IN FOCUS FARMING AUTUMN 2023
MEET DEALERS RAMSEY BROS More than just a machine
THE FUTURE OF FARMING Feed the world
Drone Technology
BENEFITS FOR THE AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRY
Your Farm, Our Focus
2.
AUTUMN 2023
Letter from the Editor
I regret to say this will be my last opportunity to write this letter as my time at K-line Ag is drawing to a close. My 30 years through the life of K-line Ag from its inception has been a pleasurable experience. I can only say both the Rural industry and its People are the backbone of Australia and are an absolute pleasure to work with!!
A long with this the K-line Ag team known for its Customer service Excellence and since the CNH acquisition, the wider CNH team that I have been fortunate to work with have provided me with many pleasurable memory’s and learning experiences. 2023 Looks set to be another good season for the cropping and livestock industry with an average rainfall prediction due to La-nina drawing to a close. Most regions are fortunate enough to have substantial sub-soil moisture reserves, which will need rain by early to mid-April to join up to and make way for winter planting. Growers who were ahead of the game in managing their early summer weeds are definitely on the front foot having ensured they have conserved their subsoil and retained Nitrogen adding value to the 2023 cropping season. The 23 season has season some softening in most commodity pricing both with Lamb,
rain has resulted in hard panning issues in which we will find over the next 12 months farmers will need to be subsoiling to ensure both adequate aeration and root penetration. It is excellent to see K-line on a broader scene punching above its weight shipping high volumes of equipment into the Global market, we have seen the US and Canada market continue from strength to strength along with new markets opening up in South Africa and N.Z. To anyone reading this article I would like to thank you for your support of the K-line brand and its team and it is with great pleasure for me to be handing my responsibility as the ANZ head of Sales over to David Gibson. Being central west NSW born and raised, Dave has a proven track record with 17 years in the CNH family and a passion for Ag industry.
Grain and Beef. However due to the fact this off the back of above average pricing in 2022, everything looks set for a positive year in most commodities and regions. K-line Ag has experienced unprecedented demand for new equipment, especially for the tillage product range. This is largely of the back of 2 extremely wet years coupled with the final run of the Federal Govt 100% depreciation tax plan. The Speedtillers have become the most sort after piece of Equipment across all states of Australia due to the need to manage the excessive amounts of residue, controlling the onset of summer weed growth and getting rutted and flooded country back into shape for the coming cropping season. Other products we have seen an uptake in sales for are the Trackattack for managing wheel ruts in the controlled traffic sector and rippers, primarily the Maxxripper and Thunder-Ripper. Two seasons of heavy
Thank you Bill Larsen.
If you’re looking for a thoughtful way to bid farewell to Bill, we’ve got you covered! An electronic card has been made available for anyone who wishes to send him a heartfelt message. You can easily access this card through the provided link. To ensure that your message is received, kindly make sure to submit it before 30/6/2023. Don’t miss this opportunity to show Bill how much he’ll be missed! https://www.groupgreeting.com/sign/269cc10199a5a2f
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3.
AUTUMN 2023
Drone Technology in Agriculture
Technology is certainly changing rapidly particularly in agriculture. As producers around the world battle with cost of production issues, environmental changes, commodity price fluctuations, land values and many other factors including skilled labour shortages, the challenges facing our food and fibre producers are enormous.
F rom our perspective in the world of agronomy, the last five years have been extremely challenging climatically with one of the worst prolonged droughts in memory, to three years of abundant rainfall finishing in devastating floods for some. Throw into the mix in 2022, the doubling of cropping inputs and increase in value in grains, oilseeds, fibre, and red meat, has placed many producers to cost operating levels never seen before. The risks have suddenly become extremely high, and the rewards (if realised) could also be significant. In the last three years, we have been doing a significant amount of work using drone technology in many applications of agriculture including broadacre cropping, pasture and high intensity irrigation programs. The more we are exposed to drone technology the more value we can see now and more importantly into the future. The applications are endless and as technology develops, the more effective and user friendly, they are going to be. Some of the applications currently in use on a commercial basis over the past three years, include: Weed Mapping • Detecting individual weeds by way of leaf or flower structure in a similar crop or pasture. • Detecting types, populations, and locations in winter crops. different weed
may create more efficiency and accuracy of reporting and/or application. We can already see significant cost savings in weed control in comparison to traditional methods and although the application may not yet be perfect, the technology and application are moving ahead at rapid speed. In the future, we can see limitless applications for drones and other imagery sources, such as: • Measuring dry matter production. • Use in herbicide resistant management by plant identification and weed mapping. • Nutrition monitoring. • Pest and weed identification. • Control measurement. • Disease monitoring - both through physical presence and heat measurement (catching the disease before it expresses out in the leaf). • Large scale weed mapping in rugged terrain. • Stock monitoring. • Water monitoring. • pot spraying - plant specific control. • Fully automated monitoring and/or application. Like any technology application this space is developing rapidly and the benefits to the agricultural industry could be significant. It’s a matter now of demonstrating that commercial value to all parties.
