Brandt Tractor a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Brandt Group of Companies,  announced that it has successfully acquired Cervus Equipment Corp., following a 97.66% endorsement for the deal in an October 12, 2021 vote by Cervus shareholders. The transaction sees publicly-traded Cervus transition to 100% private ownership in an all-cash deal.

The landmark transaction creates Canada’s largest-ever equipment dealer network, adding 64 agriculture, transportation, and material handling equipment locations to Brandt’s existing John Deere Construction & Forestry dealerships across Canada. When fully integrated, it will give Cervus’ customers access to Brandt’s extensive national parts and technical support infrastructure.

The purchase further establishes the firm’s position as a premier privately held Canadian company and the largest John Deere dealership in the world.

“The addition of Cervus’ branch network is a big win for customers in all of the affected markets. We’ve got a lot to offer and we’re ready to roll up our sleeves and earn the loyalty of our new customers through a combination of premium products and services and a consistent, high-quality customer support experience.”

says Brandt owner and CEO, Shaun Semple.

The deal gives Brandt unparalleled market penetration, expanding their geographical footprint and enabling the company to add, in select markets, John Deere agricultural equipment; Peterbilt transportation equipment; and Clark, Sellick, JLG, Baumann and other material handling equipment in addition to their already-impressive list of products and services.

With the acquisition of the Cervus locations in Canada, Australia and New Zealand, Brandt now owns and operates 120 full-service equipment dealerships with an additional 50+ service points and employs over 5100 people.

The transaction will make a significant impact across the industry as the company rolls out plans to introduce expanded parts inventories, service department capacities, and extended hours of operation at the former Cervus dealerships. As operations are integrated, staffing in these locations is expected to increase by up to 40% with significant new facility construction across the entire network.

“Cervus staff, customers, and their communities will all benefit from this acquisition through a stronger, more diversified network of support dealerships. Brandt is fully committed to ongoing investment in business infrastructure and community enhancement; there is a tremendous opportunity for everyone in this deal.”

concludes Semple.

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Richard has been farming for about 20 years in the region. The Waikato region had the largest share of dairy cows in New Zealandnat 22.4%. Indeed, the Waikato climate which tends to have warm, humid summers and mild winters is particularly suited for dairy farming with a good average grass growth rate.

Richard’s 220 dairy cows are milked on a once-a-day (OAD) system. This milking regime relatively common in New Zealand, used either as the overall farming system or tactically as a short-term response to adverse seasonal conditions.

Richard has owned another brand of bale feeder in the past, but there were a lot of moving parts and he broke the chain several times. He got tired of having to spend time in the workshop or at his dealer’s to fix the machine. So, he recently bought a Unrolla LM105 mounted bale feeder from his local Hustler dealer, Power Farming Morrinsville.

“I changed to Hustler because my other bale feeder had a lot more moving parts and would break chains fairly frequently.”

Richard has already adopted his new Hustler bale feeder, which was very easy to get to grips with. He is delighted with it, noting that it is robust and has far fewer moving parts. Richard only needs to grease the four nipples of the self-aligning, fully sealed block bearings to maintain his machine.

“The Hustler brand seems to have a lot less moving parts, (and) just seems very robust.”

Richard particularly likes the time-savers that come as standard on the machine. For instance, the unequal length tynes are a handy feature for quick and easy alignment when reconnecting the cradle, even on uneven ground.

“It just makes it so much easier to back the tractor and to hook up the buggy part of the bale feeder,”

Richard explained.

“Previously, I used to have to come on on a bit of an angle with my old bale feeder that forks were the same length.”

With a 100% hydraulic system, there’s not much that can go wrong with this unrollabale feeder. Moreover, the drive system is very simple: the hydraulic motor is located on the headstock and drives a pin that connects to the drive shaft when reconnecting the cradle to the headstock.

Investing in a Hustler bale feeder was also about additional peace of mind for Richard. It is a machine with a very robust chassis that is built to last.

