A flex draper offering more capacity, speed and flex has won the coveted 2022 Henty Machine of the year Award
The MacDon FD2 Flex Draper, entered by MacDon Australia Pty Ltd, impressed judges with its innovation, design and engineering.
Announced on opening day, September 20, this award is presented to the most outstanding new piece of agricultural machinery exhibited at the field days.
Judging criteria include the machine’s purpose and suitability, scope of application, construction (durability and design), ease of maintenance and service, ease of operation and adjustment, availability of parts and overall value for money.
Judge Warren Scheetz said the award this year incorporated both 2021 and 2022 entries, and the job to select a winner was a difficult one.
“Competition was extremely close over a broad range of areas between all entrants,” he said.
“The MacDon has increased the performance of the draper front by 20% to match the ever-growing high capacities of the modern-day headers.
“MacDon has also increased the flex of the machine by up to 70% over previous models along with the ground following capabilities.
“It is a simple, well-constructed mechanical design featuring ease of use.”
The FD2 FlexDraper is the evolution of the ground following innovation MacDon first brought to market almost 20 years ago.
MacDon said it listened and worked with farmers, in the most challenging real-world conditions to result in more sizes, durability and harvesting innovations.
FD2 Innovation
The FD2 boasts an all-new frame that features a super structured five-sided back tube. This solid backbone creates a durable platform to handle the toughest of conditions.
MacDon’s ClearCut High-Speed Cutting System delivers clean cutting at up to 30% faster speeds. The improved knife drive has more power and new knife section geometry with 25% more cutting surface.
MacDon national sales manager Kari Sattler said harvesters represented a large investment and needed to keep working.
“Farmers are taking on more country every year to keep in the game and in doing so you need to able operate fast to beat the weather, get the quality grain in the headers as quickly as we can and keep it moving,” Mr Sattler said.
“We also understand it’s not always easy harvesting, not all our crops are standing so if it’s flat on the ground, we need to scoop that up.
“This machine is designed to cut at less than an inch off the ground to eliminate obstacles such as rocks or sticks from bouncing over so as not to cause damage to the combine or make our samples dirty reducing quality.
“The fact this machine can cut so low yet stay so light on the ground, even in mud it will really shines as it floats on top.
“This machine will flex over contour banks and will rollover a 7-foot-high contour bank. It was made deeper to take more material at higher speeds.”
The draper is available from 7.62 to 15.2m (25 to 50ft) wide, including a 12.5m (41ft) model for controlled traffic,
Mr Sattler said demand for the MacDon product had been “crazy”.
“We are only able to manufacture 50% of our allocation for the world.”
As a regional resident, Mr Sattler is a long-term fan of the Henty Machine of the Year Award.
“You see some upcoming brands really having a go and I’ve always thought one day we will get on that list, and here we are.”