Plant Population Monitoring and Mapping • A specific advantage for those crops that rely heavily on specific plant populations to maximise production. Particularly in irrigated crops such as cotton and sweet corn or even canola in a broadacre situation. The mapping can be used for replanting scenarios with coverage maps generated and variable seeded if plant populations need elevating. Fallow Weed Management • Including broadacre spraying with drones (when ground or aerial application were not an option) or mapping weed populations and locations to feed into a compatible boom spray for spot spraying purposes. Spot Spraying Specific Weeds • Taking data from a weed scanning application and loading a coverage map into the drone for targeted weed control. Broadacre Spraying • In terrain not suitable for ground or aerial application, targeting hard to kill noxious weeds such as St. John’s Wort. Insect Detection As mentioned previously, the opportunities for the use of drone technology into the future are endless and as technology improves so does the functionality and practicality of the technology. With skills and labour shortages more evident than ever in agriculture, technology such as the use of drones or satellite imagery
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4.
AUTUMN 2023
Buy more than just a machine
With six dealerships dotted across South Australia’s lush pastoral districts, Adelaide-based Ramsey Bros. is one of the largest specialist farm equipment suppliers in the state
G roup Sales Director Tim Glover says the line-up of tillers, rippers and ground management tools offered by K-Line Ag is growing in popularity with his broadacre farming customers. Wheat, barley and canola are the dominant crops in the communities of Cleve, Cummins, Kimba, Murray Bridge, Riverton and Wudinna, where Ramsey Bros. operates, along with some lentil and other legume crops. K-Line’s reputation for soil conditioning is also finding favour with South Australia’s world-famous vineyards. “I’ll admit that Ramsey Bros. was probably a bit of a slow burn for K-Line for a while,” Tim says. “But in the last couple of years we’ve become a significant stocking dealer for their products, and our guys have got on board,” Tim says. “It’s not just the agronomic and end-result benefits. The fact K-Line is Australian made, the quality of the build, that sort of thing. That pretty quickly permeated through to our customers, and now K-Line’s a significant partner in our business.”
Quality and value for money rank highly on customers’ checklists, but so too does dealing with an equipment supplier which backs up its product. “K-Line is really good at making sure the end user is satisfied with the product, and the product works to the best of its capability,” Tim says. “I’ve been really impressed by their openness, the reliability, the interaction, the willingness to go that extra step not only for us as a dealer, but also for the customers. “That attention to detail also carries across from the way that they deal with us, to the way that their machines are constructed and presented.” Popular models with Ramsey Bros. customers include the Speedtiller Powerflex®, Trackattack® and Trashcutter®. “We cut our teeth, like a lot of K-Line dealers, on the Trashcutter. We progressed to the Track Attack and we surely do a lot with the PowerFlex these days,” he says. Key concerns for Ramsey Bros.’ broadacre
clientele are stubble management and preparing seedbeds. “It’s about getting that stubble back into the soil, reducing areas of drift and that sort of stuff by the stubble incorporation,” Tim says. “There’s a few guys that have bought them as part of their program to address sand hills and blowouts and things like that. “Vineyard applications are a little bit different, a little bit more weed control, but it’s also just growing cover crops and incorporating them back in between the vines. “The feedback we receive from the customer is always consistent – the product’s doing exactly what I want, with no complication or fuss.” Tim offers two key pieces of advice for farmers on the hunt for quality agricultural machinery. “Deal with a dealer you know, who has runs on the board and reliability,” he says. “And remind yourself that it’s not just about today. Think about tomorrow, and what’s going to happen when you need service and back-up.”
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5.
