Knife Guards Improve Combine Cutting Efficiency and Maintenance

 

The Norwood family farm, located north of Esperance in south-eastern WA, have faced a few challenges in recent seasons; not least the terrible drought and frost conditions last year. 

A second-generation farmer running 3700 hectares of canola, wheat and barley, Nigel Norwood has always been interested in Controlled Traffic Farming (CTF). 

To assist in this, Nigel adopted ‘Adapt-A-Gap’ two finger knife guards on both his combines over the past three seasons, and says he is really pleased with the results. 

Running two Case 8120 combines with MacDon fronts, Nigel said the knife guards helped reduce maintenance costs and were particularly suitable for the heavy and light crop densities he experienced on his farm. 

“I change the replaceable wear strips on the back of the knife guards and swap these out regularly. These make harvesting even more economical as they substantially extend the life of the knife guards.” 

Nigel said there was no difference in the cut when using the knife guards, and knife wear and maintenance was much improved. 

He was also impressed with the knife guards’ lifespan, saying he would recommend their use to anyone. 

“When I first started using the knife guards, some were a bit too brittle and would sometimes break easily,” Nigel said. 

“That problem has now been fixed and they are now much more durable.” 

Nigel said he was a firm believer in buying local, and supporting home-based, Australian manufacturers such as Primary Sales; who developed and designed the ‘Adapt-A-Gap’ knife guards, two, three and four finger guards for all brands of header, for Australian farming conditions and manufacture the ‘Adapt-A-Gap’ knife guards range in Australia.  Primary Sales are now the only Australian manufacturer of knife guards.  

 

Primary Sales CEO Peter Broley said “The Adapt-a-Gap two-finger knife guard is suitable for heavier wheat, barley and canola crops, as well as with chickpeas in some circumstances.  Where harvesting sorghum, lupins and other pulse crops some farmers have found the ability to close the 57mm gap with snap-on cereal extensions improves efficiency by getting more grain in the bin and reducing losses. We do recommend giving us a call so we can help you determine what best suits you as it does not suit all fronts or programs”.  

He said the Adapt-a-Gap Knife Guard range is designed for Australian farmers and is manufactured in Australia, “the castings are made in South Australia and then the raw guards are processed, hardened and wear-strips added in Western Australia”.   He said we are proud to be the only Australian manufacturer of knife guards and produce 2, 3 and 4-finger knife guard kits to suit all the popular front from John Deere, Case, New Holland, MacDon, Claas, Honeybee, Agco and Midwest. 

For more information about Adapt-a-Guard knife guards, visit Adapt-A-Gap System – Primary Sales Australia