The Unrolla range all come with strong 40 x 40 mm feed bars and zinc-plated chains rated to 24,000lbs. Not to mention the single piece fully enclosed floor in polyethylene, it’s non-corrosive, impervious to UV and very shock resistant.

“I would definitely recommend the Hustler LM105 bale feeder to any other dairy farmer.”

Source: Hustler 

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Mark is thrilled to have chosen a Hustler Applic8r mounted boom sprayer a few months ago and thinks it’s a “wonderful machine”. Mark farms on 5,500 effective hectares with about 46,000 stock units comprised of sheep, cattle and deer.

Mark was looking for a versatile and compact mounted boom sprayer that would handle a large variety of applications, from fertiliser to herbicide and insecticide on both crops and grass paddocks. He explains that with the Hustler Applic8r LX1150,

“we can use it all through this machine. All around, it’s just a good machine to use, for everything.”

The Hustler sprayer range is ideal for livestock farmers or crop farmers willing to use a sprayer in tight paddocks and small to medium size areas, especially on rough terrain or rolling hill country. Mark chose to equip his sprayer with a Hustler SonicBoom which is hydraulicly folded as

“you don’t have to get out and fold anything away,”

Mark said.

Some other time-savers make the Applic8r very easy to use according to Mark, such as the handy storage container on the side of the main tank or the extra freshwater tank.

For Mark, one of the key benefits is the GPS guidance unit he decided to add to his sprayer configuration.

“You can outline your paddock where you go it’ll paint the paddock for you, if you overlap or anything, that part of the boom is shut off itself automatically,”

Mark detailed.

Hustler Applic8r sprayer helped Mark to “save on chemical” and to get the perfect application for his operation.

“Hustler is a wonderful product, well made, the backup service and the people at the factory are just wonderful to deal with.”

Before buying his Hustler sprayer, Mark has done his homework, asking fellow farmers. Mark has received good feedback about the brand, whether it is the sprayers or other machines manufactured by Hustler. Several neighbours in the district own a Hustler product and they “can’t fault them” while “the backup service is really good”.

“All around, it’s just a good machine to use, for everything.”

As Hustler Equipment head office is based some 45 minutes away from Oheniwairua Station, Mark was also happy to support a local company with a good reputation.

Source: Hustler

The post [Job Story] Hustler Boom Sprayer in Action on a New Zealand Farm appeared first on North America FarmQuip Magazine.

He chose a Hustler Applic8r LX1150 mounted boom sprayer which he was able to fully customise to his needs. Watch the video to see why Brett is thrilled with his new Hustler sprayer!

Brett’s dairy farm, located near the village of Parakao in the Whangarei District and Northland Region of New Zealand’s North Island, extends over 412 hectares, with 311 hectares dedicated to the milking operation. With its subtropical climate, Northland offers a key competitive advantage for its agricultural sector. The region produces about 116,000 tonnes of dairy products each year.

With 820 milking cows and most of the maize silage produced on-farm, Brett can’t do without an effective sprayer for his crops. In the past, he had a Hustler Kapito sprayer but it was unfortunately involved in the fire. Both tractor and sprayer burned, “there was no other choice” except to buy a new one. As Brett was happy with the previous sprayer he used for eight to nine years without any issues, he decided to buy a brand-new Hustler. As a bonus, the new sprayer was also well positioned in terms of price.

“The old one was very reliable. It never gave any problems at all.”

Because every farmer and farm is different, Hustler offers a range of mounted boom sprayers that can be fully customized to suit your particular needs. This was a key feature that Brett particularly liked.

“We have a Hustler Applic8r LX1150. Hustler customised that for us.”

For his new sprayer, Brett chose the Applic8r LX1150 with a fully hydraulic SonicBoom to not waste time going in and out of the paddocks. This model comes standard with a handwashing tank, a built-in toolbox, the ViziGauge view, the adjustable MixMax agitation system, a QuickFlush flushing tank for easy cleaning, and all sorts of time-saver features.