AUTUMN 2023
We’ve got a job to feed the world
Y ou’d struggle to find a farmer who considers their work ‘just’ a job. But for South Australian hay and grain grower Gavin Schuster, it’s an honour to create primary produce – perhaps even a calling. “We’ve got a job to feed the world,” he says. “We’re at the start of the food chain. When you look at a grain of wheat, what you harvest, and follow that right through to a piece of bread on the table, and see how many people that employs, it’s just incredible. When you think about that, we’ve got a very, very important job in the world.” Schuster is the leader of a multi-generational farming family that could yet span seven generations – if his grandchildren grow to share his passion. It seems a good bet, as they’re the children of Schuster’s three sons, all of whom grew up on the long-held family farm and still live close-by, helping to run the 2600-hectare plot in Freeling, 60 kilometres north of Adelaide. “Keeping the next generation excited is the future of farming,” Schuster says. “There’s always something different to do on the property. That makes it exciting. It’s not a factory job where you’re doing the same thing every day. There’s always new challenges, and every year is different. That’s good for encouraging the next generation.” Growing up on the farm himself, Schuster succumbed to its irresistible draw. “Farming, agronomy, all that sort of stuff, is all about experience,” he says. “That’s why I think multi-generation farms can be quite successful, because of the fact that the knowledge is passed down through the generations.” He and his sons run an operation which produces a range of hays – about 50% of which are exported – plus a variety of food
cultivation we get on three degrees, which I think is the first pin. And maybe we might get a bit of a germination with that. “And then it’s just simple things like chopping up long lentils and stuff like that. I think it’s going to be good for that, because it cuts it in six-inch long pieces, so it’s perfect for what we’re after.” Like the Speedtiller, the Trashcutter® is able to get across the ground more quickly than many other comparable machines, at rates of up to 16 to 18 km/h. “So that’s made us a lot more efficient,” he says. Speed counts for more than just efficiency. “What’s the difference between a good farmer and a bad farmer? About a week,” Schuster quips. “It’s all about timeliness. It’s critical to farming today. You miss something by a week and you’re history. That can be with fungicides, fertiliser applications, or anything. We’re always looking for new technology in equipment. Doesn’t matter what type of equipment as long as it helps us to improve our timeliness.” There have been remarkably few dramas with Schuster’s growing K-Line Ag fleet, but minor issues have always been quickly addressed by the local South Australian dealer, Ramsey Bros., or by the company’s headquarters itself, based in Cowra, New South Wales. “I’ve always been able to get on to the K-Line guys over at the factory, if I can’t get hold of a dealer here,” Schuster says. “Overall, we haven’t had any issues with them. You ring them up and they organise the parts and get them across. “The strength of the machine is what it all boils down to. That gives us the timeliness, as well as longevity.”
staples including wheat, barley, canola, peas and lentils. He describes the Freeling district as a “blessed” location, with generally reliable growing conditions and good yields. His first machine from K-Line Ag was a nine- metre Speedtiller® Powerflex, purchased six years ago and still going strong. “The quality and strength of the build is unbelievable. It’s over-engineered, which is good for longevity, so you don’t mind paying a bit extra. And it’s Australian made, which is another positive,” Schuster says. “We converted from an opposition-brand disc to the Speedtiller, which allows us to get over the ground a bit quicker, around 14 to 15 kilometres per hour. “It gives us more of a level finish to smooth out the paddocks. We’re after a shallow tilling so we can get quicker germination. Over the last few years we seem to not be getting a lot of germination before seeding, so by giving the ground a light till-through and covering the seed that’s on the surface with a bit of soil, we’re getting instant germination on a light rainfall.” Schuster has since purchased a 3.6-metre trailed Speedtiller primarily for wheel track renovation. “I use that one just to rip up and level our wheel tracks, if we have wheel track problems,” he says. “So instead of a wheel track renovator like the TrackAttack®, we just work up the whole 3.6 metres, because we’re only on 2.5 metre wheel spaces.” With his pair of K-Line Ag Speedtillers getting the job done, he recently purchased a Trashcutter®. “We wanted to just try the Trashcutter, it’s the first year and it’s doing a marvellous job with our canola stubbles, and might allow us to not use the Speedtiller quite as much,” he says. “We’re going to see how good a shallow
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6.
Welcome to the team AUTUMN 2023
Danny Kosasih Welder Fabricator
What’s the best thing (so far) about working at K-Line Ag? The best thing about working at K-line AG is that I or we can control and manage our time effectively. This allows us to work at our best during the day and still have time to spend with our family. It has given me the best work-life balance that I have ever experienced. What would you like to be doing in 5 years time? First of all, I would like to become familiar with my role at K-line. In the second year, I would like to improve myself through training relevant to my job, so that I can become more efficient and useful in helping K-line reach its production and market targets. Once I have mastered my role 100%, I hope to be able to move into a new position as a Welding Instructor within 5 years. This would allow me to train and mentor young people and regenerate the pool of skilled welders at K-line for future projects.
