2021/22 Summer HP Magazine

Summer 2021/2022

High Performance Magazine

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HP MAGAZINE

EDITION Equipment delays: Challenge accepted p6

H&P Technicians do us proud at John Deere Awards p14

High Performance Magazine Edition 30 Summer 2021/22

Follow us on Facebook www.facebook.com/hutcheonandpearce

Contents

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04

Agronomist report: Making weed management a priority

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Harvester Clinic heads online

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10

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For all editorial and advertising enquiries, contact:

Harriet Forster Marketing Coordinator harriet.forster@hutcheonandpearce.com.au

Welcome to the 2021/22 Summer edition

H&P Techs do us proud at John Deere Awards

Summer lawn care: Beat the heat

TECSight Insights

Equipment delays: Challenge accepted

TOPGUN recruitment goes viral

POSITIONS VACANT

SERVICE TECHNICIAN

SEASONAL FOREMAN

SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGERLocation:

Location: Multiple Locations

Location: Griffith, NSW

Location: SRO, Wagga Wagga NSW

We currently have exciting opportunities

The Foreman will work collaboratively

The Supply Chain Manager is

for a qualified Agricultural Technicians/

with the Service Manager and Branch

responsible for the strategic planning

Mechanics to join our branches Our

Manager; providing mechanical support

objectives of the business, central to

Technicians work both in the workshop

and assistance to the workshop;

the function is the further growth,

and infield (repairing, servicing and

coordinating and monitoring the service

development, and implementation of

performing diagnostics) to meet the

and repairs in progress within the team

supply chain practices and systematic

needs of our extensive customer base.

and ensuring that all work meets quality

enhancement to better facilitate the

standards.

business activities.

WORK EXPERIENCE

SALES REPRESENTATIVE

SERVICE ADVISORL

Workshop & Parts

Location: Warren, NSW

Location: Forbes, NSW

We are always interested in hearing

We are looking for a passionate and

Working with the well-known and

driven sales representative to provide

highly respected John Deere range of

specialist support and machinery

Agricultural Machinery, you will be the

recommendations based on customer

prime contact between the Hutcheon

needs and individual operations,

and Pearce Forbes Branch and our

working with current industry trends,

customers for servicing and repairs on

predicting sales requirements and

machinery and equipment.

from keen and willing school students who are looking to gain a better understanding of what a day in the life of an employee at Hutcheon and Pearce is like. During your work experience, you will gain hands on knowledge and experience of your chosen role and a better understanding of what life could look like post secondary studies

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Hutcheon & Pearce

continually expanding your knowledge of the John Deere product.

For more information scan the QR code

Welcome

Welcome to the 2021/22 Summer edition of High Performance Magazine.

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hings have certainly been hectic around here!

We’ve just finished recruiting into our TOPGUN apprentice program

Over the past 18 months riding the ups and

and once again the talent we’ve found is outstanding. Things went

downs alongside our farming communities, we’ve

a little differently this time with interviews held via Microsoft Teams

seriously stepped up our business processes to

rather than in-person. Despite not being able to shake their hands,

ensure we can anticipate your needs and try to

we were impressed with calibre of applicants and confident in the

predict what might be coming next in these rapidly changing times.

next generation of recruits.

There’s one thing I know for sure about our TOPGUN program – the

It’s no easy feat to stay in front in this business, so I am

hard work that everyone puts in certainly pays off. Recently one

particularly proud of our team for their efforts over the past

of our fourth-year technicians took out John Deere Apprentice of

few months. It’s taken some incredible organisation and

the Year for the entire Australian and New Zealand Group, with

foresight and a whole heap of “going the extra mile” but we

two other techs making it through as finalists in their respective

are heading into harvest with all machines delivered or on

fields. Congratulations to Mackenzie, Callum and Gus – I couldn’t be

track for delivery, serviced up and ready to roll despite many

prouder of your efforts. Read more about their achievements on

challenges to logistics – from factory strikes to supply chain

page 10.

bottlenecks and everything in between. You can read more about the big effort on page 8.

I hope you enjoy this edition of HP Magazine. As we sign off for another year, I’d like to thank our H&P staff for their incredible hard

Nowhere has the challenge and effort been greater than

work this year. Let’s hope we can all get together in person in 2022

at our Dubbo and Warren branches. We’re one year on

to toast your efforts.

from opening our doors there and the growth has been phenomenal. It seems everyone was keen for a green machine up north and the H&P brand of service has really struck a chord. The teams there have done a great job adapting to a new business and culture, and absolutely stretched themselves to respond to customer needs. All the while, our recruitment team has been doing their level best to hire in some additional talent to meet demand.

Recruitment has been a big focus for us across the board this year. Naturally, with the growth in the ag industry, we’ve

I’d also like to extend a huge thank you to our H&P customers.

We’ve loved every minute supporting you and your business this year and appreciate your support and understanding as we move forward in these uncertain times. All the best of luck for harvest.

Let’s keep our fingers crossed for an even bigger and better new year.

