How one farming operation turned downtime from constant maintenance headaches into seeding confidence by adopting a current rig
For Tumby Bay farmer Lenny Lebrun, switching to a Bourgault seeding rig wasn’t just a machinery upgrade, it was more a practical decision driven by time, cost, and reliability.
Since 2020, Lenny has been in charge of running the family’s winter-cropping program, planting and harvesting wheat, barley, canola, and faba beans.
After spending time working away from the farm earlier in his career, Lenny learnt to value the most current farm equipment as it always worked out to be more dependable and efficient.
When the seeding rig he took over on the farm and was running began to require extensive maintenance that caused considerable downtime, it prompted a reassessment of his planting setup.
Lenny had become used to running an older seeding system, a machine that had some advantages at the time of purchase, but ultimately a set-up that became too labour-intensive for a current farm operation with a time-sensitive program.
“I liked the benefits the old rig offered,” Lenny explained. “But the maintenance, the cost, and the constant adjustments were eating up too much of our time. The breakdowns were just too much.”
When he looked at his options, Lenny made the decision to move to Bourgault, seeking a system that delivered consistency without the constant upkeep.
Choosing the right fit rig
After discussing all the planter bar and Air Cart options that would best suit his operation, Lenny settled on a Bourgault 3720 ParaLink™ Coulter Drill paired with an 8550 Air Cart and X35 Display.
The 3720 handles heavy stubble with ease, ensuring consistent seed depth and spacing across varying soil conditions. Its high-disturbance scrapers allow Lenny to apply pre-emergent chemicals safely and efficiently, maintaining crop integrity while saving time.
Coupled with a leading 8550 Air Cart it takes advantage of the large hopper and precise metering make it possible to sow multiple crop types in a single pass without frequent refills.
Meanwhile, the X35 display keeps monitoring and making any adjustments straightforward, making the entire seeding process much quicker and accurate.
“For the size of our operation, the single 3720 and 8550 rig is spot on,” Lenny adds.
“The high-disturbance scrapers let us treat crops the same way we would with a knife-point press-wheel machine. And from a crop safety point of view, it’s really good.
“The meter seems very accurate, and calibrating everything through the X35 display, it just makes the whole process easy and straightforward.”
This seeding rig setup has allowed Lenny to maintain the agronomic flexibility he needs to handle up to four different crop varieties, while simplifying day-to-day operations.
The combination 3720 planter bar and 8550 Air Cart, delivers the reliability and consistency his winter-cropping program demands.
Service back-up also makes a difference
Bourgault’s helpful back-up support has been a key part of Lenny’s positive experience following his badge shift.
“The team at Bourgault, including SA Territory Manager Luke and Operations Manager Mark, have been excellent. Their guidance and support have made setting up and operating the machinery straightforward and efficient,” Lenny confirmed.
Lenny values the hands-on support he receives directly from the team.
“They’re easy to deal with, very responsive, and always ready to help us get everything set up smoothly,” Lenny concluded.
Confidence for future growth
For Lenny Lebrun farming in Tumby Bay SA, switching to the Bourgault badge hasn’t just been a machinery upgrade, it’s been a boost in reliability, performance, and confidence for every season ahead.
Running Bourgault equipment offers his farm operation a better chance to expand with extras such as adding a 1550-litre Saddle Tank to his new rig to improve input flexibility.
The tank sits low on the side of the air cart to allow bagged product to be loaded from ground level, allowing easy access and filling with minimal physical strain on operators.
The design position makes the job of loading faster and safer while also simplifying inspection and maintenance to reduce downtime during busy periods.
Operators have found the Saddle Tank easy to load, even in the dark, and ideal when working solo to manage product top-ups or changes in back-to-back paddocks.
X35 Apollo seeder controller
The Bourgault optioned X35 large touch screen display helps to ensure accurate operation as it can customised for the unique needs of an operation.
With the X35 large 307mm (12.1-inch) colour touch screen operators can drag and drop technology to quickly realize full rate control capabilities, accurate data management, and time saving applications, all at fingertip control.
Setting everything up with the help of the Bourgault ground team the primary view can used to show the operator’s most critical and current function.
With the advantage of this view being able to be switched between various functions by simply dragging and dropping from the small side views.
The heads-up dashboard is customisable to view up to 8 air cart functions with 3 viewable items for each function.
The X35 console can also integrate two cameras onto the display for careful monitoring of an operation. Viewed in the full screen mode, or as side views.
There is also the option to add a Bourgault Field Management System to allow bigger farm operations to operate two or more seeding systems in the same paddock and share the same coverage map between units equipped with the X35 Apollo System.
Working with Bourgault badged equipment gives farm operations the advantage of a quick production step-up by adding more expansion-power for increased yields as its needed.
To discuss the model options available from Bourgault Australia, find out more on this link or scan the QR code. Find your local Bourgault dealer to discuss model availability here.
Bourgault 3720 ParaLink Coulter Drill specs
Bourgault 8550 Air Cart specs
