Farms & Farm Machinery #385

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smooth operator
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Italy’s Celli range of
cultivators is back in
Australia and its new
machines are helping
farmers prepare soil for
sowing like never before
1. The Rotary Hoe Combovator in action
2. The Power Harrow Combovator
3. Used as a rotary hoe only
We can adjust the
pressure we use on the
bed, to the depth we
actually run the cultivator.
The story starts with grader blades – specificall , the ones
developed over 40 years ago by a New Zealand inventor
trying to help them penetrate better into the soil.
Those blades became the foundation of Farmgard, one of NZ’s
most successful agricultural manufacturers and importers of
international machinery brands.
The company’s business development manager, Russell
Dalziel, says the family business has always been very focused
on getting the little things right.
“We don’t have 20–30 franchises, we only have six brands and
our real specialty is cultivation, slurry distribution and animal
feeding,” he says.
“We are very much a machinery business.”
Aside from its grader blades, Australians might best know
Farmgard as the local distributor of Ireland’s Abbey range of
mixer wagons and slurry tankers.
True to its ideals, Farmgard brings in only seven effluent
disposal units and two feed mixers from the manufacturer’s
extensive range, though Dalziel says the company is always able
to import bespoke units on request.
“We bring in two sizes of feed mixers – a 12 cubic metre single
auger unit and a 24 cubic metre twin auger unit,” he says.
“They’ve got 15mm augers with 20mm floors – very low
height augers which means there is not a lot of stress on the
gearboxes.”
“We also have options of side door and front door discharge
and if customers want extended elevators we can build them
locally – up to 3m,” he adds.
Dalziel says Farmgard has been selling the Abbey models in
Australia for over 10 years, after first setting up he e about 12
years ago through a third party distributor.
Since deciding to expand further in Australia, the company
has extended its local product offering to include the Stanhay
precision planting range and, in 2017, the Celli range – which
it had distributed in New Zealand only for the previous
40-odd years.
A CULTIVATED SELECTION
The Celli range, much of which comes with a two-year warranty,
comprises power harrows, rotary hoes, spading machines and
rippers, among others.
But Dalziel says it is a new combination of two cultivating
devices that has generated the most excitement in recent
months.
Celli’s Combovator bed-forming system combines soil
cultivation and raised bed formation in one pass – by bolting on
a bed former or roller to a power harrow or rotary tiller.
Dalziel says it was a design developed after tests in New
Zealand and Australia – with designers coming up with new
ways to deal with local soils.
“In most cases what has happened in the past is growers have
purchased a cultivation machine, like a rotary till or a power
harrow, and built their own bed formers on the back, and that
still goes on today,” Dalziel says.
“Often the weight is increased and normally they are fixed so
you don’t have a lot of room for adjustments in them.
“With the Combovator it is ex-factory, so it is built specifically
to fit onto that machine – which means they can minimise the
weight carrying to get the best efficiency out of it ”
Combovators are developed in consultation between the
farmer and Celli; to help, the company can match the customer
with the right cultivation equipment for their desired bed sizes.
Farmgard says that the Combovator has a horsepower rating
of 250hp (186kW) and up, but Dalziel says that smaller single row
machines, with lower horsepower requirements, will also be
available soon.
Dalziel adds that the Combovator is also designed to allow the
bed former to be lifted and/or removed, meaning the rotary hoe
or power harrow can operate as a cultivator only – or to attach a
standard roller to the end in its place.
Being able to operate as a 2-in-1 unit helps reduce capital
investment costs and provides better resale value and flexibility
of use, Farmgard says.
Depth control is maintained through Farmgard’s Z link
hydraulic system, which can also raise the bed former out of the
way when needed as a cultivator only.
“It gives us a lot of flexibility in adjustments ” Dalziel says.
“We can adjust the pressure we use on the bed, to the depth
we actually run the cultivator, so it gives us quite a versatile
machine.”
The Z link also allows the operator to control the tilth of the
soil and how much is held inside the machine, while downward
pressure on the bed can be changed on the go.
The bed former pontoons have a bolt-on design, meaning
they can be changed as desired to suit different crops, and for
different wheel centres, bed heights and wheel track angles.
Celli power harrows and rotary tillers range between 1.0m and
7.2m wide, with all folding units having a 2.5m transport width.
Farmgard has dealers in every Australian state and distribution
hubs in Melbourne and Brisbane, with an extensive array of
spare parts available when you need it most.
For more information, visit the Farmgard webpage
at http://farmgard.com.au
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