Lastly, I wish you all a happy and safe Christmas. I hope you can enjoy some well-deserved time out and festive cheer.

Arron

had to grow right alongside it and you may have noticed us advertising for new team members. If you know a star in their field that would make a great fit, let your local branch know about it.

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High Performance Magazine Summer 2021/22

Agronomist report Making weed management a priority While the rain is an ongoing concern for harvest, the season is again shaping up well for many farmers in our territory. We caught up with Junee-based agronomist Greg Condon to see what’s happening for his clients.

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or the past 20 years, Greg Condon and wife Kirrily have operated as Grassroots Agronomy, providing advice to farmers across the Riverina and Central West.

For his clients, Greg said the season has been largely positive.

“It’s been another amazing season, given really mild temperatures and timely rainfall. We had subsoil moisture from the summer fallow period, so crops were sown into favourable conditions. It was a little bit dry to start with for canola, but that soon improved with rain in late autumn.

“It’s been a really positive year for grazing crops and pastures for our mixed clients running sheep. They’ve basically been able to run their sheep enterprise for the whole year with no supplementary feeding, so the cost base has been really low. That makes a big impact on margin when prices are quite high and they’re able to finish lambs and produce wool cheaply.

“The challenge for most clients has been crop nutrition; keeping crops fed on the back of a big year like 2020.

Cropping has been a bit more expensive this year given some of the higher inputs required, particularly with nitrogen. Still, the rewards are there with some above average prices on offer and some strong yield potential if and when they can get crops off.

Junee

“I work with a group called WeedSmart, which is a not-forprofit organisation that helps promote sustainable weed management. In these wetter years, weed management is a higher priority so we encourage farmers to be planning around how those ‘dirtier’ paddocks might look next year and the year after and making seed bank management a priority.

“WeedSmart has what we call the Big Six – six different things growers can practically do to combat weeds, which are a combination of chemical and non-chemical tactics. We’re still using herbicides to control weeds but we really want growers to look at the range of tactics as we’ve got more herbicide resistance and a lot of our older chemicals are failing in their ability to control weeds.

“Harvest weed seed control (HWSC) is one tactic that helps growers control resistant weeds without the use of herbicides. The Seed Terminator is an impact mill which destroys weed seeds at harvest by shearing, crushing, grinding and impacting weeds seeds contained in the chaff fraction. The process of destroying weed seeds helps lower the seedbank and complements other weed management practices such as crop competition or diverse rotations.

“The rain may make for a bit of a slow harvest in some areas. For those clay soils like in Quandialla or Ganmain, the wet season has created different challenges with things like disease and waterlogging, but largely it’s a very positive season – some of the best seen with certain crops.”

One thing Greg is recommending for farmers right now is making weed management a priority because long, cool seasons are not only good for wheat and canola, but also for ryegrass and wild oats.

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Seed Terminator

“HWSC is a really powerful tool when integrated with other tactics, and this technology is something Australia leads the world in. It’s a big investment, at a cost of $100,000 on the back of a $600,000-$700,000 header, growers need to be aware of the commitment they are making. WeedSmart in conjunction with mill manufacturers such as Seed Terminator provide growers with updated information around harvester setup, running costs and potential efficiency reductions.

“Growers should be aware that with impact mills, there’s a compromise on the capacity of a header in a big year, because when you have a harvest like 2020, the harvester is already processing a lot of material. If you then add an impact mill into the back of the header, it will reduce capacity because they need extra horsepower and fuel to run, and growers need to be conscious of that.

“That said, we visited some clients at Lockhart recently, and they run two Seed Terminators on their John Deere headers. This is their second year running the mills and they understand the compromises involved, but they are now at the point where they’re basically not using any pre-emergent chemistry on their barley and relying on the impact mill to control those grass weeds in combination with a diverse rotation. That’s how critical these alternative tools are becoming.”

Greg Condon

For more information on chemical and non-chemical weed control solutions, visit www.weedsmart.org.au.

WeedSmart is an industry-led initiative designed to enhance on-farm practices and promote the long-term sustainability of herbicide use.

INDUSTRY UPDATE

Nick McCarthy, trader and accumulator for Robinson Grain, gave us an overview of the market in mid November 2021 Offshore demand for wheat has been strong for the past 12 months, which has kept prices strong. Wheat is pricing into Melbourne for January at about $370-380/tonne, so big numbers considering we’re heading for another record yield.

Diverse crop rotations - Faba Beans

Harvest is well and truly underway in the north, although it has been stop-start thanks to the rain. A lot of end consumers assume there would be grain coming off in a lot of areas right now, and as a result are a bit short on their supplies, so we’ve seen a bit of a price bump as they look to shore up their stocks prior to harvest really kicking in.

