B&F Potatoes “The sample quality is always excellent. We often compare settings between the combines to achieve the best possible results, but the Fendts have no problem extracting grain from the straw even though when we check the swath, we find full stalks with empty ears still attached due to the gentle crop handling. They do a brilliant job.” Yorkshire farmer and Fendt 6335C PL user, Richard Bannister.
Extra flexibility, excellent straw and grain quality and the reassurance of top-class dealer back-up were all priorities when a Yorkshire family farm changed from using a single Fendt hybrid combine to two smaller Fendt straw-walker models. Potatoes are the primary crop for the Bannister family which farms just over 800ha in the East Riding of Yorkshire. Trading as B&F Potatoes Ltd, farm partners John, Richard and Steve Bannister also grow vining peas, beans, winter barley for feed and spring barley for malting, as well as wheat for milling and feed. Borage is grown as a health food ingredient on part of the farm. The land is a mix of owned and contract-farmed - mainly in one block in the Yorkshire Wolds and just a few miles from the sea where steep slopes, a damp climate and prevailing winds can create challenging conditions for cereals harvesting. “We used a rotary combine before the Fendt 9490X hybrid, 14
then ran the Fendt for three years very successfully,” explained Richard Bannister. “The service we receive from the Area Sales Manager James Falkingham and the rest of the team at our local Fendt dealer, Wilfred Scruton Ltd is superb, so although we considered it sensible to look at alternative brands when changing the combine last year choosing Fendt again was a fairly easy decision.” Limited harvest windows Because of the location opportunities for harvesting are often limited by the weather, and the combines rarely start until conditions have improved in the afternoon. The farm doesn’t have its own grain drier, so the priority is to achieve high work rates when the crops are in optimum condition and moisture levels are low. Wheat and bean straw is chopped and incorporated, and barley straw is baled and swapped for pig and chicken manure and slurry from local farms, so achieving tidy rows of swathed straw in good condition for baling is essential. Added flexibility “Often our barley was ready when crops on contractfarmed land were also fit for harvesting, and with just the one combine we had to compromise as we couldn’t be in two places at once,” continued Richard. “We liked the simplicity of running one combine but thought that operating two machines would still provide the high work rates, but also allow harvesting in two different locations when needed. And although we always enjoyed excellent reliability from our previous Fendt combine, there was the added reassurance that if one suffered a breakdown then the other could continue working.” The Fendt 9490X hybrid with a 30ft PowerFlow header was replaced by two 6335C PL straw walker combines with 23ft FreeFlow headers in time for the 2021 harvest. The straw walker models were selected for their gentle straw handling to ensure quality for baling, and ParaLevel
(PL) versions were chosen for the steep slopes. Both combines were fitted with Trimble GPS guidance, yield mapping and moisture monitoring. Challenging first harvest “Conditions during their first harvest were quite difficult as frequent showers as well as misty, damp air kept crop moisture levels high and we also had quite a lot of laid barley,” said Richard. “However, the FreeFlow headers are a simple design and work brilliantly, and we cut close to the ground to pick up the laid crops and losses were minimal. We probably travelled slightly slower than with the PowerFlow table previously, but they did a great job and the crop fed in well.” Richard said that most working days were short due to the conditions, and the largest area harvested in one day was 50ha between the two combines in a crop of wheat yielding 12t/ha, when grain moisture didn’t drop below 16.5 per cent. The ground and swath were checked throughout the day and losses remained under 0.25 per cent. “The sample quality is always excellent,” stressed Richard. “We often compare settings between 15
