SIDEWAYS wind and rain couldn’t stop up to 60 growers and agricultural industry enthusiasts from viewing a beasty rock crushing machine grunt into action atop a hilly outcrop near Parkes recently.
The Rocks Gone H4 Reefinator has transformed land and production across southern Australian States and has been launched to the northern industry on the east coast this season, most recently proving a hit during its debut at the AgQuip field days at Gunnedah.
Invented by Rocks Gone founder and former Western Australian farmer Tim Pannell, the 3-metre wide H4 Reefinator comprises a levelling blade, four front row and five rear row hydraulic tines, plus a following ribbed drum, all weighing 28.5-tonne when filled with water and digging up to 600 millimetres deep.
In numerous cases across Western and southern Australia, the machine has doubled cropping yields, increased stock carrying capacity and trebled land values, and growers have later sold machines for as much as they purchased them for.
The demonstration of the H4 Reefinator at the Somers family’s property near Parkes was attended by growers from as far as 200 kilometres away and showcased its performance in sedimentary rock country that is littered throughout the region.
Rocks Gone National Business Development Manager Adrian Carr said the rock was never going to be a problem for the H4 Reefinator because it was the type the machine would “chew through like butter”, and it proved it.
“George Somers said not a clod of dirt had ever been turned on the elevated hill – it was just seen as rock and they never went near it,” Adrian said.
“After the Reefinator went through it, he said he never thought the soil in the area would be so good and he now plans to put his airseeder through the area that was ‘reefinated’.”
Adrian said the sedimentary rock was widespread throughout the region.
“It’s not just the outcrop areas that the Reefinator transforms, it’s everywhere else where the rock is just underneath.”
“You see that during the demonstrations – you can’t see all the rock, but you can hear it being crunched underneath the surface.
“Growers were saying there’s nothing like seeing it with your own eyes – and now they can believe it.”
The H4 Reefinator was pulled by a CAT Challenger tractor with tracks for the demonstration and it didn’t feature latest automation technology that has recently become available with the machine.
Adrian said inventor, Tim, who in recent times has been more familiar with the automated machines, did remark that he was in a little time warp operating a Reefinator without the technology.
“It really highlighted the benefits and efficiencies provided by the Depth Master integrated automation technology.”
The auto depth and slip control system, which is suitable for ISOBUS and GPS-integrated tractors, calculates speed over ground and tractor load or wheel slip to adjust machine depth up to 50 times per second, as well as the level of its blade. It eliminates the requirement for operators to perform on-the-go depth adjustments according to the particular land and rock conditions, while it also adds valuable other benefits like depth mapping.
“The mapping can show perhaps where you have not been digging deep enough and so you can concentrate extra passes in those areas rather than everywhere,” Adrian said.
Meanwhile, wider inspections throughout the region, including around Forbes, have highlighted the suitability for land transformation with the H4 Reefinator, with growers and agronomists impressed with the seeding depth it can create in rocky country.
Following AgQuip, land inspections in parts of the North West Slopes and Hunter areas, and then through to the Orana and Central West regions, highlighted a range of rocky country types that all could be improved with the machine.
“In addition to sedimentary rock like mudstone, ironstone and claystone, we discovered basalt heading toward the New England region,” Adrian said.
Growers interested in viewing on-farm demonstrations with the H4 Reefinator can get in touch with the company at www.rocksgone.com.au
Media information: Rohan Howatson, Howatson PR Communications, on 0407 428 459.