At the end of November, we spoke to Agriwest Rural Agronomist, Tom Macleay. He said unfortunately, over the last 10 days of November, with rainfall occurring over much of the state, the devastation of floods wiping out a lot of broadacre cropping areas, as well as the predicted persistent rainfall, this has created a shot and sprung (seed germinating in the head pre-harvest) situation to occur. This leaves growers in the situation where they will need to sell wheat as feed grade which can be hundreds of dollars per tonne lower than previously estimated prices.

Canola hasn’t gone as well in Canada as they would’ve liked and as a result, we’ve seen Australian canola price record highs. With canola making well over $800/tonne at local grain receivable sites, growers that got canola in the ground are going to see some big bank balances this year providing they get it off the paddock.

Some farming areas in Central NSW have rain forecast again this week, therefore prolonging harvest even further and amplifying the issues currently seen. All in all, it has been a tough finish to the year for a lot of people. Our thoughts go out to them and hopefully we see a more predictable 2022 with more stable weather systems.

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High Performance Magazine Summer 2021/22

Live Show i

Harvester Clinic heads online Taking time to set up before harvest is time well spent, and our yearly Harvester Clinics are the perfect way for our customers to get to know their harvester and its capabilities inside and out before they hit the paddock.

Thanks to COVID, our 2021 clinic ran online but that didn’t stop the flow of quality information.

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hile TECsight Field Specialist Manager Glen Montgomery may not feel at home in front of the camera, it didn’t stop him from jumping on our recent livestreamed Harvester Clinic to help customers improve their productivity and efficiency this harvest.

As Glen explained, Harvester Clinics are a regular and important event on the Hutcheon & Pearce calendar.

“We usually start straight after Henty, heading to Forbes and then making our way south to run Harvester Clinics in each branch location. We usually discuss safety and maintenance as well as grain loss, residue management and showcase the latest and greatest in technology.

“While we tend to focus on new machines, the operators aren’t always new to John Deere. For some, this may be their third or fourth header but it’s the big changes in technology, including some automation in machines now, that keeps them coming back.

“Last year, because of COVID, we had to change things on the fly so we went up to FarmLink in Temora and made some videos but these were probably too long and we didn’t get so many hits. This year, we wanted to do better.

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“We invited people to attend a YouTube Live event on 30 September and we got a couple of machines in – the S780 and an S770 – and we had a new BP15 platform, a new S740 Draper platform, and a Shelbourne platform. During that live event, we spent time on each piece of machinery, going through how we’d set them up in the field to get the most out of them. Customers had the chance to send us in questions via the chat function and we probably had 100 viewers on the go for most of the event.

“I’ve been with Hutchies for 25 years now and being in front of the camera definitely pushes you out of your comfort zone but I was happy to do my bit to make sure everyone got to see the new machines and get comfortable with their own.”

Glen said the H&P team also worked together to create a series of short, sharp videos that run through things like draper settings and adjustments, threshing and separating and daily checks for different parts of the S700 Series combine harvester. These videos, along with the full livestreamed event and a series of videos featuring the technology available in both the S700 and X9 combines are now housed on the Hutcheon & Pearce website.

in action at Farmlink, Temora NSW

Glen said the entire TECSight team is well and truly geared up for harvest.

“Most people are probably comfortable with servicing and set up, so they may prefer to take a look at the technology videos because it’s that in-cab technology piece that most people are looking to shine up on.

“We’ll also be putting regular tips and tricks on this website throughout harvest which will change as we get into different crops. We’ll send out text messages to our clients when those tips are updated so you can see the latest from us in the TECSight Field Services team. And we’ve also put a chat function on that site to allow customers with non-urgent questions to send them to us.”

One thing Glen wants people to be aware of this harvest is grain loss.

“It’s looking like yields will be really good again this year, and grain loss will be a big concern given the price of commodities at the moment. Grain loss is quite hard to measure accurately.

You need some catch trays and then you need to weigh what you’ve lost and estimate that across the whole operation.

“There are several calculators and apps you can use to give you your grain loss as a percentage, but we recommend heading to John Deere’s EquipmentPlus app and accessing the grain loss calculator there. It’s a really good tool to work with.”

“This is like our grand final. It’s what we work towards all year. We learn about new machines and technology. We sit down with the Parts department and help them gauge what stock they’ll need in what quantities. We run workshops in how to pre-deliver machines and we optimize machines after delivery, and we run our Harvester Clinics so everyone is as ready as they can be. So when harvest rolls around, it’s something we really look forward to.

“And at the end of every harvest, we put together our postmatch report, a harvest review and look at the hits and misses; what we did well, what we didn’t do well, we can do better, what needs to change, so we can do it better the following year.

“Then we’re straight into seeding and cotton gear set-up and then sprayers and tractors. That’s the thing about ag: the seasons just keeps coming at us!”

For more information on the 2021 Harvester Clinic or to see our weekly Top Tips for Harvest 21, head to www. hutcheonandpearce.com.au/2021-harvester-clinic. For assistance throughout harvest, call TECSight’s Remote Support team on 02 5924 5111.