Description of your role at K-Line Ag Ensure that all the required parts for assembly are present. Mark cutting lines on the material. Confirm that all parts are properly fitted, aligned & screwed in. Ensure that quality control standards are met. What attracted you to this position? I believe I have the knowledge and skills required to succeed in this role and at the company. As a welder at K-line, I consistently achieved the highest quality standards for the products we built. Welding requires a steady hand, similar to a surgeon, breathing control like a swimming athlete, a precise sewing hand like a tailor, and problem-solving skills like a chess master. As a skilled welder, I possess all of these abilities. I believe that K-line already has a strong welding team, and I am eager to contribute my skills and become a valuable addition to this team.
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7.
News in Short AUTUMN 2023
K-LINE AG’S 30-YEARS OF INNOVATION AND GROWTH K-Line Ag celebrated its 30th anniversary with an open day event showcasing its commitment to Australian manufacturing and innovative, efficient tillage equipment. The company, known for its dedication to sustainability and local job creation, has been a significant player in the Australian agricultural market. For more insights into K-Line Ag’s history, its manufacturing processes, and its dedication to innovation and sustainability, visit our website. Learn more about this industry leader’s impact on the agricultural machinery market and their exciting future prospects.
WHEN IT COMES TO RESIDUE MANAGEMENT, THERE’S ONE CLEAR-CUT WINNER Residue management in crop farming is vital, considering factors like crop type, weather, soil health, and time of year. Options include burning, residue retention, inter-row cropping, and incorporation, each with pros and cons. K-Line Ag’s Speedtiller® exemplifies an effective strategy called incorporation, where residue is reintegrated into the soil, enhancing its nutrient value. Interested in learning more? Visit our website to read the full article and explore the benefits of our unique approach to residue management.
MOISTURE MASTERY MADE EASY WITH THE TRACKATTACK®
Moisture management is pivotal for farming success, impacting crop yield and farm profitability. K-Line Ag’s TrackAttack® optimises moisture management, enhancing soil health, crop yield, water efficiency, and overall productivity. To learn more about TrackAttack® and its revolutionary approach to moisture management, visit our website. Explore firsthand experiences from farmers and discover how to improve your farming operations and sustainability.
READ MORE https://k-line.net.au/news/ celebrating-k-line-ags-30- years-of-innovation-and- growth
READ MORE https://k-line.net.au/news/ moisture-mastery-made- easy-with-the-trackattack
READ MORE https://k-line.net.au/news/ when-it-comes-to-residue- management-theres-one- clear-cut-winner
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8.
Staff Spotlight AUTUMN 2023
Rinda Rohmaniyah IT - MRP and System Administrator How long have you worked at K-Line Ag? 2 years Tell us about what a normal workday looks like for you? I start work at 8 am, and the first thing I usually do is check my emails and open my IT request list. I prioritize the most urgent requests and try to complete at least 5 big tasks, depending on the number of impromptu requests I receive throughout the day. When there are fewer requests, I speak with staff from different departments to understand their pain points when using the system. This helps me identify areas for improvement, which in turn helps to make the system better! What do you think about K-Line machines? K-Line machines are built to be strong,
engineered in Australia by farmers, for farmers. I am incredibly proud to be a part of K-Line Ag! What is the best thing about your job? I work with several departments, including Engineering, Production, Purchasing, Operations, Sales, and IT, to solve business problems within the system. This has not only helped me gain new skills and knowledge, but has also allowed me to build better relationships with staff in all departments. I have learned a lot from them, as they are very knowledgeable. What is the worst thing about your job? When I need to work on system development, sometimes I have to do it when no one is using the system. This means working after hours or even on weekends. What do you like doing in your spare time? I love camping and bushwalking, and when I feel like taking it easy, I enjoy watching movies.
My joke of the season Why was six afraid of seven? Because 7-8-9.
durable, and of high-quality. Most importantly, they are designed and
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Dealer Network
K-Line Ag products are sold under the K-Line Ag name in Australia through our existing network of Case IH, New Holland and selected independent dealers. If unsure who your nearest dealer is check out https://k-line.net.au/find-a-dealer or call us on 1800 194 131
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