Levelling Melon-Holes For Cereal Crops With OptiSurface
Meandarra farmer, Keith Logan, from Logan Cattle Company has recently faced the seemingly mammoth task of landforming 4,000ha of melon holes, made easier with the help of precision ag partner, