2017 Winter | vanderfield.com.au - Bitly

THE

FIELD

2017 Winter | vanderfield.com.au

The John Deere two millionth tractor at the 2016 JD Expo in Austin, Texas: A 4440 Row-Crop manufactured in Waterloo, Iowa, on May 28 1981, with only 26 hours on it

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1300 VANDER vanderfield.com.au *For no-deposit, no repayment service and repairs until 31 March 2018, spend $11,000 (inc. GST) or more. Final payment due 31 March 2018. Offers available to existing John Deere Financial approved commercial customers with active contract or new commercial customers with unencumbered security on machine being serviced or repaired. Interest calculated on the JDF Floating Rate of the day. Fees and charges apply. If not amended or withdrawn earlier, the promotion expires on 31/03/18.

A0E01DDCA1H58459-00038066

MOMENTUM IS BUILDING IN NEW IDEAS AND INVESTMENT IN AGRICULTURE Bruce’s Update

I recently had the privilege of speaking at the 400M Ag-tech Investment Forum in Toowoomba. In its second year, the aim of the forum is to bring innovators in the farming and agtech sectors together with potential investors. The concept behind the forum is that in order to maximise the potential of Australia’s 400 million ha of arable

land, an investment of at least $400 million would be needed, and the result may be to better position Australia in the Chinese market, and particularly its 400 million middle class consumers. This year, 11 new start-up companies had the opportunity to pitch their businesses and ideas to the gathered parties. Many of the new concepts involved software and tools to help with food traceability and management of farming enterprises, as well as some unique ideas for insect and weed control and livestock management. Congratulations to Food Leaders Australia, a division of the Toowoomba and Surat Basin Enterprise (TSBE) in Toowoomba,

for organising the event and attracting so much interest. It is truly an exciting time to be in Agriculture, particularly Australian Agriculture. Thank you again for your interest in our publication and may you all have a good season ahead.

What’s your life story?

LIFE STORY

You can also be part of ‘The Field’. Email us at: [email protected]

CONTENTS 03 Bruce’s Update 04

06

07

From Disaster to Opportunity

19

Withcott Seedlings

Redefining Your Life

The Internet of Things

Ted Kelly - Life Story

20 Build Your Own

A Stellar Career at Vanderfield

By Bud Kelly

Self-Sufficiency in Dairy

14

VNET

Your Silver Bullet

21

Zeke McDougall

16

Driving Innovation In

22

Nhulunbuy ZTrack Mower

Could it be right for you? Arabella Farming

John Deere 2016 Expo

11

From Little Things

Rocky Point Mulching

08 Be the Difference

10

Kalfresh

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The Field Winter 2017

Max and Kay Wharton

Challenge Accepted

EARC Training Day

Just ‘Ave a Go!

Harry Littleman

3

LIFE STORY

FROM DISASTER TO OPPORTUNITY Rocky Point Mulching

Rocky Point Mulching is the recipient of the 2016 ABC Rural Farmer of the Year Award, granted to farmers who demonstrate innovation, professionalism and a determination to succeed. They are also the recipient of the 2016 Gold Coast Business Excellence Award for Environment and Sustainability. Rocky Point Mulching is the only family business that owns and operates a sugar cane farm and mulch processing plant in Australia. Josh Keith explains how the business got started: ‘In 1949, my grandparents, Alexander and Phyllis Keith, bought a block of land in the Rocky Point area, northern Gold Coast. My grandfather was originally a cattleman, but they started to grow sugar cane and followed the usual practice of the day, burning the cane and cutting it by hand. A few decades on, in the 1990s, severe drought created a demand for stockfeed. My father, Michael, and my uncle David developed innovative harvesting techniques whereby the sugar cane was harvested green and its

hay could be supplied to feedlots and cattle farmers. Then when it finally rained, thousands of small bales got wet and ended up being sold to avocado farmers as mulch; that was the beginning of the sugar cane mulching industry’. The business has grown in different ways since those days. The family still farms about 500ha of sugar cane from which they cut, store, process, mix and package their own sugar cane mulch, but they have also diversified. ‘We value sustainability and innovation, so the family members in my generation purchased Green Fingers in 2011, which provides the highest quality potting mixes, growing media, composts and organic fertilisers’. Rocky Point Mulching is now run from the same site as Green Fingers and together they supply production nurseries, landscaping businesses, the agricultural sector and home gardeners. Then in January 2016 the family established Rocky Point Recycling, where end of life timber that would otherwise end up as

landfill is turn into a unique range of coloured, multi-purpose mulches. The business also offers a wide range of mulches (lucerne, pea straw, cypress, pine bark and tea tree), animal bedding and sand, and it employs around 60 people including 13 Keith family members. ‘Most of our staff are employed on a permanent basis. We aim at being the most sustainable that we can be in every aspect of our business. This includes reducing the impact of our own activities, but it also means providing our employees with an environmentally conscious workplace and providing retailers and customers with the products, expertise and advice on solutions they need for their own sustainability and environmental challenges. The high quality products that we offer are environmentally friendly and sustainable For example, our Australian Standards certified potting mixes do not contain peat moss because we believe that invasive mining of peat is depleting reserves quicker than they can be replenished, creating problems for the environment’.

A JD 6530 earning its keep at Rocky Point Mulching

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LIFE STORY

Left to Right - Michael, Jennifer , Teagen, Cherie, Brieanna, Josh, Alec, Chris, David, Janette and Matt

One of Josh’s responsibilities is the purchase of equipment. ‘Five years ago, we had many different tractors, but we made a decision back then to go with John Deere because of their quality, reliability and ease of operation. We find that everyone wants to drive the tractors now!’ In addition to a few tractors, Josh has also acquired a JD3510 harvester. ‘We have a very good relationship with Cameron Littleton from Vanderfield Toowoomba, and really value the quality of the servicing offered by the workshop and all the support we receive from the branch’. This is a third-generation family business with a commendable long-term focus on developing their community and supporting gardeners further afield. For more details regarding Rocky Point Mulching products and stockists, please visit their website, rpmulching.com.au The Field Winter 2017

Josh Keith holding the Australian Farmer of the Year award standing next to a JD 8260R

5

WORKING AT VANDERFIELD

A STELLAR CAREER AT VANDERFIELD Could it be right for you? Through the fifty years that Vanderfield have been in business, we have confirmed time and again that our most valued asset is our staff. At the moment, we have over 360 staff in our 13 branches and a number of positions are open. We value diversity, so our staff come from a wide range of backgrounds and have different professional and life experiences. But they also share a number of valuable qualities, including motivation and ambition in their line of work, dedication and commitment to providing excellent customer service, and great professional skills.

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Our teams include men and women who appreciate variety in their work environments and their tasks and who understand how it can enrich their work day. They are committed to working well together, embracing our culture and being focused on our customers’ needs. We offer excellent opportunities for career development, as many of our staff members can testify, and we support our employees through advanced resources and training so they can succeed in their roles. Many of our staff, whether in the sales, technical or administration

areas, have young families or other dependants. Vanderfield understands the importance of attending to pressing needs in our staff’s family lives, and so we offer the flexibility needed to accommodate those needs. If you, or someone you know, have the qualities mentioned above and are looking for the start of what could be a very rewarding career, visit the Careers at Vanderfield section on our website, vanderfield. com.au. We look forward to hearing from you.

LIFE STORY

SELF-SUFFICIENCY IN DAIRY Arabella Farming

Bill and Jock Holmes in their machinery shed

The name Darling Downs was given to an area west of the Great Dividing Range by explorer Allan Cunningham in 1827 in recognition of the then Governor of New South Wales, Ralph Darling. It is an area that grows many different crops and contains a variety of farms with sheep and lamb stock, pigs, and beef and dairy cattle. It is in this area, near the town of Brookstead, that Arabella Farming was founded back in 1990. Currently operated by brothers Daniel and Bill Holmes, Arabella Farming is a dairy farm with around 400 cows that employs up to eight people, including Bill’s son, Jock.

towards an integrated system. ‘We are at a point now where we are largely self-sufficient; we grow most of the feed for the herd, although we buy the protein meal for the partial mixed ration (PMR)’. They also have their own sileage and mill their own grain. Arabella Farming recycle affluent water and back in the year 2000 built a ring tank to introduce irrigation. They now have some crops under pivot. ‘Many crops grow well in this area, including sorghum, corn, cotton, mung beans, soy beans, faba beans,

chick peas, wheat, and sunflower, and we have had a hand at growing most of them. We find that as long as we’re able to retain moisture in the soil, we can do well’. ‘As for other farming practices, we follow minimum till techniques, add nitrogen to the manure used as fertiliser and use a GreenStarTM display with our John Deere equipment for precision farming. Last year, we had the service team at Vanderfield Toowoomba test and improve our John Deere planter to optimise seed singulation. They really did a great job’.

‘The operation started with a herd of 90 Arabella Holsteins on land that was leased from my father. We have been able to expand slowly over the years, purchasing land as opportunities arose and we were able. One quarter or so of our land is taken by the dairy operation, and the rest is cultivated’, explains Bill. The Holmes have been evolving their practices and moving Jock Holmes and some of the Arabella cows, near Brookstead


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BE THE DIFFERENCE

General view of the expo area

The latest John Deere’s biennial Expo took place in Austin, Texas, early last December. It attracted 7000 delegates from Australia, New Zealand and the United States, including Vanderfield’s Regional Manager Jeff Jaques and Service Operations Managers Mark Wallace and Naish Bourchier.

customers so that they can get maximum value out of their John Deere machinery for as long as it’s in their sheds. There was also a keynote speaker who inspired us to keep using team work, accountability and continuous learning to “be the difference” for our customers’.