“There is a very easy drain plug, it’s just a little pull cord at the back, which is brilliant!”

Brett chose to customise his sprayer with a handy storage box where he can put his chemical containers. He also set up the boom with 380-millimetre centers and triple nozzle bodies in order to cover various types of applications from herbicide to fertilisers. When needing to spray maize raws, at 760 millimetres apart, Brett just has to turn every second nozzle body off to get the perfect post-emergent spray!

Beyond that, Brett appreciates how Hustler sprayers are built to last and well thought-out. With a smart chassis/tank/pump integration, Hustler produces a tough and compact sprayer.

The built-in SkidPlate protects the vital parts of the machine from common obstacles faced when spraying. With this design, Brett doesn’t need to park his spray unit on a pallet and it’s “the best thing,” according to Brett. With

“the stand at the back, so you’ve got a heavy boom you can take it off and it’s got two stands that sit out, so it doesn’t try and fall over backward,”

Brett detailed.

Some improvements have been made since the Katipo sprayer generation, Brett noticed that

“the controller is a lot easier and more logical to use as well.”

The spray controller can be linked to an existing or new GPS tracking unit, including a customisable in-job layout.

Using a GPS system helps to rationalise the use of fertilisers and chemicals, ensuring targeted distribution while avoiding overlap or empty areas – meaning a consequent reduction in costs and operator fatigue. The sprayer GPS system can run and manage other ISOBUS implements, which is handy when the tractor is already equipped with a GPS like Brett’s tractor. However, if your tractor is not already equipped, Hustler partnered with Raven technology to offer the plug-and-play Raven CR7 GPS.

“I definitely recommend this machine, it’s brilliant, easy-to-use, good price, well-constructed, durable and they’ll customise it to what you want.”

Source: Hustler

The post [Job Story] Hustler Applic8r LX1150 Sprayer: The choice for a New Zealand Farmer appeared first on North America FarmQuip Magazine.

With this method the pumped water is primarily used for irrigation purposes; however, it is also used for flood control or water supply in general.

Over the years, this type of installation has also been used for other applications where system and environmental requirements were similar to those above: mines, industrial plants, etc.

Inclined submersible pumps offer numerous advantages compared to vertical pumps or horizontal pumps mounted on floating platforms, particularly because they are easily installed. The pump inclined on the bank of the basin requires no large structural parts to be installed, with consequent cost and time-saving.

Another important advantage of inclined submersible pumps is that they are highly compact machines and can be positioned on banks with very irregular slopes with no need for the shaft to be aligned, contrary to a vertical turbine pump.

Finally, the well-appreciated characteristics of this solution: pumps are easily handled, bearings are less stressed and the level of noise generated by these pumps is low.

The choice among a wide range of wet ends and submersible motors combined with Caprari know-how assures total reliability and efficiency in the selection and installation of the product with a guarantee of a long operating life of the system as demonstrated by the dozens of projects installed around the world.

Installations of the inclined submersible pumps are found in Queensland, Australia, where the banks of the water basin are very steep.

The solution offered by Caprari enabled an efficient water pumping system to be quickly installed to permit irrigation of the surrounding areas.

The post Caprari introduces the Inclined Installation for Submersible Electric Pumps appeared first on North America FarmQuip Magazine.

Through this agreement, John Deere dealers will sell and service the Smart-Apply Intelligent Control System which uses Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) and is compatible with John Deere tractors used in high-value crop applications.

The Smart-Apply Intelligent Spray Control System is an add-on kit for air-blast sprayers that are towed behind a John Deere tractor. Smart-Apply can reduce the potential for chemical drift and help decrease the amount of product being applied.

