Photo courtesy of Great Plains.

Great Plains announces newly designed flex harrow

Great Plains is launching its newest conventional tillage tool, the CT8300 Heavy-Duty Flex Harrow. The CT8300 Flex Harrow is designed to be versatile in seedbed preparation, product incorporation, residue management and weed control. An enhanced ladder frame design provides durability across a wide range of customer applications, and the strengthened toolbar and narrow tongue eliminate the need for wing cables, permitting tighter turns. The CT8300 is available in 15 different widths ranging from 18 to 60 feet. Models 33-foot and larger feature walking tandems to maintain consistent mainframe height even on rough terrain. All tires are standard-sized, 12-ply implement tires with radial tires as an option on machines that are 45 feet and larger. 

CT8300 Flex Harrows are available with eight or 16 rows of bar tines. Each section of four bars can be added or removed for flexibility. Spaced 9 inches apart, the tines are 1-and-a-half inches, or 25%, longer than competitive models. A new drag bar connector system keeps all spikes at a consistent, uniform angle across the tool. Tines can be run at 50 or 38 degrees for greater or less aggressive finishing. This new design also provides straighter tracking of the drag sections. 

Just one SCV control lifts and folds the CT8300, resulting in less downtime when transporting between fields. This also allows the unit to be pulled behind other tillage implements. The hinges on the CT8300 are designed to be maintenance-free, extremely durable and capable of carrying greater wing loads. For added strength, the overall width of the hinge increases as the wing sizes increase.

—Excerpt from Great Plains press release

Flexible new tool for fall weed control

Drought and drought recovery make this an especially important time to control many of the toughest broadleaf weeds across the West. New HighNoon herbicide from Corteva Agriscience gives ranchers, land managers and county noxious weed specialists the flexible tool they need to help manage those challenges across the diverse Mountain West region.

Biennial species that emerge in the fall, such as musk thistle and yellow starthistle, are more easily controlled in the delicate rosette stage of growth. With perennial weeds, such as Canada thistle, knapweeds and rush skeletonweed, fall treatments are more effective – especially after a light frost – because the herbicide rides along as plants move winter food reserves into their roots.

HighNoon herbicide provides a single product that controls more than 140 broadleaf weeds and delivers lasting residual control across a wide range of sites. HighNoon is part of Corteva's leading portfolio of crop protection solutions, is available in Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming. 

—Excerpt from Corteva press release

John Deere self-propelled forage harvesters

John Deere has added three new Deere-powered self-propelled forage harvesters to its lineup – the 9500, 9600 and 9700. Each model addresses the needs of contractors, customer harvesters, and dairy and livestock producers challenged by increased operating costs, shorter harvesting windows and a smaller pool of skilled workers.

John Deere expanded the horsepower offerings for wide-body forage harvesters that include the 9500 to 9900 models to maximize machine uptime and reduce cost of operation.

The 9500 (755 max hp), 9600 (775 max hp) and 9700 (813 max hp) feature the new John Deere Power Systems JD18X, 18L engine. The new engine provides market-leading productivity with up to 13% higher efficiency, due to the diesel-only innovation of the engine that does not require DEF fluid.

The JD18X features a 750-hour service interval – an improvement of 33% compared to the previously used 13.5L engine. Since no DEF fluid is required, ownership costs are kept low, and machine reliability is increased. For customers with higher horsepower requirements, John Deere still offers the 9800 (855 max hp) and 9900 (956 max hp) models equipped with the Liebherr 24L engine.

In addition, each 9000 Series comes equipped with a new spout that provides better operator visibility while unloading and boosts machine reliability compared to previous models. Thanks to the addition of more clean-outs and a change in the geometry of the spout, customers can run in “sticky” crop conditions for longer periods of time without plugging. This helps make the forage harvester easier to load while providing more comfort to the operator than previous models.

—Excerpt from John Deere press release