‘This was a three-day aftermarket Expo where the latest in parts and services was showcased’, explains Mark. ‘To begin with, Australia and New Zealand dealership delegates had our own two-day conference, where key influential JD senior managers helped us consider ways to enhance our customer service. During the expo itself, we had a choice of classes aimed at helping customers, including those who may have older equipment, farm better. The aim was to learn about making a difference for our

‘One of the highlights for me was to see the latest in technology to benefit the parts and service needs of our customers. There was also an informative session about the quality of genuine header parts, and how much goes into their design vs. non-genuine parts’.

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Naish adds: ‘I was impressed by how well organised the event was, and John Deere staff and suppliers should be commended for the amount of effort they put in.

We are entering a very interesting time in agriculture, with the level of technology and innovation, and this expo highlighted that John Deere are definitely at the forefront, not only for the customers, but also for the dealers’. Jeff agrees with how well the event was run, and particularly commends the role of John Deere Australia Ltd, who were the organisers of the initial two-day conference. ‘I really enjoyed the chance of listening to presentations from senior John Deere managers involved in parts and product support. The highlight for me was participating in a session where one U.S. dealer who, like Vanderfield, has multiple locations spoke in detail about how they transformed their service department. Maintaining our focus on performance and The Field Winter 2017

John Deere 2016 Expo

Entrance to the Bass Pro Shop

optimising our customer service is a priority, and this talk gave me a fresh insight on practical ways to achieve it’. Jeff also mentions that he arrived one day earlier to visit Monosem Planters in Kansas City. As he explains, ‘Monosem are a leading innovator in precision planting, focused on speciality row crops including vegetable seed and customisation of planters to meet our farmers’ needs.

Inside the neat Bass Pro Shop near Austin, Texas

Late last year the opportunity came up to take on the Monosem range for Queensland and the Northern Territory. We saw this as a good fit to fill a product gap we had and be involved in a new market segment. Sales have been encouraging in the last few months. Monosem staff have also been over for product, parts and service training including customer visits. ‘It’s good to know that we have this

kind of support and backup from our suppliers’, Jeff adds. But not everything was hard yakka for the Vanderfield delegates. ‘We had two free evenings’, says Mark, ‘and on one of them we checked out an impressive Bass Pro Shop in Austin. They retail hunting, fishing, camping and related outdoor recreation merchandise, and stock a wide selection of gear’. Not a bad little place, judging by the photos.

Some of the attendees during a keynote speaker presentation


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LIFE STORY

FROM LITTLE THINGS… Withcott Seedlings

John Deere tractors and Withcott Seedlings: a great match

Withcott Seedlings started as an enterprise in 1983, when Graham and Wendy Erhart began to grow seedlings for local farmers in a hot house behind their home in Withcott. Demand grew over the ensuing years and nowadays the business is one of the largest employers in the Lockyer Valley, with around 120 staff, most of them full-time employees, and supplies over 300 million plants a year to growers across the eastern seaboard of Australia. In 2014, Graham and Wendy formed a partnership with Mike and Anita Hindle and since that time have continued to improve the way the plants are grown and broaden the variety of plants grown. Withcott Seedlings are well known for their conscientious hygiene, quarantine and environmental practices; they are also innovative market leaders in producing grafted tomato and watermelon plants that are high yielding and disease resistant. ‘Withcott Seedlings supply over 50 different categories of vegetable crops, including fully certified organic seedlings, so at any given time we may be managing 10

a very large number of different plant varieties’, explains Mike. ‘In addition, seedlings are able to be tracked through the production and dispatch process, which enables us to enhance any stage of the production process as required’. Mike has had a close working relationship with Vanderfield that has been built up over a few years. ‘We used to have different models of tractors around the nursery, which was inefficient. Tractors are the key implement used to transport plants around the nursery, so good, reliable equipment is critical to save on time. Three years ago, we started changing over to John Deere and they now comprise 100% of our tractor fleet. Our drivers love

them, and we find them to be an excellent choice for our needs, not only the tractors themselves but also the service back up offered by Vanderfield. We have been very happy with the finance deals and rates that Danny O’Brien has arranged for us, and the quick responses. David Root in the Vanderfield Toowoomba sales department has also been very responsive and understanding of our needs as we look for business partners that will work with us to improve efficiency in the nursery, and we consider Vanderfield to be a true and trusted partner’, Mike said. For more information about Withcott Seedlings, visit their website, withcottseedlings.com.au.

