Warburto Farms powers up the first John Deere P690 drill to reach our shores in what is expected to create a raft of orders for next season
Setting the scene for its first foray into planting here, a John Deere P690 Precision Air Hoe Drill is building excitement for grower Wick Dayman as he prepares to sow down the winter crop on his family-run farm between Wallaroo and Moonta, South Australia’s Copper Triangle.
Warburto Farms is owned and operated by Wick and his wife Charmaine, daughter Sarah and son-in-law Nathan. They work together with three employees to crop 4400ha of wheat, barley, lentils and field peas in their 360mm rainfall zone on the northern Eyre Peninsula SA.
Prospects for a big crop are high on the agenda as there was above-average summer rain prior to Christmas and while that was followed by a fairly dry January, February and March there is a reasonable base of subsoil moisture.
Wick anticipates the P690 seed drill will swing into action over the next few days as long as weather permits.
Mitch selected the John Deere P690 as he believed it was ideal for his operation with the latest design parallelogram tine placement and being able to cover 27.4m (90-ft) in one-pass.
It offers 254 to 305mm (10-12-in) spacings and dual knife openers that place fertiliser 38mm (1.5-in) horizontally and 190mm (0.75-in) vertically away from the seed, to achieve even emergence and equal access to nutrients.
Wick ordered a P690 through his local dealership, Emmetts Kadina SA, and the drill was put together on-farm by Wicks’s farm crew and Emmetts’ technicians.
“The purchase was a bit sight unseen, but I’ve used John Deere machines for pretty much my whole life. We’ve got a couple of R Series 4WD tractors, two S790 harvesters, a self-propelled John Deere sprayer and we run an array of smaller tractors,” Wick explained.
“The basic principle of how the parallelogram tines work attracted us to the P690.
“The ability to vary the pressure on the sowing tines while in the paddock and the fact that it can be controlled from the cab will be a big advantage when we have different operators.
“We can set a ballpark pressure and it automatically maintains the pressure as conditions across the ground change.”
Warburto Farms has been using a K-Hart disc seeder but Wick said the evolution of newer pre-emergent chemicals had prompted a return to a tine seed drill.
The P690 drill delivers up to 15.5% wider working widths to cover more ground in a day and with 24% less weight compared to the P500 series, to reduce compaction, time on the tractor and fuel consumption.
While the full range of P600 Series Air Hoe Drills offers the ability to set working widths of 12.2, 18.3, 21.3 and 24.4m (40, 60, 70 and 80-ft), along with the P690’s 27.4m (90-ft) they will also suit existing Controlled Traffic Farming systems.
Wick said the P690 drill is three metres wider than Warburto Farms’ previous planter and while they don’t strictly run on controlled traffic tram lines, they do follow the same lines using RTK guidance.
John Deere’s P690 Precision Air Hoe Drills leverage the company’s existing integrated air seeding technologies as well as RelativeFlow™ blockage sensing, that Wick welcomed.
“We’ll pick up efficiency with this new machine. The blockage sensing is most definitely useful to us as it’s important to identify problems before we get a potential blockage,” Wick added.
RelativeFlow™ blockage sensing allows the operator to see the flow rate of seed and fertiliser from inside the tractor cab. Sensors are located on all primary towers and secondary hoses to monitor the flow of product and provide a better view of the flow rate of seed and fertiliser, from the cart to the opener.
All equipment in the new range is appointed with precision technology and a JDLink™ connection to John Deere Operations Center™, making it easy to monitor what’s happening in the paddock during seeding and collect valuable data to inform decision-making post-sowing.
Wick said he is looking forward to testing the P690 Precision Air Hoe Drill in South Australian conditions.
“Farming is always evolving and changing, this is a natural progression for us. “Also, we already have a good relationship with the Emmetts Kadina SA dealership for John Deere parts and service and it’s only 10km from the main farm. It makes sense to have things all together,” Mitch concluded.
For more information on John Deere’s P600 Air-Hoe Drill range, go to: JohnDeere.com.au or speak to your local John Deere dealer.
John Deere P690Precision Air Hoe Drill
- 27.4 m (90 ft.) working width at 305 mm (12-in.) spacing
- Dual Knife Openers
- Relative Flow™ blockage monitoring
- Uniform seed and fertiliser placement
- with a consistent 190 mm (0.75-in.) vertical and 38 mm (1.5-in.) horizontal spread
