Barooga farmer Barry Bennett wins Agri-Innovators award at Henty
IT TOOK 46 inventions but Barry Bennett finally struck gold this year by winning the Agri-Innovators Award at the Henty Field Days.
IT TOOK 46 inventions but Barry Bennett finally struck gold this year by winning the Agri-Innovators Award at the Henty Field Days.
A livestock producer from Barooga, Mr Bennett has entered inventions every year at Henty since 2001 and took out the award this year for one of the simplest of his designs, the Slip Tie.
The Slip Tie evolved when Mr Bennett had problems with a fuel tank moving on the back of his old farm ute and tandem trailer.
Made from 3mm stainless steel, it stops movement by the spacer strap and secures fuel tanks or hay rolls on utes and trailers.
“It was a pleasant shock to win as I thought it was just too simple but we need to get people interested in being farm safe,” Mr Bennett said.
Highly commended was the non-return irrigation valve entered by Peter Cocciardi of Narre Warren.
The non-return valve allows irrigators to remotely start their pumps and uses a spherical sealing element in a unique technique.
Other entries included the poly spinner trailer from Luke Howard from Henty, and ute hay bale lifter from Peter Mills of Daysdale.
The entries had to meet the criteria of having a practical on-farm application, be based on an original idea of the entrant and not be in full scale production at the time of entry.
Kioti gaining traction
Visitors to the recent AgQuip, Henty and Elmore field days had the opportunity of a first-up look at the latest offering from Kioti Tractors – the company’s new 115hp cab model.
Harrow arrives Down Under
Made in Brazil, the new Tatu Marcheson GAPCR HD 8013 offset disc harrow is distributed in Australia by Serafin Machinery, of Griffith, as a preferred supplier.