Mike Hindle (right) and David Root (left)


LIFE STORY TED KELLY

We’d love to hear your life story; send it to [email protected]

By Bud Kelly

Ted’s father, Bill Kelly, grew up on his parents’ farm at Rossvale, between Pittsworth and Mt Tyson on the Darling Downs. He was one of eight children and worked carting gravel with a horse and dray. He would also travel with his twin brother to Innisfail in North Queensland to cut sugar cane each cane harvest. In 1928 he bought Ereleigh, a 400 acre property at Pampas. At this time Pampas was a grazing and dairying district, but all was about to change with the addition of mechanisation. Bill bought a 1928 Cross Engine Case tractor to farm with, the first of its kind on the Darling Downs. Ted was born in 1932 and attended school at Pampas. As farming in the district progressed, grazing land became available to share farm. Ted left school and worked with his father and took on his first share farm at the age of 14. Share farming has been a big part of Ted’s life as it was a way to expand when borrowing was difficult, and this has played a major role in the progress of his business. Early farming was more difficult with fairly primitive equipment, ground-drive headers and bagged grain. ‘Rain would inevitably interrupt harvest and the following sunny days would be spent rolling the bags over in the paddock to dry them out’, Ted recalls. The introduction of bulk grain was therefore readily adopted, but required much machinery modification. In 1957, Ted and Ed Rohde formed a partnership to farm and share farm The Field Winter 2017

Ted Kelly stands by his great-looking Twin City FTA tractor while his John Deere 9630T keeps watch in Pampas

in the district. The partnership was initially set up to break up 1200 acres of land owned by the Fysh family which was share farmed for the next 30 years. They were also joined by Ed’s son, Peter. Between them, much of the farm equipment was manufactured in the farm workshop, including shed frames, truck bodies, grain bins and 3 point linkage equipment. In 1981, Ted, his wife, Margaret, and three of his sons bought the Rohde share. The Rohde family bought the farm Hampstead, south-east of Cecil Plains, and also started their Hampstead Engineering business there. A friend, Robin Jasch, who also grew up at Pampas, convinced Ted to grow cotton in 1986, and cotton has been grown in all but one of last 31 years. Cotton often shows better returns than grain, and has been instrumental in the progress of the Kelly family business. It was a long time before any John Deere equipment appeared. As

mentioned, the family had the Case tractor first, then a list of many others: Lanz Bulldog, Twin City tractors, Case L, Fordson Crawler, International TD9 and BTD6 Crawlers, Massey Harris 55 and 555D tractors, Chamberlain Super 70DA tractors, Massey Ferguson tractors and an Allis Charmers HD16 Crawler. The first John Deere tractor arrived around 1970, a 4020 for row crop work that was purchased from Gordon Vandersee. Thirteen John Deere tractors have since followed, along with John Deere harvesters and other associated farming equipment. Vanderfield VNET have been outstanding in setting up this machinery with GreenStarTM and T3rraCuttaTM systems. Ted, Margaret and the three boys continue to operate the grain and cotton growing enterprise. ‘We have had a great relationship with Vanderfield. Parts and service availability, expertise and down to earth staff make Vanderfield a pleasure to deal with’. 11

PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

YOUR SILVER BULLET VNET

The agricultural sector is experiencing an increasing number of opportunities for growth, and this translates to a need to adopt increasingly efficient ways of doing business. The days when producers were part of a simple supply chain are long gone, and now our customers find themselves dealing with a diverse and complex supply chain with numerous links that are, in turn, interrelated. In this context, success for primary producers requires the successful application of innovation in addition to effective partnerships. At Vanderfield, we partner with our customers as we supply high quality machinery, parts and related services, but beyond this we also provide innovative technological solutions through MyJohnDeereTM and VNET. We firmly believe that our role is to assist our customers to be as profitable as possible in their operations, and to this end we offer products, services and a technology that enables increased efficiency and facilitates links between customers and other partners in their supply chain. MyJohnDeereTM offers an Operations Centre that is easy to use and connects customers to their machines, fields and operators. Users benefit from a simple, centralised, multi-faceted service that includes remote diagnosis of machinery issues and remote services, machine location, data transfer, field and operation overviews, field 14

analysis, prescription creation, flexible job planning, fleet optimisation, job reports and more practical functions. Vanderfield’s VNET provides our customers with an expanding RTK Base Station Network currently comprising 26 stations plus 15 repeater towers. We have invested heavily on the network over the last ten years because we are passionate about providing accurate and reliable guidance systems to our customers, believing that this is instrumental in helping them increase their profit. A growing number of Vanderfield’s customers know about the benefits offered by using a seasonally repeatable RTK signal coupled with John Deere’s StarFireTM receivers and GreenStarTM displays. Accurate GPS control of farm equipment adds value to the data it is collecting, and some examples include: • As Applied crop input data for accurate record keeping of seed, fertiliser and pesticide

applications, which can be imported into farm management software for recording costs per hectare and for quality assurance (QA) traceability records. • Financial analysis of inter and intra field performance using Yield Maps. • Crop Yield and Elevations for analysis against other spatial data layers, such as soil and crop health, to study the likely return on investment of zonal management practises like Variable Rate Technology. • Elevation data use for field drainage and land forming services, using GPS as a step up from laser levelling, in conjunction with the TM T3rraCutta software suite from Precision Terrain Solutions. • Machine telemetry insights such as speed and fuel usage from JDLinkTM. VNET also offers consulting services, including data analysis and machine control designs. We are proud to have driven research The Field Winter 2017


and development projects, such as the creation of cotton fibre quality maps with local ginners and sugar cane yield mapping hardware, and to be involved in various industry and government extension projects across the cotton, grain, cane and horticultural sectors. Another innovative service that Vanderfield has been providing for several years is the Vanderfield Technical Assistance Centre (VTAC). The VTAC was established The Field Winter 2017

to address the issue that simple machine setup parameters can be responsible for equipment downtime as applications for GPS technology become more complex, and its call centre offers centralised phone support for GreenStarTM operators, allowing identification of customer issues related to GreenStarTM setup, including whether the issue requires in-field support from our Workshop Field Service Technicians.

