with the right attitude.
My problem is when automation goes wrong. John Deere are developing
a system for a tractor that can steer it along with a grain trailer when it
gets near a combine into precisely the right place for the combine to deliver
its pay load. It will be the combine doing this!
It will be a literal
tractor beam!
When you are in a few meters of the combine it will take
independent control of the tractor and put it in the right spot so it can fill
the trailer evenly. It won’t be the combine operator doing this either. The
machine will be automating two devices. So you may as well crack open a beer
whilst the mighty Deere real’s you in for a filling. Sit back relax, chill out,
update twitter, watch some porn and take you eyes off the prize.
Automation is a health and safety nightmare. Computers break
more frequently than people and bulls. The implication could devalue an
operators need to be on the ball and reduce their ability to call the ball.
Agricultural engineering is gaining some serious momentum…
Finally back on planet earth, its important to remember the
value about what I have been going on about. I hope that in this blog filled
with endless technical references, model numbers and stats you can appreciate
one thing: The combine harvester is the tool that gives you your food, (along
with my massive black cock obviously - as you know that my little Jocks are very
tasty). So why not combine the fruit of my loins with some nice wholemeal
bread, fry some of my children in rapeseed oil get a bottle of premium lager or
a pint of rudely named ale and have an honest and tasty Aberdeen Angus steak
sandwich! You will have have then eaten products delivered to the food chain in the
first instance by a combine harvester.
Pukka. The end.
Next week: Chutney making with plenty of Pickles....
twitter.com/jockthebull
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