Case IH 8250 Axial Flow the perfect choice for Wimmera grain growers

The McGennisken family reveal how automated controls in their new 8250 Axial Flow header made a huge difference at harvest.

With a bumper harvest in their sights, the McGennisken family had a lot riding on the performance of their new Case IH 250 series header this season.

The Wimmera family, comprising brothers Leigh, Sam and Matt, their mum Sharon, uncle David McGennisken and his son William, grow a variety of crops at Green Lake including cereals, beans, canola and lentils.

Leigh McGennisken with his new CaseIH Axial Flow combine harvester. Pictures: Zoe Phillips

They ordered their 8250 Axial Flow combine harvester with a MacDon 40-foot front in 2020 from Wimmera Case IH dealers O’Connors, just as the pandemic began to hit supply chains.

In the end, the header arrived in plenty of time, although there were a few anxious moments when the front was late, arriving just a week before harvest began.

And after slow start due to the unseasonal cool weather, the 8250 finally passed its first big test with flying colours.

“It’s been an awesome machine, we’ve had an amazing run with it,” Leigh said.

The standout feature with the 8250 had been the automated control system AFS Harvest Command and the cloud-based monitoring system AFS Connect, Leigh said.

It really had been a game changer, with consistent performance no matter the crop or conditions, said Leigh.

Leigh calls the combine “an awesome machine”.

The family have run two headers since 2011 and this latest purchase was to replace their Case IH 8120 purchased in that year.

“Our other header is a Case IH 8240 from 2017 which we’ve had a great run with as well.” Leigh said.

“We were going to trade in the 8120 for another 8240 but we worked out finance wise it would be smarter to trade up to the 250 series so we ordered the 8250.

“It’s basically the same machine as the 8240 but fitted with the AFS Harvest Command, which gives much greater automation so we thought we’d give it a go and we’ve been really happy with it.”

AFS Harvest Command maintains peak grain quality and grain savings regardless of crop, varying conditions or operator skill, using 16 sensors to automatically adjust a total of seven combine functions.

The sensors monitor everything from ground speed and engine load to feed-rate control and sieve settings, and a grain camera monitors grain quality, including cracked and broken kernels and foreign material.

“I was told by the guys at O’Connors that however you used to set up a header, forget about it and leave it to the AFS Command. It’s particularly good if you have someone operating it who is not that experienced in setting a combine and understanding when conditions change.

“It’s been really good. You’ve got the auto feed rate control which adjusts the ground speed depending on the amount of material going through the feed house to ensure the maximum performance and that you are not losing any grain out the back.

“And there’s full Harvest Command automation which adjusts machine settings like the concave, rotor, sieves etc.

“It will automatically slow down if the load is getting too heavy and then speed up again when it lightens off to ensure the maximum grain yield at any point. You can adjust the sensitivity of it too.

“Compared to the 8240 which is being controlled manually, speeds in the 8250 can vary quite considerably, so clearly the crop varies more than you might think,” Leigh said.

For example, in one paddock the yield went from three tonnes (per ha) in one area that was an old irrigation channel to four tonnes so, it slowed down by a kilometre an hour or so and adjusted sieves and rotor speeds and so on.

“The result is in the bin because I’ve checked what’s coming out behind and I can’t see very much grain so it’s doing its job extremely well.”

It also meant he could get on the radio and tell his brother harvesting alongside in the 8240, which doesn’t have the Harvest Command, to slow it down a bit or speed up or tweak the concave or replicate whatever the Harvest Command was doing.

Leigh said the only issue they had was with a paddock of windrowed barley because it was just a bit too lumpy and was pushing the limits of the auto, so he just manually operated the ground speed and still allowed the machine setting automation to operate.

“It’s also got air pressure sensors in the sieves so you can see if you are overloading them. That’s been a great thing.

The pre-sieves were automatic and able to open and shut on the go so that was a huge bonus.

Plus, the adjustments are more fine than what can be achieved manually and those little differences over time can add up in terms of extra quality and quantity of grain harvested, he said.

Leigh’s 8250 is also fitted with AFS Connect a cloud-based monitoring system which collects information about machine performance, harvest and yield data and transmits it to back to a portal where it’s processed and ready to be viewed via web browser or mobile device. It can be used to monitor and diagnose any problems in near real time.

“It’s amazing technology – the guys back at O’Connors can see our combine working in real time and see our yields, speed and many other aspects of the harvest at any point. So, at the end of the season I will get a complete yield map of the farm acre by acre which is incredibly useful information.

“I just smile and shake my head at how smart the 8250 is,” Leigh said.