By calling 1300 MY VTAC (1300 69 8822), subscribers obtain priority access to an on call VNET Precision Farming Technician during business hours Mon-Fri and, for the cost of a local call, access to the John Deere’s US call centre out of our business hours. Annual subscription to the VTAC call centre is $490 per customer trading account. All Vanderfield branches offer VNET products and services, so to find out more call us on 1300 VANDER. 15

LIFE STORY

DRIVING INNOVATION IN Kalfresh

Barry Hinrichsen grew up in a cattle and cropping property in Tarome, about 60 Km southwest of Ipswich. As a young man, he acquired some land in nearby Kalbar in the Fassifern Valley, where he started to grow vegetables. His son Robert remembers that back then there would have been thirty-odd individual carrot-packing sheds, and very little refrigeration. After university, Robert worked for one year in the Brisbane produce markets. This was in the very early 1990s, and a lot of change was taking place in the fruit industry, notably a shift from producers packing their own product to the arrival of packing operations that would receive and pack fruit from a number of growers. Robert returned to Kalbar with a vision to bring about a similar consolidation in the carrot industry. ‘I thought I would either drive the change in or be driven out’, Robert recalls. ‘My father and I established Kalfresh in 1992. In the early days, the focus was to build a brand and ensure the quality of our products. ‘We also introduced innovations such as 1Kg pre-packed carrot bags

and better refrigeration. Knowing the effect that temperature has on fresh produce quality and shelf life, we installed hydrocooling facilities, only the second carrot company in Australia to do so. And we actually introduced mechanical lengths grading to the industry. ‘We now have a situation where about a dozen local growers bring their produce to the one brand, and this brand is recognised by its distinctive packaging. Kalfresh offers carrots, red and brown onions, green beans and pumpkins. But we are moving into having growers in different areas so that we can expand beyond the SE Queensland growth season. For example, the Vee Jay’s tomatoes that we pack are grown by Jamie and Melita Jurgens, 5th generation growers in Bowen. We are planning to introduce their organic tomatoes to the market this winter, on our 25th year of operation. ‘We have also found ways to add value into the products we grow; or, rather, our wives have! To put it in a nutshell, five very talented women, Alice Gorman, Jane Miles, Tracey Rieck, Gen Windley and my wife, Vicki, tackled the issue of second-

Bed plowing in cover crop: Two pass bed preparation in the Fassifern Valley

grade carrots having to be fed to cattle due to their size or shape. Their solution was to take these perfectly fresh and nutritious carrots and made them into readyto-go meal and snack options, and so the Just Veg range was born. ‘Agricultural practices is another area where we have experienced significant change. About six years ago, I started to incorporate some precision farming practices as they apply to horticulture. We are long-term John Deere, as well as Vanderfield, customers and have found that over the last 35 years JD have kept improving their

Early morning bean pick in the Fassifern Valley area

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LIFE STORY

Two of the ‘Just Veg’ girls, Tracey Rieck and Jane Miles, at an in store promotion

machinery, which we find to be extremely reliable. We have very narrow spacing compared to other crops, and our 8295R tractor on 1.5m centres fits right in with our requirements. ‘We have generally found that the use of better technology results in increased efficiency. John Deere have state of the art technology that is a good match to our intensive farming operation and one example is their GreenStarTM receivers and displays. They work on very precise RTK signalling that allows us to effectively practice controlled traffic, including the turning circles on our headlands. Moving away from random traffic is something I would highlight as

Barry and Robert Hinrichsen

having had a very positive impact on our clay-based soil. ‘A healthy soil is key to what we do, since it leads to a more resilient farming system and an ultimately better outcome. Controlled traffic practices have improved the health of our soil by decreasing interference with soil fungus. Composting is another way in which we achieve a more balanced soil. We use green waste sourced from the Council, plus waste from our own onions and water from washing the carrots. ‘We are also keen to reduce the use of chemicals, as they can interfere with the soil’s microbial ecosystem. Integrated pest control practices,

like the introduction of a parasite wasp to control white fly, have dramatically reduced our need to use pesticides. We are now putting helpful microbes into the soil as well’. The Kalfresh growers’ team have an open day, the Kalfresh Carrot Day, which takes place during the Scenic Rim Eat Local Week. The date this year is Saturday 24th of June, from 8:30am to 2:00pm, and it provides a unique family experience. More information can be found on the Kalfresh website, kalfresh.com.au. For more information on Just Veg, visit their website, justveg.com.au.