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High Performance Magazine Summer 2021/22

Equipment delays; Challenge accepted With product and component shortages, shipping delays and a workers’ strike challenging machinery supplies, our team has certainly been feeling the pressure. Lucky we love a challenge and have a never-say-die attitude to keeping our customers going.

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ight across the ag sector, there’s a lot of speculation right now about equipment delays so we caught up with Sales Operations Manager Andrew Watt to run us through some of the issues we’re facing here at Hutcheon & Pearce and what we’re doing to tackle them. As Wattie explains, there are three main factors affecting machinery orders: 1.Transport logistics – there are multiple ports across the world that have container ships queued up ready to unload and containers on the docks waiting for the backlog to be cleared. John Deere is going to great lengths to change shipping lines and travel routes to work around these delays and have chartered more than 140 commercial flights to keep factories across the globe up and running and supply lines filled.

2. Electronic components – the production of electronic components have slowed, which has had an effect across multiple industries, including agriculture. These components are used in engines, transmissions and within the tractor cab itself and the shortage has meant that some tractors are sitting in warehouses, otherwise fully assembled and waiting on these components.

3. John Deere workers’ strike – involving 10,000 plus workers in factories and distribution centres in North America, the strike began on October 14 and ended on November 17, causing issues for logistics and supply chains with some delivery dates being pushed out.

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“These issues are obviously having an impact on us but it’s not across the board and varies according to the product segment we’re talking about. For example, we have forward sold cotton harvesters for next year and there’s been no expected delays to those. Despite no delays, we are still going that extra step and contacting every single customer to ensure they are aware of the things at play out of our control and to see if they want to hang onto any trade machines rather than sell them off, just in case.

“When it comes to tractors due for next seeding, however, it’s been some very uncertain times. We get daily updates and on one day delivery might be pushed out by a day and the next it is out by a week. Then it comes back a week – it’s hard to predict. If those machines look like they’ll push out past March, we’ll be in touch with those customers as soon as we can to put contingency plans in place.

“Right now, we have put a stop on stock sales, so we’re not selling any stock tractors that are on order. We’re doing this to ensure our customers who have placed orders with us have first priority and avoid a situation where someone walks in today and purchases a tractor from our stock and is up and running before a customer who ordered six months ago gets theirs. We have a hire fleet at our disposal and emergency units we can loan, to help people get through if we need to pull that trigger.

“Of course, our focus continues to be on getting those pre-sold units where they need to be as soon as we possibly can once they come into the country.”

Andrew gives credit to the H&P team who have been under enormous pressure with harvester delays.

“The good news is we delivered all harvesters to customers before harvest. The only slightly bad news is how close we came to the wire. We had 80 harvesters due to land and be delivered throughout August, September and October.

Unfortunately, all of them landed in the first two weeks of October, which meant we had a huge amount of congestion in the workshops as we worked to turn all of those units around and get them delivered in that month.

“Basically, we did three months’ work in three weeks. We even stopped selling harvesters for a short while as we knew our workshops wouldn’t have the ability to do any other pre-deliveries during this time.

“The planning that went into it and the way that the teams – service, parts and sales – worked together across all branches was incredible. We honestly didn’t think we were going to make it. It still surprises me how some understaffed branches, that were advertising for three or four technicians at the time, were still able to get the job done. They really banded together and planned it all to a tee. It was a stellar performance.”

If you have any questions at all about parts or machinery delays, don’t hesitate to call your local sales branch.

BIG YEAR FOR

DUBBO

One person who knows all about seasonal pressures and the extra determination needed this year is our Parts Manager in Dubbo, Jeff Stevens. Jeff has worked with the John Deere product for 27 years and has never experienced sales like he has in the past 12 months.

“It’s madness. The build up to harvest has been just enormous. When we first heard our target for the year, I went pale, and everything loosened up inside me! But now, seeing what’s going on, I think it’s quite achievable.

“We’re shaping up well for the wheat harvest and we’re looking down the barrel of a big cotton year, too. I put it down to buyer confidence. Our customers had a good year last year, which probably appeased the banks and now this year they can put some money back into the farm.

“We’ve had great seasons before, but I’ve never seen demand like this. I think the Hutcheon & Pearce name has something to do with that. Customers say, ‘Hutcheon & Pearce looks after us better’ and that fits with Arron Hutcheon’s mantra that the customer comes first.”

Jeff is confident the equipment delays won’t affect the parts team too much this harvest.

“There’s a fear out there among customers that we won’t be able to get parts but by the time harvest cracks on here in Dubbo, we’ll have our backorders here. The company has also bulked us up a bit and it’s the greatest thing that could have happened. I was starting to worry I’d have to send a lot of parts back; our warehouse was so full. Now I think we’re going to need a lot of it.

“People just need to call if they need parts. I’m confident we’ll be able to help.”

Jeff Stevens

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High Performance Magazine Summer 2021/22

The best of the best: H&P techs do us proud at John Deere Awards Three of our own were named among the best and brightest in Australia and New Zealand in the inaugural John Deere Technician awards.

