28 February 2023
Photo caption:Carey Loton, McIntosh & Son Wongan Hills and Andrew Vearing (right), Product Support Manager with de Bruin Engineering, caught up with Toodyay grower Aaron Candeloro during the recent harvest to update the performance of the family’s latest vertical, mechanical direct drive Seed Destructors.
Photo caption:The Candeloros have Seed Destructors on all five of their New Holland CR10.90 harvesters, with several pictured in full swing during the recent harvest.
YEARS of managing weeds in a continuous cropping program has conditioned Aaron Candeloro to understand that you never farm for maximum profit; you farm for maximum cleanliness – and then you will win.
“We can aim for the highest yields and all talk about big yields and profits, but with that focus you can end up with dirty paddocks,’’ Aaron said.
He said his family, within reason, now aimed for maximum cleanliness and understood they could still lose money in certain paddocks, which he acknowledged also had been the message from other farmers employing latest strategies to combat weeds.
However, after six years of harvester-integrated weed seed control, paddocks on the ‘Candeloro Farms’ properties through the Toodyay, Goomalling and Victoria Plains shires are becoming cleaner and, hence, they are winning.
Aaron and his brothers, Jerome and Dion, and their father, Joe, crop 13,500 hectares to wheat, barley, canola and lupins, and weeds have always governed their farming decisions.
“Depending on the weeds, we may need to change our rotation plans at times and perhaps go with canola more,’’ Aaron said.
“Ryegrass, radish and brome grass can all give us a headache. Herbicide-resistant weeds are an issue. We have 100 per cent Roundup resistance off firebreaks.’’
He said the family previously used chaff carts, which were good despite the chore of burning the chaff dumps, while they also sow crops late to help control early weed germinations upfront, they use a Kelly Chain to stimulate weed growth, and they undertake croptopping as well as swath spraying of canola.
The Candeloros adopted harvester-integrated weed seed control when the first hydraulic Harrington Seed Destructor for headers was introduced and they now use the latest vertical, mechanical direct drive Seed Destructor.
They have five New Holland CR10.90 harvesters all equipped with Seed Destructors.
“As our headers got bigger, the Seed Destructor kept up with the horsepower requirements to handle the bigger machines,’’ Aaron said.
“It has a good drive package, so belts don’t slip and you can drive to the load of the header motor – you want to harvest at full capacity.
“We can harvest with the Seed Destructor at 6-7 kilometres per hour.’’
He said the evolution to the vertical, mechanical direct drive Seed Destructor was “1000 per cent’’ better than the original hydraulic version and they encountered no problems with the systems during their first harvest recently.
Invented by WA grower Ray Harrington and independently shown to kill up to 99pc of weed seeds, the Seed Destructor is designed and manufactured by de Bruin Engineering and distributed nationally by McIntosh Distribution. The core mill technology was developed by UniSA with funding and support from GRDC.
“They are very easy to operate and there is little maintenance – we just grease a bearing. And the mills are worn-out now, but we got 570 hours with them, which we were happy with,’’ Aaron said.
“We harvested green canola and swathed canola and we had no problems with any blockages.’’
He said the stone trap with the Seed Destructors was a handy feature, allowing them to clear items like rocks, sand and wire twice a day in lupin crops and every morning in cereals.
The ability to remove the rear hatch was another benefit to offer the option of carrying out grain loss checks
The Candeloros also easily bypassed the Seed Destructor in one block, leaving chaff windrows to feed cattle.
With minimal rotor loss with the new harvesters and the high kill rate with the Seed Destructors, Aaron said they were confident they would continue to reduce their weed seed bank.
“After finishing just about the best harvest we have ever had, we are starting to see that radish is not a problem. We have still got isolated areas with radish problems, but we are not seeing whole farms as well.’’
“We have still got ryegrass, but previously we had patches with more ryegrass and less wheat. Now we have more wheat and less ryegrass.
“And if a weed problem does come up, we don’t have the header rows and so we are not spreading it throughout the paddock.’’
Aaron said the Seed Destructors were secured through McIntosh & Son at Wongan Hills, with excellent support from the branch underpinning the family’s long-term relationship with the business.
The Seed Destructors can be fitted to all major header brands, including Case IH, John Deere and CLAAS, as well as New Holland machines
Growers interested in further information about the vertical, mechanical Harrington Seed Destructor can contact their local dealer.