A 24-METRE double-disc planter bought over the internet second-hand from the US has been put to work this summer sowing sorghum and cotton on cropping paddocks throughout Southern Queensland and North West NSW.
Toobeah farmers and cropping contractors Bruce Lamey and his son, Christopher, took delivery of the wide-scale planter late last year and have wasted no time pressing it into action - it has already sown more than 4000 hectares this season.
In addition to planting crops on their own farm at Toobeah, the Lameys have contract-sown crops on farms throughout the region, including the massive Milton Downs between Moree and Wee Waa.
Mr Lamey said they decided to import the John Deere CCS 90 seeder to upgrade from their long-serving 12m, John Deere Maxemerge planter.
They were after a bigger, more technologically advanced machine that would cover more ground and give greater fuel and cost efficiencies.
"In its day the Maxemerge has been quite a good machine and still works well, but the disadvantage with it over the new machine is that all the down force is mechanical. On the new one it is done with airbags," he said.
"The airbag system allows us to drop the pressure off in the softer going and build it up in the harder going. If you go across a hard ridge you can give it a bit more to keep the consistency."
Mr Lamey said while the machine was originally a 28m-wide unit, they had dropped off two sowing units to bring it down to 24m to suit their planting system. With extensions, it could be stretched out to 36m if required.
"We sow between 18 and 20ha/hour which is about double what we could with the Maxemerge machine," he said.
"We are using the same tractor, a Case 285 that is 280hp (210kW) which handles it okay. The only trouble we have had is where the country is wet from earlier flooding we have had to put dual wheels on the tractor for floatation.
"It uses the same amount of fuel with the 24m as what it does for the 12m which means we have halved the fuel use. You can fill up and go all day."
Mr Lamey said the double-disc configuration was currently set on one-metre rows but could be brought back to 50cm if required.
Whereas some planter models have individual seed boxes above each seeding unit that have to be filled manually, the CCS90 has two large seeding bins which distribute seed to individual heads above every seeding unit.
"They are just the normal vacuum seeding unit with a little distributor box. It is put there by air and there is no worry about the tubes blocking up," he said.
Another difference is that the CCS90 seeding system is GPS-controlled whereas on the Maxemerge it is driven by ground-engaging wheels.
The GPS on the planter, which is independent of the tractor's GPS, operates the seed distributor and ensures an even seeding rate. It monitors ground speed and increases or decreases the seeding rate as the machine changes speed.
"There is no wheel to drop down a hole or a chain to come off. It is foolproof," he said.
Mr Lamey said one of the limitations of a large machine that was 24m wide and 12m from the back of the tractor to the sowing units was that it couldn't effectively be operated in confined irrigation layouts with tight headlands.
"So we focus on broadacre dryland and we are also going to use it to put fertiliser down through stubble," he said.
There is a pivot point at each set of wheels and the drawbar is telescopic so the machine can be folded up to a width of less than four metres for travelling on public roads.
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