Highline, Madera: The best rock picking options for your land

Farmers working on stony country are always on the lookout for the right equipment to help protect their machines. Here are some of the best options available.

Anyone who has had their harvest or sowing equipment grind to a halt thanks to a rock or stone in the works has no doubt contemplated the virtue of rock-clearing machinery.

Farmers with stony country have long known a regular sweep of cropping paddocks with a rock rake or picker can save a lot of downtime and expense as the result of damage to headers or seed drills. And they are indispensable when developing new country for cropping or clearing other debris such as timber and stumps.

Farmers are spoiled for choice when it comes to buying a new machine, with seven or so brands on the market ranging from locally made to imported.

There are two choices when it comes to ridding paddocks of rocks. A rock picker may be all you need to pick up rocks or stones just below the surface and lift them into a hopper for dumping into a central pile or truck. But for big areas, a rock rake or rock windrower that is wider than the picker can be used first to form rows of rocks ready for the picker to gather, speeding up the process.

Some brands are fully hydraulically driven and others may use a PTO drive line or a combination of both.

The rakes or windrowers use a rotating drum with heavy teeth or tines that sweep the rocks into a row in much the same way a hay rake does.

The rock picker uses a rotating pick-up reel or conveyor fitted with large teeth to gather and sweep the rocks into a central hopper, which can then be unloaded into a pile or truck or trailer for disposal.

Here are a sample of some of the nation’s top-selling units:

ELHO SCORPIO ROCK PICKERS

$POA

Finnish-made Elho Scorpio pickers come in three options: the 550, the 550 SF (side flow) and the large 710.

The 550 and 550 SF have a picking width of 5.5m with the 710 measuring 7.1m. All have a 2m3 hopper and will handle rock sizes up to 40cm diameter.

Elho Scorpio rock rake and picker.

They are fully hydraulic drive, have automatic height adjustment, durable body structure, large tandem wheels and a tipping height of 2.7m.

The Scorpio range features two-winged feed rotors fitted with sturdy Hardox 500 tines with rubber bushings, which feed the rocks into a centre conveyor. From there the rocks are fed up the conveyor via a steel sieve, which separates the soil, and then the rocks are fed into the hopper.

The steel sieve bars, made of hard-wearing Hardox and Imacro M steel, can be individually replaced if damaged.

In action on the land.

Being fully hydraulic nothing breaks if blocked, with the power automatically transferred to where it is needed. The pickup rotor can be reversed.

The Elho Scorpio 550 SF stone picker features a conveyor system that transfers the rocks out of the machine directly into a separately towed trailer, without having to stop operation to unload.

The Scorpio 710 features an electronically controlled valve block, that can be used with a tractor that has LS hydraulics or with an optional hydraulic unit. Load-sensing hydraulics make tipping the hopper faster.

The large stone picker is simple to operate from the cab of the tractor. The ISOBUS control unit enables precise adjustments to the working depth and rotation speed and the screen size can be adjusted hydraulically during operation.

Tractor power requirement is a minimum 100hp for the 550 and 120hp for the 550 SF and 710.

Price on application.

Distributor: Colac Ag [phone]

Details: elhoaustralia.com.au

SCHULTE

Pickers from $64,600

PICKER

The Canadian manufacturer Schulte has four models of rock picker to handle rocks as small as tennis balls up to a small esky, and ranging in size from the 1.9m3 (3.25 tonne) 2500 Giant with a 1.9m3 (3.25 tonne) hopper; the RS320 Jumbo (2.5m3 or 4.2 tonne); High Rise 8000 (2.3m3 or 3.9 tonne) and the 5000 Titan (3.8m3 or 6.5 tonne).

Schulte rock picker.

Hydraulically driven, the Giant, High Rise and Titan use a rotating pick-up reel fitted with large teeth, which gather and sweep the rocks into a hopper that then tips up to empty. The RS320 Jumbo uses a conveyor pick-up.

...and rake.

Features include 10mm-thick batt tubing with wraparound, hard-surfaced teeth for greater strength and wear resistance. A durable tapered T-iron grate design eliminates jamming while sifting out any soil. An optional hydraulic swing hitch opens and closes the machine without leaving the tractor seat Floating grate on the High Rise 8000 protects the machine from damage due to large immovable rocks.