Proof of the pudding: another beautiful carrot crop in Kalbar


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LIFE STORY

JUST ‘AVE A GO! Harry Litterman

In 1861-1862, the famous Scottish explorer John McDouall Stuart, after whom the Stuart Highway is named, led the first expedition that succeeded in crossing the Australian continent from south to north and returning. Part of the reason for this exploration was the possibility of establishing a telegraph line that would connect to England via India using the shortest possible undersea cable. The Overland Telegraph Line was completed in 1872, with the Katherine Telegraph Station having been established as an outpost on August 22 that year. At the time Stuart passed through the Katherine region, it was an important meeting place for the Indigenous Dagoman, Jawoyhn and Wardaman peoples, and it remains a place for convergence. Its location between the Darwin region, Kakadu National Park, the Gulf of Carpentaria, the Barkley region and the Kimberley has also earned Katherine the name ‘Crossroads of the Outback’. Harry Litterman is a relatively newcomer to the area. ‘I was born in Adelaide, but my family moved to

Darwin and that’s where I’ve spent most of my life. Six or seven years ago, though, I moved to Katherine, where I also met my partner, Chloe. This is not a bad place to live, offering all the basic services and a range of nature-based activities.’ In search of a worthwhile way of earning a living, Harry thought about grounds maintenance. ‘I decided I needed to go beyond a push mower and started looking online for a ride-on. I wanted a John Deere because of their reputation as good, reliable machines that others had recommended to me, but had no luck on the Internet so I turned up at the local dealer. ‘My original thought was to purchase a zero-turn mower, but Monique at Vanderfield guided me through the process of choosing the best product for my needs and I ended up buying the D105, with a canopy and bullbar. I have to get into some tricky areas on the job, and this has proven to be the best choice. ‘I was on apprentice wages at the time, and the mower was a very large buy for me. But Monique,

Harry and Chloe with their D105 mower

once again, offered a good deal and I decided to bite the bullet. I’m happy to say that it has been a great investment. I now have a number of customers and the D105 offers complete reliability. In addition, I am able to do the basic maintenance myself; with the servicing kit and the manual, it’s easy to do. Plus I like to keep it clean, and that’s also easy to do with the Deere. ‘For me, purchasing this mower has been totally worthwhile. It’s made my job enjoyable and efficient. Not long ago I helped a mate that has a lawn mowing business; there was this yard with extremely tall grass that would have taken a long time to mow and tidy up with a push mower, but with my Deere it was a breeze. I couldn’t be happier!’ The staff at Vanderfield are there to help with your ground care needs too. Call 1300 VANDER or call in at one of our branches.

Harry putting his brand new D105 through its paces

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REDEFINING YOUR LIFE The Internet of Things

Technological innovation in agricultural practices began in earnest not that long ago. In fact, many of us remember, or have a parent or grandparent who can, the first tractor that appeared in our area. But farming has developed since then to a point where it is part of a global infrastructure that offers vast amounts of data and advanced services and connects numerous physical and virtual objects: the Internet of Things (IoT). In Australia, many farmers have already adopted RTK navigation for controlled traffic and use sensors in fields and machinery, with the data thus collected being fed into dashboards, smartphones or tablets, and used to make decisions regarding, for instance, irrigation or fertilisation. The result is higher yields at reduced costs.

apps can be accessed; the data can be viewed even from a remote device, as well as shared with the stakeholders of the farmer’s choice. But, very importantly, it is also an open platform, that is, John Deere allows others in the supply chain to develop and use applications and software of their own that can be connected to MyJohnDeereTM. With such a platform in place, farmers could not only liaise with other people and equipment to optimise yield and improve their bottom line, but also make data accessible to regulators, retail outlets and anyone else who requires it. For example, a packing shed could see how long produce was travelling for, and at what temperature; or a supermarket could access data regarding when

a particular shipping was last sprayed, what chemical was used and in what amounts. This potential for traceability brings with it its own set of questions, including some related to security and privacy; nevertheless, it seems that the movement beyond precision farming into what is becoming known as decision agriculture is already happening.

