A cropping program covering about 11,000 hectares by the Burton family near Cleve is having much logistical success.
Jason Burton and his wife Julie, together with their sons Hank and Jed, and with the help of Jason’s father Ian, grow wheat, canola and lentils, as well as some barley and lupins, over dune swale soils, including good clays and sand over clay, running through to nice loam rises.
Continuously cropping for about 10 years they have put significant effort into soil amelioration works, including clay delving and assessment and application of lime and gypsum.
The cropping program is harvested by a strong equipment fleet including two John Deere X9 headers, plus a contract harvester if required, tipping grain into chaser bins and a 150-tonne motherbin before it is hauled to a local Viterra grain receival site or down to T-Ports at Lucky Bay using their three road train rigs.
“It’s all about efficiency and logistics with the harvest operation,” Jason said.
Jason said they targeted cost-effective logistical efficiency gains where possible and while the Elmer’s chaser used was slightly dearer than some others, it did offer more attractive features including full joystick control and an easily adjustable auger with four-way, proportional pivoting spout.
The joystick is part of Elmer’s optional Haulmaster Pro control system and works with five-point load cells and a Haulmaster Connect tablet to provide maximum auger control.
“I liked the joystick control,” Jason said.
“It’s easy to teach people and it gets rid of the hydraulic button.
“You can put someone on it and away they go.”
The Elmer’s chaser bins had since been popping up in the local area, with two neighbours now having a machine on their properties.
Meanwhile, the family’s chaser bin investment took Jason and Julie on a group tour to visit Elmer’s production facilities in Canada last year, including its latest 150t and 225t motherbins.
The group also enjoyed other memorable sites along the journey, which stretched from Vancouver to Calgary.
