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The MacDon FD2 Flex Draper, entered by MacDon Australia Pty Ltd, impressed the judges with its innovation, design and engineering.
Highly commended was the John Deere See & Spray Select entered by dealership Hutcheon and Pearce.
A total of 22 machines and equipment were entered in the Henty Machine of the Year award. The award is presented to the most outstanding new piece of agricultural machinery exhibited at the field days. It is judged by an independent panel of five regional primary producers.
Judging criteria include the machine's purpose and suitability, scope of application, construction (durability and design), ease of maintenance and service, ease of operation and adjustment, availability of parts and overall value for money.
Judge Warren Scheetz said the award this year incorporated both 2021 and 2022 entries, and the job to select a winner was a difficult one.
"Competition was extremely close over a broad range of areas between all entrants," Scheetz said.
"The MacDon has increased the performance of the draper front by 20 per cent to match the ever-growing high capacities of the modern day headers. It is a simple, well-constructed mechanical design featuring ease of use."
The FD2 boasts an all-new frame that features a five-sided back tube as part of the main frame.
MacDon product specialist, Kari Sattler, said harvesters represented a large investment and needed to keep working.
"Farmers are taking on more country every year to keep in the game and in doing so you need to able operate fast to beat the weather, get the quality grain in the headers as quickly as we can and keep it moving," Sattler said.
"We also understand it's not always easy harvesting, not all our crops are standing so if it's flat on the ground, we need to scoop that up.
"This machine is designed to cut at less than an inch off the ground to eliminate obstacles such as rocks or sticks from bouncing over so as not to cause damage to the combine or make our samples dirty reducing quality."
The draper front is available in widths of 9.14m, 10.67m, 12.5m, 13.72m and 15.24m.
