A MOUNT Gambier engineering firm will send the first of its improved Harrington Seed Destructors to a property near Northam in WA this week.
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De Bruin Engineering was awarded the exclusive commercial licence in May 2012 from the Grains Research & Development Corporation to manufacture the machines, which counteract herbicide-resistant weeds in continuous-cropping programs.
The brainchild of WA farmer Ray Harrington, it is towed behind the harvester and processes chaff residue to destroy annual weed seeds.
Extensive trials in the GRDC-funded Australian Herbicide Resistance Initiative before commercialisation, has found the HSD destroys more than 95 per cent of annual weed seeds and is capable of matching the capacity of a Class 8 header.
Last year De Bruin made two machines based on the initial GRDC prototype for farms at Hyden and Esperance in WA, but like any new invention there were some minor modifications required in the paddock, particularly with the cage mill which pulverises weed seeds to dust, extracted from the rear of the machine.
De Bruin general manager John Millhouse says the latest model to make the 3000-kilometre journey has a modified cage mill, is hydraulic drive instead of belt driven, and has an improved air cleaner system.
And the Isuzu truck engine is replaced with a Cummins QSB6.7 engine.
"There are little things we are trying to do better and learning from those first two machines," he said.
It was while searching for manufacturing opportunities outside the region that De Bruin came across the application for the licence of the HSD licence and proved its expertise to deliver it to market.
"The whole South East economy had really been struggling with the timber industry, so we started looking for opportunities in defence, agriculture and food," Mr Millhouse said.
"Our business is involved in design and drafting, fabrication, machining, blasting and painting and this machine utilised all our various capabilities. It was simply a good fit for our business."
Some modification is required to the back of a harvester to attach a HSD and given the long distances, De Bruin Engineering is leaving this interface work to engineering businesses closer to the farmers who bought the machines.
"This coming year we will try and simplify the way it is fed from the header but we have been building relationships with local dealers so we can provide the different threads needed for different models," he said.
Mr Millhouse acknowledges the HSD machine is a considerable investment at nearly $200,000, but says it has a quick pay-back period in reduced herbicide use, yield increase, reduced fertiliser costs from not burning paddocks, and optimal rotations.
A 2010 report by Transag estimates $29,000 in savings based on its use over 1000 hectares and shows a net benefit of nearly $29/ha after taking into account machinery finance, maintenance and fuel costs.
Mr Millhouse says that recent field days in WA, SA and NSW drew strong enquiries for the De Bruin HSD machines.
The company hoped to increase production in 2014 to between five and 10 machines and have already received its first orders.
* Full report in Stock Journal, October 17 issue, 2013.
