New Honey Bee ‘Plus’ front exceeds owner’s expectation…

“Beyond our expectations!”  Was the positive response from South Australian grower Charles Koch when asked how his new Honey Bee ‘Plus’ harvester front had performed over harvest.

Charles farms 20,000 acres that straddles the SA/VIC border north east of Frances and had purchased a Honey Bee 42 foot ‘Plus’ harvester front in November 2008. He has the front fitted to a John Deere 9870 STS harvester and has worked it in cereals (wheat, barley and oats) beans and white clover during the harvest.

“Up until this year we had been operating with auger fronts and had heard great reports about the performance of draper belt fronts” Charles explained. “We were particularly keen on the Honey Bee because of its dual purpose possibilities for our clover harvesting”. He added.

The Honey Bee ‘Plus’ front is unique because it can be operated as a rigid draper when harvesting cereals or as a flex front when working in ‘speciality crops’ such as peas, lentils and in Charles’ case white clover.

The dual purpose flexibility is made possible by an innovative system employing air bags. If you are harvesting on the ground you reduce the air pressure for greater flexibility and when switching to cereals you add air to the system to make it a rigid table once again. It’s easy and can be done in minutes from one point on the machine.

“ The ground following capability of this front is excellent and we’re pleasantly surprised how stable the front is being so wide” Charles said. “The new front also utilises the capacity of our harvester and we can actually travel faster with it on than we can with a 30’ auger front meaning our productivity is boosted.” He explained.

Charles also commented that the Honey Bee double knife drive system was a great benefit to them. “Harvesting white clover is very hard on a knife system as you have to get so low the knife guards are scraping on the ground. Added to this you need to harvest when the clover is still green so the dirt and sap from the clover builds up and jams the knife. If you’re not careful you can break a knife head” Charles said.

“With the Honey Bee double knife drive system you are only driving 21 foot not 30 foot so its not as prone to jam.” He said “The Honey Bee knives are hydraulically driven and each knife head has a pressure gauge you can watch to make sure its not overloading. A relief vale blows if the pressure gets too high and no damage is done. When that happens just wash the knife and your ready to go again.” Charles explained.

Charles then added “With the flexibility and the knife drive system you can increase your productivity by travelling a little faster knowing you can be very confident that you will not overload the knife.”

Obviously very pleased with his Honey Bee front when asked “Would you buy a Honey Bee front again?” Charles responded very positively with “Yes! I most definitely would”

Honey Bee ‘Plus’ harvester fronts are available in the following sizes 30’ (9.2m) 36’ (11m) 42’ (12.9m) and 45’ (13.85m) and can be ordered as a standard draper without the flex if required.