Farming smarter with technology
The National Fieldays is an annual fixture in the farming calendar: it draws in thousands of farmers, contractors, and industry professionals from across the country.
Adding to its extensive range of harvesting attachments for its Big X self-propelled harvesters, Krone has introduced a new whole-crop header, said to offer outputs of around 20% more than the existing XDisc 620 unit.
The new XDisc 710, with a cutting width of 7.1 metres, has been developed to utilise the full potential of a powerful forager more efficiently, using cutter-bar technology based on the EasyCut mower technology already employed in the XDisc 620.
In operation, the speed of the 900mm diameter integral feed auger can be optimally adjusted to the intake speed of the forage harvester in three stages, depending on the required cutting length of the crop.
A clever option, available solely for the Big X Series, is the integrated header transport chassis that eliminates the need for a separate transport trailer, so significantly reducing changeover times between paddock or site moves.
The transport chassis is equipped with a single axle on the right-hand side of the header, with the drawbar, with its folding support jack located on the opposite side. In operation, when the hydraulic system has been coupled and the header raised, the driver swivels the drawbar and the axle of the running gear directly from the cab.
In the paddock, both transport kit components hydraulically swivel behind the header, with the process is reversed for transport, before the header trailer is attached to the forage harvester’s tow coupling.
Other XDisc 710 options include vertical side knives, which are also offered on the XDisc 620, raised and lowered individually from the cab, to provide blockage-free cutting when working in tangled or heavily lodged crops.
Showcasing the huge range of new technologies and science that is now available was one of the highlights at last week's National Fieldays.
Coby Warmington, 29, a farm manager at Waima Topu Beef near Hokianga was named at the winner of the 2025 Ahuwhenua Young Maori Farmer Award for sheep and beef.
Northlanders scooped the pool at this year's prestigious Ahuwhenua Trophy Awards - winning both the main competition and the young Maori farmer award.
Red meat farmers are urging the Government to act on the growing number of whole sheep and beef farm sales for conversion to forestry, particularly carbon farming.
The days of rising on-farm inflation and subdued farmgate prices are coming to an end for farmers, helping lift confidence.
A blockbuster year and an exciting performance: that's how Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) Director General, Ray Smith is describing the massive upsurge in the fortunes of the primary sector exports for the year ended June 2025.
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