Dedicated demonstration programs have been run in the east and west and distribution has commenced through John Deere franchises Ratten and Slater in Western Australia and Hutcheon and Pearce and Emmetts in eastern Australia.

The stripper front is certainly a different beast to the more conventional auger or ‘tin’ fronts and more recently, extendable table fronts which are available from Case IH, Claas, New Holland and John Deere.

And Shelbourne Reynolds have lifted their game in terms of the build quality of the stripper fronts, making them a little more user friendly, with the introduction of a spring-loaded, pivoting adapter and spring-loaded gauge wheels for example to help contour following ability.

One of the drivers for the interest in the stripper front may be the popularity of no-till cropping systems where stubble retention and providing ground cover are priorities.

The stripper front’s ability to remove the crop close to the top of the stalk has been well documented.

Kondinin Group researchers inspected a Shelbourne Reynolds XCV model with a working width of 42 feet or 12.8m in Western Australia in a barley crop and in New South Wales in irrigated and dryland wheat.

There are two other models in the XCV range which includes a 32 feet wide unit and 36 feet wide front. All of these use rows of stripping fingers with two equally-spaced division plates across the width of the front.

A two-piece auger is used on 36 foot and 42-foot models which means there is a central joint and there is a two-piece hood and crop deflector. The central auger tube is relatively narrow with respect to the flight depth which in theory helps capacity and feeding. And the latest model stripper fronts are now all centre-mounted which should help with matching to controlled traffic cropping systems.

XCV fronts have the ability to vary the rotor speed on-the-go from the harvester cab and the speed can be varied from 430rpm to 840rpm via a large variator belt drive at the end of the front.

The fronts inspected by Kondinin Group were running on a John Deere S Series and Case IH harvester however various adapter plates will see it able to be attached to any brand of harvester.

A distinct advantage of the stripper front is in many cases, ground speed can be increased due to the lack of material being put through the harvester, that is, it is not working as hard to process as much straw or chaff if only the heads of the crops are being removed. 

This however can leave a large volume of stubble on the ground which may need to be mulched or chopped prior to sowing.

Leaving that amount of material on the ground may also pose some weed issues as weed seeds and material will not be put through the harvester and placed into rows or a chaff cart for elimination.

And as is the case with any harvester and harvester front, an increase in speed can also come with a potential harvest losses, both from the front and the harvester itself.