This improved efficiency and the subsequent economic benefit seem to be undeniable advantages of adopting technology, especially in a world where food production is predicted to need a dramatic increase over the next thirty-odd years, in line with the increase in population. But the real IoT happens when the data collected goes beyond the confines of the farm and becomes available to other members of the producer’s supply chain. For this to be a reality, the applications used by those wanting to access the information must be compatible with the platform being used by the farmer. A good example is the TM MyJohnDeere platform. It offers an Operations Centre where a range of John Deere data-collecting The Field Winter 2017

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LIFE STORY

BUILD YOUR OWN Max and Kay Wharton

Gayndah, a town on the Burnett River about 150km west of Maryborough, has a reputation as the citrus capital of Queensland, but the Burnett region is known for a diverse range of agricultural production. Vanderfield Bundaberg customer Max Wharton knows the Gayndah area well, and we asked him to tell us his story. I was born in Gayndah, as was my father. My parents, Claude and Pearl, had about 4,000 acres of land. Through the years they had a dairy, pigs, a cattle stud and a citrus orchard and grazing. My father served in the Queensland Parliament as the Member for Burnett for 26 years, holding a total of three ministerial roles, as well as being the Leader of the House between 1979 and his retirement in 1986. He was first elected in 1960. I finished high school that year and went on to manage the family farm. I faced lots of challenges, but took my role very seriously and gained a lot of experience in a wide range of industries. My wife Kay and I have three adult children and four grandchildren. Our eldest daughter, Benita, was for a number of years the Soil Conservationist Officer based from Mundubbera. She and her husband, Les Darrow, utilized their science training to establish the only certified organic citrus orchard in the district. They have two school aged daughters. Our younger daughter, Lara, is based in Brisbane, where she works as an I.T. Contracts Manager in the mining industry. She is married to Damien Symonds, who is qualified as a retoucher and teacher in computer 20

Max and Kay Wharton

imaging. They have a daughter and a son who are both in Primary school. And our son, Michael, is a Chartered Mechanical Engineer and qualified Project Manager; he also works in the mining industry. He and his wife Claudia, a Campaign Manager employed by an international marketing company, have made their home in Santiago, Chile. In 1985 we purchased an old grader, a Galion, from the Council. We wanted to use it on our property, for contour banks, firebreaks and internal roads. Surprisingly, our neighbours started requesting earth moving services for their properties, and over the next 5 to 10 years this developed into a fulltime business. My friend and colleague Keith McGilvery joined us, operating the dozers and providing his tip truck for carting gravel. My wife Kay attended to all of the administration, and as a business, we always aimed to do quality work at reasonable rates. With the support from citrus growers in the Central Burnett area and tenders won with the Department of Natural Resources, Councils, and Queensland Rail, we were able to continue a successful business over the years. In addition to the grader, we purchased a combination roller, which was towed by the grader and could be hydraulically controlled. As we expanded, we upgraded, first to Mitsubishi graders and

then to John Deeres, which were all laser equipped. The Deere graders were six-wheel driven, and this was very important for safety as well as for practicality. I found them to be the best for the type of work we were undertaking; they were well built, very strong and reliable, and easy to service. As our earthmoving business increased, we ceased growing small crops and concentrated on grazing. We practise a rotational grazing system, where the land is fenced into a number of smaller blocks. The number of stock normally carried on the whole property are grazed on one block. They are then moved regularly from paddock to paddock. The advantages of this management are many. The ground cover of pasture is greatly increased, as the majority of the land is being spelled at any one time. More ground cover allows greater rain infiltration, less runoff, less soil erosion, and better weed control. Cattle weight gains also are improved, but a major plus is that rotational grazing interrupts the tick life cycle. Being tick free means that there are great savings on chemicals and labour. Because the cattle are regularly moved, they become very quiet and easy to handle. This system has been easy to manage and time efficient, and allowed the demands of the earthmoving business to be met. Following retirement from earthmoving contracting, we have sold some of our land, but still need to maintain gravel roads and do The Field Winter 2017

WORKING AT VANDERFIELD

CHALLENGE ACCEPTED Zeke McDougall

The parts interpreters’ team in the Vanderfield Toowoomba branch has four members who are specifically dedicated to the workshop. The latest addition to the team is Ezekiel (‘Zeke’) McDougall, and we asked him to tell us a bit about himself. ‘I come from Clifton, where I met my wife, Darcy. I used to renovate houses, but then we moved to Toowoomba and I found a job with Vanderfield five years ago. I started in distribution, dispatching orders and doing stocktaking and related duties. I have always liked the people I work with here; they are great team players and just good people to be around, and this means that I like coming to work every day. ‘In my initial role I had a bit of contact with customers if they came over to collect a product and

other work on the remainder of the property. I decided to look around for a tractor I could adapt, and found a JD4240 which had enough clearance under the front to enable a grader blade to be fitted. I took my idea and designs to Greg Hafner, of Gayndah Welding Works and Engineering, knowing that he was a man with the ability to repair or make anything, engineering-wise. I couldn’t be happier with the result. I now have a grader that does everything I need out on the property. I also needed a small tractor to do all sorts of little jobs, including, heavy lifting and maintenance work. I decided to go with a John Deere 3036, with a 4 in 1 bucket. The Field Winter 2017

when they needed help loading it; otherwise, I had contact mainly with transport, courier and similar service providers. My interest in agricultural machinery and the products we offer grew overtime, as did my understanding of the industry we work for, and about two months ago I was offered this position in the workshop. Always happy to try something new, I accepted. ‘The role of a parts interpreter involves identifying the specific needs of customers, giving them advice if needed and then managing all the sourcing and dispatching of the part, and then there’s the preparation of invoices and other documentation needed to process the sale. I think that a successful parts interpreter needs to have a combination of skills. On the one hand, much of the work is administrative, almost routine; this requires being organised and

