Farm World 2017: Kuhn in running for Machine of the Year

KUHN is going for gold with two machines entered into the Farm World Machine of the Year.

Drawing attention: The Kuhn Lexis trailed boom sprayer.

KUHN is going for gold with two machines entered into the Farm World Machine of the Year. It will also have on its site new machines shown at its recent expo in Cowra.

The French brand has entered its new 8m power harrow and Lexis trailed sprayer in the competition.

The $68,000 mid-sized sprayer has a bunch of clever features to work with GPS guidance and the company’s own new boom with an optional pneumatic continuous circulation feature.

Another newbie to the Kuhn stand this year is the HR 8040 R power harrow that will also be vying for an award this year.

“Power harrows are a big thing in Gippsland and we’ve sold a lot of 6m units there,” said product manager Jarrod Maskell.

“Now we’ve got an 8m unit so we expect that will turn a few heads.”

He said the beefed-up machine folds to 3m for transport and has a heavy-duty central gearbox with an oil cooler.

“Everyone is getting more horsepower in their tractors so we’ve got a 500hp-rated gearbox to take advantage of that,” he said.

At the recent Kuhn Expo in Cowra, Kuhn’s new front mower, with a pull-type mounting, attracted a lot of interest and Mr Maskell said he expected it would be popular at Farm World.

The GMD 3125 F is a straight mower and has a unique frame system that puts the mount ahead of the mower, so it acts like it’s pulling behind the mount.

“The design of it gives it better ground contour following and safer break-back as well as improved manoeuvrability with high clearance on headland turns,” Mr Maskell said.

“The standard push-type mower is constrained with how it can handle hits — it’s a true head-on impact, but with a pull-type machine there’s a lot more room for error.

So it can lift up and away then reset itself and it has more range in its up and down movement as well. These will be among many other machines from Kuhn’s hay, silage and sprayer range displayed on its site.