“We are excited to offer this innovative precision spraying solution to our customers for use with their John Deere tractors in high-value crop applications such as fruit and tree nut orchards, nurseries, and vineyards. The Smart-Apply system will help ensure that only the canopy gets sprayed and automatically adjusts spray volume based on plant density per nozzle zone. This results in the less wasted product while positively contributing to environmental sustainability, maximizing potential profit, and maintaining agronomic efficacy for our growers.”

said Greg Christensen, Go-To-Market Manager for John Deere.

According to Steve Booher, CEO, Smart Guided Systems, John Deere is known for having a world-class dealer channel and for providing outstanding sales, service, and support for their customers.

“The agreement gives our customers access to an innovative, field-proven precision-spraying control system for use in high-value specialty crops through a proven distribution channel,”

Booher said.

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The 865 loggers can be configured as a loader with boom options for various grapple types, or as a high capacity processor, capable of running large harvesting heads in demanding duty cycles. Dual swing drives will provide ample torque and speed for high-performance loading or processing.

Service access has been carefully thought out with the ability to step down into the center of the machine for clear, unobstructed access to the engine and daily service points. Large enclosure doors and a spring assist side service platform to provide a large, stable work area for performing maintenance on hydraulic components and changing filters. A large cast counterweight provides excellent stability with a swing-out door that allows access to the engine from the rear of the machine.

The rear entry elevated cab, full-length front window, and additional floor windows provide superior visibility with clear sightlines. LED lighting and the rearVIEW camera system further augment operator visibility.

Source: Tigercat

The post Tigercat teases the Tigercat 865 Logger appeared first on North America FarmQuip Magazine.

Komatsu announces the North American launch of its Smart Construction Remote application, which allows users to send new design data to machines in the field, and remotely support operators, without traveling to the job site.

Customers can remotely send files from their office to target machines, easily search all connected assets, and log in to a machine and see what their operator is seeing. They can also easily pinpoint the location of machines by job site and upload or download design files at any time from anywhere.

Using Smart Construction Remote’s capabilities, construction site managers can help operators troubleshoot issues in real-time by viewing the same data they do. They can add new files without the time commitment of traditional methods, and transfer design files to multiple machines on-site with one click.

Scott Christman, Earthwork division manager at Cornerstone One LLC, said:

“In today’s ever-changing construction environment, Smart Construction Remote is an invaluable, must-have tool. It provides troubleshooting and file transfers with the touch of a button from anywhere with internet access, minimizing crew downtime and maximizing production.”

Smart Construction Remote’s software is compatible with select makes of machines with installed Topcon devices and all Komatsu intelligent Machine Control models. Komatsu-certified experts are ready to help users get the most from the application and develop team capabilities.

Smart Construction Remote is one of Komatsu’s new Smart Construction Solutions, an umbrella of smart applications created to help construction customers orchestrate construction planning, better handle management, and scheduling, streamline costs, and optimize processes remotely in near real-time.

The post Komatsu announces Smart Construction Remote application appeared first on North America FarmQuip Magazine.

AGCO Agriculture Foundation (AAF), a private foundation based in Liechtenstein committed to ending hunger through sustainable agricultural development, has donated US$90,000 to three non-profit organizations to address hunger and poverty in communities worst hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The donations spread across the United Kingdom, Turkey, and Spain, will be used to purchase and distribute emergency food and household items for vulnerable households in communities where AGCO’s customers, dealers, suppliers, and employees live and work. The donations are part of the second phase of the AAF COVID-19 Aid Program, which supports emergency responses globally in communities where AGCO’s customers, dealers, suppliers, and employees live and work, including in the EME region.

During the first phase of the aid program, the AAF supported the emergency response by the United Nations World Food Program (WFP), with a funding amount of US$100,000 concentrated on the most vulnerable populations in countries in Latin America and Africa. Please visit the World Food Program USA’s donation page to support the AAF’s funding campaign or visit the SharetheMeal app and donate through the #AGCOAgricultureFoundation Team.

