MEDIA RELEASE
Wellard has recorded its largest every grain harvest, returning nearly 55,000 tonnes of grain and oilseeds from its three Agri-Hubs.
Like most Western Australian farmers, Wellard’s crops benefited from well-timed spring rainfall, enabling the company to harvest a record crop in the 2013 growing season, just beating the previous record set in 2011.
Eleven predominantly CLAAS headers were used to strip the Wellard crop, which began with canola at The Grange on 25th October 2013 and finished with barley at Kojonup on January 9, 2014. Importantly, the harvest was achieved with little downtime from either weather or machine impacts.
Wellard Agri CEO Tim Macnamara said the bulk of the harvest was conducted in a compressed time period, which placed large pressure on staff, transport, delivery and machinery.
“The staff at Wellard Agri must be commended for the yields they achieved on each property and the efficient manner in which the crop was harvested and transported to the grains receival points,” Mr Macnamara said.
“This helped to maximise final yields and ensure all Wellard Agri resources were used to their optimum efficiency.”
At the Kojonup Agri Hub it was an all CLAAS harvest with three CLAAS Lexion combine harvesters (580R, 750 & 750 Terra Trac) supported by a CLAAS Axion 950 tractor towing a Trufab Chaser bin in CLAAS green.
As with previous large harvests, Wellard Agri was able to maximise the synergies with its CLAA Harvest Centres to achieve quick harvesting time and maximise quality.
The company was also able to showcase the latest CLAAS Lexion 760 Terra Trac with Vario1200 front to local farmers during field demonstrations to 29 farm owners through the regions of Central West to Great Southern.
Mr Macnamara said the yields for lupins and barley were the most pleasing result from the just completed harvest, though, like many farmers, some crops were affected by frost at the Company’s Kojonup Agri Hub and continued areas to improve in coming years.
The recent addition of a further 3,500 acres to the Watheroo Agri Hub contributed to the harvest volume and efficiency of that Hub, which achieved a great result.
“We are very happy with these results and I would like to congratulate all staff at Wellard Agri. We will continue to invest in the Agri division with further diversification and efficiency improvements,” said Wellard Managing Director Mauro Balzarini.
ENDS
For further information, please contact:
Cameron Morse
Phone: + 61 8 9485 8888
Mobile: +61 433 886 871