Congratulations Mackenzie, Gus and Callum!

L techs.

aunching in 2021, the John Deere Technician Awards champion the hard work and expertise technicians provide to customers and recognise the skill and dedication of high-performing

We couldn’t be prouder of our fourth-year Apprentice Technician, Mackenzie Riddle, who took out the Service Apprentice of the Year Award, and Andrew “Gus” Guthrie and Callum Campbell who were named finalists in the Parts Technician and Parts Apprentice of the Year categories, respectively.

For Gus, who has been with H&P for 20 years, being nominated was both humbling and inspiring.

“Even though I didn’t take out the award, it was quite humbling to even represent H&P. To be recognised as a finalist was exciting but, if I can, I’d love another crack at the title next year!”

Technicians were nominated by their dealerships with input from customers, and were judged on their mechanical and technical expertise, their previous accomplishments and their performance in a series of aptitude tests.

Gus’s passion to do better comes as no surprise to H&P Human Resources Manager Sarah Johnson, who said the awards should be a great source of pride for the trio, and the entire H&P team.

John Deere representatives described awards applicants as an “enormous pool of talent” and for Mackenzie, it made the win hard to believe.

“Our technicians are so committed to what they do for our customers. They put in big hours to keep our customers running, to help keep food on the table, clothes on our backs, and it’s fitting that they are recognised for their achievements. I’m really proud of what they’ve accomplished.

“This award covers both Australia and New Zealand, so I was genuinely not expecting to hear my name called. I was stoked to be selected as the regional representative for NSW/ACT and to make it as a finalist, let alone win. It’s an absolute honour and a confidence boost and means moving two hours away from home to start my apprenticeship with H&P has paid off.”

Callum was equally shocked to be acknowledged for something that’s “all in a day’s work”.

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“It was an amazing feeling to make it as far as I did because I just saw it as part of my everyday job. The award means a great deal and has made me realise how far I’ve come since I started.”

Hutcheon & Pearce

“For Hutcheon & Pearce, being the best of the best is what we set out to do. It’s the tagline for our apprenticeship program and we strive to find and develop the best employees to provide the best possible support and service for our customers. These awards are also recognition of that collective effort.”

MEET

MACKENZIE RIDDLE 2021 John Deere Service Apprentice of the Year Australia/NZ Growing up on a farm in Culcairn, Mackenzie admired the green machines almost as much he did the H&P techs that looked after them. So, when the day came that he would finally get a shot at a TOPGUN apprenticeship, he gave it everything he could and has been giving it his all ever since.

Mackenzie took up his apprenticeship at the Temora Branch and now his day-to-day work is predominantly supporting broadacre farmers across the Temora region.

“I really love travelling the countryside and just being in the field and talking to customers. It’s really interesting seeing what each one does differently with their farming practices and the technology, and it’s so rewarding to see them adapting and benefitting from our help.

“We get a lot of support and training in the TOPGUN program – not just from the team, but also the support from my manager, his manager and even Arron (Managing Director, Arron Hutcheon) is unreal. Hutchies has such a great reputation for supporting our customers and I have been given a lot more responsibilities since my third year and the chance to really grow as a technician. I plan on hanging around.

“If you’re considering joining TOPGUN, take the opportunity – it’s one you definitely can’t pass up.”

MEET

ANDREW ‘GUS’ GUTHRIE 2021 John Deere Parts Technician finalist Gus started a traineeship in Parts at H&P in 1999 with very little knowledge of the industry. Today he is our Albury Parts Manager and has a legendary knowledge of parts and technology, a thorough understanding of the Ag industry and a deep respect for those that work in it.

“I love working over the counter and taking phone orders. Over the years, it has given me the opportunity to meet a lot of people in Ag. They are great people and hard workers so striving to meet their needs year in, year out is the best part of my job.

“It’s a great industry and business to work for. Whether you are in sales, parts or service, there are some great career opportunities if you are willing to work hard for it. I got a job not knowing a lot about the industry but with the support and training available, it’s made it a very enjoyable job and I look forward to expanding my knowledge in years to come.”

MEET

CALLUM CAMPBELL 2021 John Deere Parts Apprentice of the Year finalist Callum is a Spare Parts interpreter at our Finley Branch who qualified at the start of this year.

“I love working with the John Deere machines and products. I have grown up with them and know they’re an outstanding brand that excels in technology.

“The favourite part of my job would have to be farm visits and customer interaction. I love working to keep farmers going through the busiest times. I also work with a great bunch of people that come together as a team to keep our farmers running.

“I would highly recommend anyone coming out of school or people looking for a career change to think about a job in this industry.”

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High Performance Magazine Summer 2021/22

Summer lawn care: Beat the heat Lawn care expert and social media icon, Ben Sims shares his top tips for keeping your lawn tip-top this summer.

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ith more than 114,000 subscribers on his Lawn Tips YouTube channel and 18 million video views of his work, it’s safe to say greenkeeper Ben Sims is considered a bit of an expert when it comes to lawn care.