The AGCO Agriculture Foundation matches any contribution made to this campaign up to $100,000 to double its impact by raising additional funding to feed 342 children for a year and support WFP’s lifesaving work in 83 countries, which includes initiatives to support small-scale farmers and more.

said Metti Richenhagen, Managing Director, AGCO Agriculture Foundation:

“The AGCO Agriculture Foundation is committed to making long-term impacts in our most vulnerable communities as the presence of COVID-19 calls for ongoing support. We are proud to provide not only global but also local funding to support resources and initiatives that help communities in our EME region that are heavily impacted by the pandemic and economic uncertainty.”

The respective non-profit organizations are committed to utilizing the donation to provide emergency responses and drive impacts on their communities.

Trussell Trust will direct the donation to the food bank program in the UK to provide emergency food and support to people locked in poverty and crisis and campaign for change to end hunger in the UK. The funds will be used to support the development of emergency storage and distribution systems to ensure that donated bulk supplies are rapidly delivered to individual food banks. The foodbanks distributed more than 6,250 emergency food parcels every day at the onset of the pandemic, and 3,000 of the beneficiaries were children.

For World Food Program-Turkey, the donation will be used to provide a critical lifeline to vulnerable people in Turkey, mostly refugees. The funds will also be used to support the WFP Adaption of Livelihoods Project (“Kitchens of Hope”) under COVID-19 in eight provinces of Turkey – Ankara, Istanbul, Izmir, Urfa, Adana, Kilis, Mardin, and Gaziantep. Funds will cover for the purchase of food, raw materials, and other inputs to support municipal soup kitchens as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Turkey. The organization will provide up to two meals per day for over 4,000 people in eight cities.

Banco de Alimentos will use the donation to enable the food bank in Madrid to obtain food, transport, and distribute it to the neediest people in the region of Madrid, which has been severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The organization is collecting whole foods from supermarkets and fruit and vegetables in the central market of Mercamadrid. In addition, the organization will facilitate social integration of the most disadvantaged community and education on food waste, healthy diet, and health safety. The organization is now delivering more than 190,000 meals per day, reaching most children.

“AGCO is always looking for the best way to support communities and customers in our regions. In such an unprecedented time like this, this support becomes a joint responsibility to address the impacts of the pandemic on economies and livelihood,”

said Torsten Dehner, Senior Vice President and General Manager of AGCO EME.

“We firmly believe that a resilient agriculture industry is essential, and our top priority is maintaining access to safe, healthy, and nutritious food throughout the COVID-19 pandemic fight.”

AGCO donates personal protective equipment and medical supplies in the EME region

In Germany, Fendt, an AGCO brand, and its cabin factory in Asbach-Bäumenheim produced 3D-printed face shields and donated them to doctors, local aid organizations, county associations from the Bavarian Red Cross, and regional dentists. In addition, five Fendt face shields were sent to every dealer location in Germany, Italy, France, Spain, and England to ensure the safety of AGCO dealers and their host communities.

In France, AGCO and Massey Ferguson are responding to the call of the specially created French non-profit organization “Les Visières de l’Espoir” – “Hope’s Face Shields” initiated by 3DNatives, a French specialized 3D printing media. In the Beauvais manufacturing facility, Massey Ferguson is now using its 3D printing capacity to donate full-face shields to its local community and frontline health workers who are heroes working hard to save lives from the coronavirus pandemic. The AGCO Beauvais team, together with its GIMA colleagues donated 10,000 surgical masks as well as gloves and overalls from its own stocks to the Beauvais Hospital to support the medical personnel.

In Italy, AGCO’s Gold Harvesting Competence Center in Breganze has contributed to the fundraising campaign Aiutiamo i nostri medici (Help our Doctors) with the full commitment of all the staff and workers’ unions, raising 20,000 €. The project was promoted by the Santorso Town Council to support the local hospital’s COVID-19 center for the whole province of Vicenza. In addition to buying essential items and equipment to increase the number of intensive care beds, some of the donations went towards alternative housing for health workers who did not want to put their families at risk by going home after their shifts.