Extra height in the Schulte High Rise 8000 and Titan 5000 allows rocks to be dumped into a truck or trailer.

Large flotation tyres minimise soil compaction and provide suspension.

Tractor requirements range from 35hp for the SRW800 rake to 125hp and for the 5000 Titan.

Prices including GST: 5000 Titan $124,000; High Rise 8000 $71,000; 2500 Giant $64,600 and RS320 Jumbo $66,600.

RAKE

The Canadian-made Schulte has three models of rock rake, all PTO driven, to handle rocks up to 62cm. The SRW800 is 2.4m wide and mounted on a three-point linkage. The SRW1000 and SRW1400 at 3m and 4.3m wide are trailing units with hydraulic height adjustment.

Features include a patented floating drum, with hard-surfaced, 152mm-long teeth welded directly to the drum pipe and driven by a heavy-duty PTO drive line, which includes a slip clutch and shear bolt arrangement.

The side delivery frame arrangement allows the operator to better control the size of windrows, regardless of rock conditions. Prices including GST: SRW800 $26,400; SRW1000 $39,000; SRW1400 $52,900.

Distributor: Schulte Sales Australia [phone]

Details: schulte.com.au

HIGHLINE

$POA

PICKER

Highline’s NT78-NT60 rock picker is a hydraulically driven, box-frame reel picker in two width options of 1.98m and 1.52m. Capacity is 2.56m3 for the NT78 and 1.97m3 for the NT60 and both can handle rocks up to 61cm.

One of Highline’s offerings.

Designed to be extremely durable, the high-lift design allows rocks to be unloaded directly into a trailer and allowing higher, more compact piles, with a dumping height up to 2.1m.

The Highline NT rock picker has a picking action guided by bogie wheels, which allow the reel to travel parallel to the ground surface, lifting and pulling the rocks towards the apron, rather than pushing down on the rocks.

Highline’s unique coil spring provides uniform loading over the reel operating range and the mechanics are protected from rock damage by compact mounting. The springs are replaceable with a simple threaded bolt to apply or remove tension to the spring. The tines are also hard-surfaced on the top and bottom leading edges.

The hydraulically driven gear box ensures large oil-bathed gears set the reel at the desired speed. The hydraulic drive also provides flexibility and simplicity when operating the reel.

The rock picker has two hitching positions; one directly behind the tractor and the second moves the rock picker outside the tractor tracks and fully into view of the operator. Minimum power requirement is 90hp for the NT78 and 70hp for the NT60.

RAKE

Highline’s RR4300 rock rake is a trailing rake, hydraulically driven with a raking width of 4.1m at 20 degrees working position folding easily to a transport width of 2.5m.

It has an adjustable raking angle of 10 degrees to 30 degrees with up and down positioning. The teeth of the rock rake have a hard-surfaced face as well as being designed to be reversible and replaceable. Tractor power requirement is 65hp.

Price on application.

Distributor: Waringa Distribution

Details: waringa.com.au

MADARA

Picker $52,250

Madara is a relative newcomer to the Australian market, offering a rock picker and rake made in Bulgaria by one of that country’s biggest farm machinery manufacturers.

Madara rock rake and picker.

PICKER

The Madara Agro rock picker is a reel-type picker with a working width of 1.52m. It is hydraulic-driven and comprises a lattice rake with replaceable teeth, a coxcomb rotor with 15-tooth reinforced comb, large collector bin and hydraulically controlled shift between transport and working mode. Tractor power requirement is 70hp.

RAKE

The Madara Agro RSK40 rock rake is a trailed, hydraulically driven reel-type unit with a working width of 4m and adjustable depth control up to 12cm.

The rotor has 81 wear-resistant, replaceable, strong welded teeth, which can be reversed and replaced to extend the machine’s efficiency and working life. A damper-lever protection system locks the rotor, drawbar and landing gear during transport. Power requirement is 60hp.

The RSK40 rock rake is currently on sale at $29,990 including GST; it normally retails for $33,000 including GST. Madara Agro rock picker is $52,250 including GST.

Distributor: Oz Value Ag [phone]

Details: ozvalueag.com.au