With summer holidays and entertaining upon us, we thought it was time to hit Ben up for his top tips for keeping your patch green this summer:

Ben’s top tips for lawn care:

1

Make sure you water properly!

An important part of looking after your lawn in summer is watering it properly and not overwatering. Warm season grasses like Kikuyu, Couch and Buffalo require infrequent watering to keep it healthy through the hotter months. Ben recommends you water 13mm of irrigation twice a week if there are no rain events. For example, give it 13mm on Monday and then water it again on Thursday with another 13mm.

Keep in mind that infrequent watering trains your lawn to stretch out and not require water every day, while watering daily can shorten the lawn’s root system and can also cause issues with fungus.

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Consider using wetting agents

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Keep up the mowing

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Apply products in the morning or evening

Wetting agents are great to help retain moisture in your lawn during the warmer months. Soil can become hydrophobic, which means it repels water.

Wetting agents help break the surface tension and allow water to penetrate into hydrophobic soils.

Try and keep up mowing at least once or twice a week. Cutting off just a third of the leaf blade will stop the lawn getting stressed and allow it to recover faster after a mow.

If you are going to fertilise or apply herbicides to your lawn in summer, Ben highly recommends applying them in the coolest parts of the day. This will reduce the risk of these products burning your lawn.

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BEN PUTS JD MOWERS TO THE TEST! Who better to put some equipment to the test than a lawn guru? In July this year, we asked Ben to put the Z530M zero turn mower, X380 ride-on mower, and the Gator™ XUV through their paces on his property in Orange.

While he has been impressed by all of these beauties for different reasons, Ben says his current favourite is the Z530M because of how much it speeds up maintenance for him.

“I have a couple of acres to mow so the zero turn zips under the trees and large areas quickly. I’m a big fan of the mulch kit on the mower as well. If you regularly mow like I do, it gives a tidier cut and recycles the clippings back into the lawn, which can act as a natural fertiliser and nourish the soil.”

Ben Sims on the Z530M

When he’s not sharing videos on social media, Ben is busy selling lawn plans and turf supplies and talking clients through how to get the best out of their lawn. Check out his website: www.lawntips.net And for more on Ben’s John Deere road test or to check out his latest lawn tips, visit his YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/channel/UC47hWf2NTrfOvB-e5kpp04g

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High Performance Magazine Summer 2021/22

Behind the scenes: Spring Catalogue Shoot When looking for a location for our recent Spring Catalogue photo shoot, we needed great looking gardens and plenty of space to put our machines through their paces. So, when the team at St Edwards of the Riverina put their hands up, we knew we’d hit the jackpot! We caught up with Josh Walsh from St Edwards and White Top Venues to see what was involved.

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Josh and Sophie W

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or Josh Walsh, problem solving just comes with the territory. The owner of St Edwards of the Riverina and White Top Venues, Josh spends most of his time helping clients bring their events to life, so when we threw a curveball at him – finding the perfect venue for our Spring Catalogue photo shoot – he took it in his stride.

“We have a great history with Hutcheon & Pearce and take care of many of their events, including the annual All Employee Meeting and executive team events.

“We were pretty slim on weddings and events thanks to COVID, so when the team mentioned the photo shoot, we thought it’d be a great match to bring their small machinery out to St Edwards, just 15 minutes from their Wagga Branch.

“Our team worked with the crew at Hutcheon & Pearce to collect the different types of machinery from Temora, Griffith, Albury and Wagga. We got it all out to the property and then cleaned it all, ready to go for the photo shoot. It took us 48 hours to get everything there and another 48 hours following the photo shoot to get it all back. On the day, we were there to support them in any way possible – overall logistics, getting the gardens prepared and catering.”

Josh and partner Sophie have a cracking business model, running St Edwards for the past eight years and White Top Venues for the past six. White Top includes multiple venue spaces that they own and manage between Sydney and Melbourne. While they cater for larger corporate events, their bread and butter is staging weddings, which have understandably taken a hit during COVID.

“Our biggest thing as a company was supporting our team of 35 and making sure we all got through COVID. Now when I think about the future of events, with COVID hopefully in the rear-vision mirror, it’s extremely positive and we’re looking forward to a big 12 months. I think that the best thing about coming out of COVID is that weddings and events are going to be a lot bigger as people are keen to get together. And regional people are really happy to support local suppliers like White Top, so it’s pretty exciting for us right now.”

One of the things making Josh’s job a little easier is the recent purchase of a skid steer from Hutcheon & Pearce.

“We got the skid steer 18 months ago and it’s revolutionised the way we do things. We take it around to all of our sites and it makes them all a lot more accessible.

We have pallet forks on it, and we can unload equipment and get it directly to where we need it to be.

“It’s been the best thing we’ve ever done. It’s saved us about 30% in terms of time and labour. We should have done it earlier!”

Josh said as a customer of Hutcheon & Pearce, his experience has been exceptional.

