MAD Concaves: a leap of faith that paid off
John Bertola’s initiation into the world of MAD Concaves reads like a modern tech-saga. John operates the family enterprise, with his brother Michael in Beaumont, 115km East of Esperance. In the midst of the 2021 seeding season, John stumbled upon MAD Concaves through Facebook after looking for new concaves for his New Holland harvester. Curiosity piqued, he initiated a conversation with Murray Skayman in Canada, one of the innovative minds behind Bushel Plus’ MAD Concaves.
This exchange marked the beginning of a virtual collaboration, with John and Murray engaging in a series of discussions revolving around farm conditions and crop specifics. Recognizing the potential alignment, John got in touch with Boekeman Machinery, a pivotal link in the chain that helped facilitate the introduction of John’s first set of MAD Concaves for his New Holland header.
Reflecting on the time John said, “It was a bit of a leap of faith because we didn’t know what to get, due to there being quite a few configurations. We didn’t nail it the first time, because we didn’t want to get every possible choice. Once we figured out what was best, we stepped it up and got enough for a whole set.”
For John, the decision to embrace MAD Concaves hinged on two factors: performance and customization. His experience with OEM solutions had exposed the rigidity of the options available, leaving little room for tailoring to unique conditions. In contrast, MAD Concaves offered a range of concave inserts, enabling John to fine-tune his equipment to suit the specific needs of his crops and environment.
“They gave us a really, clean sample and good capacity. I believe there was an increase in ground speed, however it is hard to prove that because every day is different. Certainly, no worse than OEM’s that for sure. It’s hard to measure (ground speed), because no two crops are the same and no two years are the same.” John said, acknowledging that quantifying the precise impact is no easy feat, considering the inherent variability in harvesting.
Ease of installation emerged as a defining feature of MAD Concaves. A sentiment echoed by John, who acknowledges, “It’s better than OEMs; you still get a bit dirty taking them in and out, but nowhere near as heavy and cumbersome.” A modular frame fits in the original concave position and always stays in place. Concave inserts are then easier to install and swap, with two bolts per insert. Coming in handy for when changing from wheat and barley crop to canola. This user-friendly aspect has contributed to streamlined operations, minimizing downtime and maximizing efficiency.
Considering the cost of upgrading his concaves John said, “You think you’re saving money by not replacing your concaves, but you soon get that back if you increase the performance of the header. You don’t have to go much quicker to soon make up the cost.” Primary Sales Australia is now the exclusive distributor of MAD Concaves within Australia. Working with their strong network of independent machinery dealerships, like Boekeman Machinery, to ensure easier access to these innovative concaves. Creating easy to order kits designed to suit Australian crops and conditions has been a priority.
Concaves weren’t the only upgrade the Bertolas have made to their harvester’s rotor. Changing the separator bars on their New Holland twin pitched rotors to hooked rasp bars to get more aggressive separation. John mentioned, “it’s a bit of a beast of a thing. Last year was a really good year too, it was easy to get high tons per hour. You could push your machine to its limits without losses being an issue.” The Kondinin Group Research Report 157: Harvest performance (2023), evaluated the effects of dense packs/performance packs and aftermarket concaves. With results showing that the combination of aftermarket concaves and threshing elements can improve the overall performance of a harvester. Primary Sales and Bushel Plus MAD Concaves team are excited to support Ben White and team from Kondinin Group continue that work this year as they believe the independent testing helps provide suitable concave solutions for Australian growers.
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