Source: AGCO

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In this third 2020 Fendt Momentum Crop Tour field update, Agco Corporation agronomists report their observations of the effect of compaction on plant height.

Cornrows of uneven height can be a sign of compaction caused by planters. The weight of most high-capacity, central-fill planters is concentrated on the center transport wheels, causing excessive compaction on either side of the center wheel-track rows.

This compaction at planting, resulting in what is commonly referred to as pinch rows, restricts root growth on both sides of the row and reduces uptake of nutrients and water, often preventing plants from reaching their maximum height. Stunted plant growth above ground is often an indicator of what is occurring below ground, typically translating into yield reduction in the shorter rows, says Jason Lee, Agco agronomist, and farm solutions specialist.

Managing planter weight and compaction

In 2020, Agco Crop Tour plots were designed to compare how different levels of soil compaction at planting affect plant growth and corn yield. Lee and the Agco team planted three side-by-side plots in several states using the Fendt Momentum planter at one of three settings:

1. Load balance. The planter’s optional Load Logic system automatically monitors and hydraulically transfers weight equally to all wheels, while also automatically adjusting inflation pressure in the wide, very high-flexion tires to the lowest manufacturer-recommended pounds per square inch (psi) for the weight of the planter at any moment during planting.
2. Controlled traffic. The Load Logic system intentionally pulls the weight from the wings and concentrates it on the in-line tandem transport wheels, also with auto-adjusted low tire pressure. This setting is best for growers who strive to keep all field passes in precise traffic lanes to protect the rest of the field―and yield―from wheel-traffic soil compaction.
3. Disabled. With the Load Logic system disabled, the planter operates much like other central-fill planters, with the weight concentrated in the middle of the planter and tire inflation pressures at a static 55 psi, a common road-transport pressure level.

Because the same tractor was used to plant all three plots in a given location, any differences noted between plots could be attributed solely to the different planter settings described above. Tractor tire pressures also were maintained at a low psi to minimize the soil compaction damage created by the tractor.

Compaction from the load on the center of the planter stunts plant height

In the Agco Crop Tour location near Chillicothe, Ohio, in particular, Lee says center rows were noticeably shorter in the plots planted when Load Logic was disabled (see the top half of photo) or operating with controlled traffic settings. The height of corn planted with the planter at Load Logic’s load balance setting, however, was even across all rows (bottom of photo). Based on previous research related to pinch-row compaction, Lee says he would expect to see even greater differences in plant height if the corn had been planted with a central-fill planter with dual transport wheels, as opposed to the Momentum planter, whose in-line tandem center transport wheels eliminate planter-induced pinch rows.

To record plant height differences in the plots, Agco agronomists measured the height of several plants in rows on both sides of the in-line tandem center transport wheel tracks in each of the three different plots. Figure 1 shows the average height differences due to compaction found in the Crop Tour plots in Pontiac, Illinois; Stewartville, Minnesota; and Casselton, North Dakota. When averaged across all three locations, corn in the center rows planted with equal weight on all planter wheels (Load Logic’s load balance setting) was, on average, 2 inches taller than center-row corn planted with Load Logic’s controlled traffic setting, and 4 inches taller than center-row corn planted with no weight management and with constantly high tire inflation pressure.

Check your fields for compaction

Lee says:

“Compaction severity is going to vary from year to year and from field to field. Depending on soil type, moisture conditions, tire inflation pressure, axle loads, and more.”

In addition to noting plant height variations between rows in fields,

“a good way to assess pinch row compaction in your fields is to do hand-yield checks in rows between center transport wheel tracks and in rows with no compaction effects (no tire tracks on either side),”

he says.

“Compare the yield differences in those two types of rows, then do that in multiple areas of the field to better assess if you are losing bushels to pinch-row compaction,”

Lee says. If you see losses, he recommends considering lower tire pressures, not planting into wet soil, and looking at technology changes to lessen soil compaction in the next season.

Source: AGCO

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