“As a smaller company, we have really taken a lot of notes from Hutcheon & Pearce and how they operate, and we’ve tried to merge these into our daily operations. I think they’re quite faultless in how they conduct themselves in every aspect of their business.”

Josh was also impressed with the results of the Catalogue shoot. If you’d like to check them out, too, head into your local branch to grab your copy or visit: www.hutcheonandpearce.com.au/lawn-garden.

Walsh

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High Performance Magazine Summer 2021/22

TECSight Insights: team finetuned ahead of harvest As we work through another big harvest, we thought we’d take a look behind the scenes to see how the team at TECSight has been gearing up. For Integrated Solutions Manager Hamish Ross, the focus has been getting staff in exactly the right places to best service our customers.

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or many years now, Hutcheon & Pearce has focused on keeping our farmers moving with the right mix of machinery, parts, service and technology needed to get the job done in a rapidly changing industry.

As Integrated Solutions Manager Hamish Ross explains, our TECSight team has recently gone through some adjustments to better meet customers’ needs in the face of fast-moving technological change.

“We’ve always had TECSight Remote Support, which has been a bit of everything to everyone. In August this year, we made some changes and appointed Toby Pitt to the manager role.

“Then there’s TECSight Field Service, which is our team of field specialists headed up by Glen Montgomery. They’re the team out in the field looking after product optimisation, so they’ll call about a month after a new machine is delivered and make sure the operator is using the machine to its maximum capacity in terms of technology.

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“Finally, there’s Integrated Solutions which encompasses TECSight Precision Ag. Integrated Solutions handles the internal technology sales capabilities function, while Precision Ag assists our customers with their Precision Ag buying needs as well as helping the whole Hutcheon & Pearce team in a ‘train the trainer’ capacity when new technology comes out, to ensure they’re up to speed and across the tech they’re selling. Russell Bate is part of the Precision Ag team, and he helps customers with their John Deere Operations Centre and data clean-up needs on a feefor-service basis.

“What we’ve seen is new technology coming at us faster and faster. In response, we’ve created a really clear delineation between each TECSight function and best practice transfer of information so the entire organisation can support our customers to the maximum.”

Along with this realignment of services, the TECSight team has welcomed new staff in administration and remote support roles.

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HARVEST TIPS For those looking for a few pointers when it comes to technology use this harvest, Hamish offers this advice:

1. Have a clean Operations Center because quality information in equals quality data out. Operations Centre is the base for your machinery to assist you in data driven decisions, so it needs to be up to scratch before you head into harvest.

2. Keep your software up-to-date. Software on our AMS products is updated three times a year, so it’s really important to bring that into your servicing schedule. If Hutcheon & Pearce do your servicing, we will update all the controller and the display software but if you’re servicing on-farm, it’s always important to check it’s the most current version. If you have queries about software, call the TECSight hotline and the team will help you download and install that software right over the phone.

3. Contact us. We’re here to support you throughout harvest, whatever you need. We’ve even put TECSight stickers in the cabs of all S700 combines with a QR code that links straight to our Harvester Clinic website (see Page 6 for more on the clinic), so the information you need is right there at your fingertips.

“We are excited to welcome Brooke North to the team, who will be helping me with the sales side of things as well as TECSight administration. Daniel Kingham is a recent grad from Charles Sturt University and has really hit the ground running in the Remote Support team, where he is joined

by Justin Noakes, who has come to us from Rex and has a mechanical background working on aircraft engines.

“Next we have Josh Croker join our Field Services team from Intersales and TAFE prior to that, as well as Russell Menzies who has come to us from managing the H&P branch in Temora.

“So, we have a wealth of experience, knowledge and enthusiasm joining the team and we can’t wait to see what they’re able to do as part of the TECSight crew. It will be a particularly busy time for the Field Service team who will be out optimising the 100 or so combines we had delivered to customers across our footprint prior to harvest.”

Throughout harvest, we’re here to support you with your remote support and precision ag needs.

Just call TECSight on 02 5924 5111.

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High Performance Magazine Summer 2021/22

Scholarship program starts out strong At Hutcheon & Pearce, we’re committed to building stronger, more resilient regional communities and finding new ways to make that happen. Our inaugural Empowered scholarship program received a fantastic response and will soon see six applicants on their way to becoming personal trainers.

On a mission to build stronger and more resilient farming communities through group fitness classes, Ginny couldn’t be happier that six new trainers will join the Active Farmers team thanks to the Empowered Scholarship Program and our partnership with both Active Farmers and FIT College.

“Entries opened in September, and we received some very strong submissions, with applications coming from NSW, Queensland, Victoria and Tasmania. We’re happy with who’s applied and where they’re from and now it’s up to our judging panel to review the videos and select the top six.

“We were also contacted by a few people who are already qualified as personal trainers or who have started their training, so while they can’t apply for the scholarship, we’ll keep the conversation going with them as that’s another three communities we may have found trainers for.”