It’s an excellent little tractor that allows me to do precise work, with accurate, easy to use hydraulics. It

Zeke McDougall

methodical. But you also need to be able to communicate effectively, solve problems and work well under pressure. ‘Since I am on the workshop parts section, I personally do not have a lot of direct contact with our customers. However, at Vanderfield we want to support our customers so their operation is as profitable as possible. If they have to stop work because of a part issue, time is of the essence and we all work hard to get them up and running again quickly. Knowing that I have a role in ultimately helping customers like this gives me a great deal of satisfaction.

has a very nice transmission, and being a Deere, it’s easy for me to do most of the maintenance myself.

Max Wharton and his modified JD 4240 tractor grader in Gayndah

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LIFE STORY

NHULUNBUY ZTRACK MOWER EARC Training Day

Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory has an international reputation for bark paintings, Aboriginal rock-art (some of which records the early years of European explorers and settlers) and being the origin of the yidaki, or didgeridoo. It is the location of the oldest-known stone axe, which scholars believe to be over 35,000 years old. The Yolngu people, one of the largest groups of indigenous peoples in Australia, are well known for their work promoting the rights of Indigenous Australians and for maintaining their culture with its millenniaold traditions. Their land lies in the northeast, and comes under the East Arnhem Regional Council (EARC) administrative area. EARC is the local governing body for nine communities of which five are located on islands. The geography of the land, with its remoteness, presents unique challenges, but EARC is committed to delivering a range of vital services to its communities and supporting their continuing sustainability and quality of life. The vision of the Council is to be dedicated to promoting the power of people, protection of community and respect for cultural diversity. This is showcased through the ways Council provides an inclusive workplace and offers employment pathways that improve opportunities for Indigenous residents, and quality training that empowers employees 22

Siosifa Laiseni (left) and John Wunungmurra (right) are ready to train others

through personal development and skill acquisition. In fact, the Council has been recognised for its commitment to training excellence and dedication to improve the opportunities for Indigenous training and employment. It is within this context that EARC invited Andrew Simon, from Vanderfield Darwin, to conduct a one-day training seminar in Nhulunbuy last November. ‘The Council had purchased four John Deere 997 ZTrak zero-turn commercial mowers, as well as one 1580 TerrainCut front mower, and we held the training so that supervisors and operators could familiarise themselves with the equipment’, explains Andrew. ‘To begin with, we covered aspects such as safety, identification of controls, levers, knobs, pedals and service and lubrication points, required prestart checks, and servicing and maintenance schedules. Then after lunch we had a practical session on a football oval, and it went very well. I really enjoyed working with the guys’. One of the trainees was EARC Fleet Manager Errol Weber, who adds, ‘Yes, it was a great day, and our operators got to grips with the idea of no steering wheel and driving by a stick very quickly. Following Andrew’s training, we have been

able to complete our own internal training so that other communities have also got a handle on the operation of these machines’. Asked about the Council’s work in the area of grounds care and maintenance, Errol says: ‘Northern Australia has two distinct seasons; the wet and the dry, or as some tourist operators want to call it, the green and the brown. When it’s green season you can literally see the grass grow. The mowers get a real work out during this period just trying to keep the main areas trimmed but as soon as the rain stops the mowers are virtually parked up except for the odd trim of the all important football field. With a long wet this year the mowers have been working overtime to keep up. I’m pleased to say that the John Deere Z997 have kept up. At the tender stage, communities were given a choice of a zero turn or out front mower. Three of the four communities decided on a change of mower layout and chose the zero turns. The operators have adapted well to no steering wheel and I believe that the communities are generally happy with their decisions to change to the zero turn configuration’. To learn about the John Deere range of mowers, we are only a phone call away on 1300 VANDER, or call in at any of the Vanderfield branches. The Field Winter 2017

The season isn’t complete, until you’re ready to go again.

NO Finish this season as you intend to start the next with a comprehensive service of your cotton picker. Our 210 point check will ensure your picker is ready to tackle the year ahead. Visit us today for an exceptional deal.

DEPOSIT

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ON COTTON PICKER SERVICING & PARTS UNTIL 30 JUNE 2018*

1300 VANDER vanderfield.com.au *For no-deposit, no repayment service and repairs until 30 June 2018, spend $11,000 (inc. GST) or more. Final payment due 30 June 2018. Offers available to existing John Deere Financial approved commercial customers with active contract or new commercial customers with unencumbered security on machine being serviced or repaired. Interest calculated on the JDF Floating Rate of the day. Fees and charges apply. If not amended or withdrawn earlier, the promotion expires on 30/06/18.

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