Andrew Holland walks his MF9895 combine with a 50ft front up and down the east coast of Australia from southern Queensland to northern New South Wales to harvest cereals and sorghum for his contracting clients.
Andrew, from Young in NSW, is a one man contracting operation so having a combine that is simple to operate, productive and that can handle a variety of crops is very important to his business.
Purchasing his combine in October, after watching an MF9895 consistently harvesting over 100 tonne per hour at a demonstration earlier in the year, Andrew started putting the combine through its paces straight away.
“I’m confident, after harvesting bumper wheat yields on customers properties in Coonamble, that the MF9895 is offering me a huge step up in capacity and performance,” said Andrew.
Fulfilling Andrews’ capacity needs is the MF9895’s 350 bushel (12,334 litre) grain tank meaning fewer unloads, while the Direct High Volume (DHV) unloading technology makes unloading even faster, so more time is spent harvesting.
These features are especially significant to Andrew’s operation as his customers only work with mother bins. Consequently, the large grain tank and high volume flow unloading system is essential to Andrew’s operation.
The Direct High Volume unloading technology provides the fastest unloading rate in the industry. The MF9895 can unload at 4.5 bushels per second, meaning a 350 bushel tank only takes 80 seconds to unload.
The largest rotor in the industry is also a big drawcard for Andrew as the hydrostatically driven rotor allows him to harvest at a constant rotor speed for improved efficiency, plus the rotor is reversible from the comfort of the cab in the event of any crop blockages. Overall these features result in less crop damage and maximised grain quality.
Although capacity plays a big role in the performance of the combine, Andrew looks closely at the input costs, and is very happy with fuel usage in relation to productivity.
“I don’t expect anything more from the combine, it’s surprising me what it can handle. When I’m harvesting tall standing crops and only tanking in the heads, I’m constantly sitting on 60 tonne per hour,” said Andrew.
He’s also saving himself a lot of downtime; daily maintenance takes half an hour maximum of blowing down the machine and greasing nine lube points on the combine and front. While also saving him downtime is the ability to change settings from inside the cab to compensate for the changes in conditions or crops makes a big difference to Andrew’s day.
“Pre-recorded settings on the MF9895 make it easy to automatically adjust the combine to suit the crop type,” said Andrew. “Changing from a cereal to a pulse is a matter of changing the sieve, rotor speeds and concave clearance with the flick of a switch.”
As Andrew knows, the service that backs a combine plays a huge role in contracting confidence. So far he has already received four visits from his dealership Specialised Farm Machinery in Goondiwindi run by David and Jodie Eglington.
“They come over and check the moving parts and ensure that the combine is setup correctly and running well,” said Andrew. “You can’t underestimate the value of a good dealership backing your business.”
Overall Andrew is confident that his MF9895 combine will keep his business running at full speed far into the future.
For more information in the Massey Ferguson 9005 Series Combines contact your local dealer.