Empowered Scholarship recipients will receive training and equipment valued at $7000 and will become part of the Active Farmers network after completing their Certificate III and IV in Personal Training through FIT College.

“Once they get close to being ready to train, we’ll start onboarding them with Active Farmers, working out venues, setting up webpages and helping them market to their own communities and teeing up a launch event. They’ll also be part of the Active Farmers family, which means 33 other trainers to talk with and learn from.

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“We’re so excited to welcome more communities to our network and broaden our reach because that means we can help more people. The Empowered program not only helps empower the individual trainers, but it also makes a difference to their community and brings us closer to our goal of reaching 100 communities by 2024.

“I’m grateful to all of the applicants who got out of their comfort zone and sent in their videos. We’re just so impressed with how much they care about the health and wellbeing of their communities. And to Hutcheon & Pearce, we’re also extremely grateful for their support, because without it, we wouldn’t be able to take Active Farmers to the six new locations. We hope to continue the program for many years to come.”

The winners of the Empowered Scholarships will be announced before Christmas, with training to commence in February 2022.

“

“I think in the past it hasn’t been normal for people, and especially farmers, to prioritise their wellbeing. I want to normalise this in my community and surrounding communities. I want to create a strong, resilient and healthy communities and I want to be a leader in helping to build stronger and healthier humans for years to come” - Thomas

“

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ctive Farmers CEO and founder, Ginny Stevens, is pumped about 2022.

TOPGUN recruitment goes viral At Hutcheon & Pearce, not even COVID can stand in our way of recruiting the best of the best and while we had to take many of our TOPGUN recruitment activities online this year, we still managed to lock in a bumper crop of 2022 apprentices.

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ur Human Resources Manager Sarah Johnson is a master when it comes to finding talent and she refused to let something like a global pandemic stop her from finding our next round of TOPGUN apprentices.

“TOPGUN is a premium program – our goal is to recruit the best of the best and ensure we’re an employee of choice in our regions. We usually start building awareness about the apprenticeship program in April each year, visiting schools and attending career fairs and expos, and hold an interview event in October. With lockdowns this year, we had very little opportunity to physically get out and meet people within our communities and get the awareness out there. So, we had to shift gears and tackle things remotely and online.

“We attended remote presentations and virtual careers fairs and relied heavily on social media and tapping into school communication platforms to get the message out. We had a huge response when applications opened.”

Normally TOPGUN candidates travel to Wagga for interviews with a mix of Branch Managers and TAFE teachers, and aptitude assessments. But travel restrictions and border closures also put an end to the face-to-face event, leaving Sarah to organise a virtual interview day for shortlisted candidates.

“Trying to coordinate schedules for 30 candidates and 10 odd interview stations was a challenge but it went really well. We developed a tailored schedule for every single participant so when they hit the digital link their interviewers were waiting for them. It was a baptism of fire for me as I had to learn what I was doing on the go, but our IT and marketing teams really helped out. TOPGUN interviews are always a team effort, and especially so this year.”

A total of 24 candidates made it through the recruitment campaign, taking up roles in 12 of our 13 branches in January.

TOPGUN recruitment for 2023 will kick off again early in the New Year.

If you or someone you know is interested in doing an apprenticeship and mixing it with the best of the best at H&P, our HR team is always on hand to discuss options.

Simply email your questions to hr@ hutcheonandpearce.com.au. We also have a number of roles to fill right across the group – head to www.hutcheonandpearce.com.au/ careers to see the current vacancies.

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NOT YOUR AVERAGE CAREER To view our current vacancies, visit www.hutcheonandpearce.com.au/careers ALBURY 222 Travelstop Way Albury NSW 2640 Phone: (02) 6058 6800

COWRA 64-68 Young Road Cowra NSW 2794 Phone: (02) 6341 4800

LAKE CARGELLIGO 63 Canada Street, Lake Cargelligo NSW 2672 Phone: (02) 6898 1305

COLEAMBALLY 7 Bencubbin Way Coleambally NSW 2707 Phone: (02) 6954 4280

DUBBO 22R Narromine Road Dubbo NSW 2830 Phone: (02) 6885 3300

ORANGE 26 Scott Place Orange NSW 2800 Phone: (02) 6362 9988

CONDOBOLIN 1a May Street, Condobolin NSW 2877 Phone: (02) 6891 2222

FINLEY 16 Riverina Highway Finley NSW 2713 Phone: (03) 5883 1655

TEMORA 101 Kitchener Road Temora NSW 2666 Phone: (02) 6977 1100

FORBES 56 Angus Clarke Drive Forbes NSW 2871 Phone: (02) 6862 1666

GRIFFITH Cnr Oakes Rd & Irving Place Griffith NSW 2680 Phone: (02) 6969 5300

WAGGA WAGGA 57 Moorong Street Wagga Wagga NSW 2650 Phone: (02) 6933 7900

www.hutcheonandpearce.com.au

WARREN 11 Zora Street Warren NSW 2824 Phone: (02) 6847 3522 TECSight® Support Centre (02) 5924 5111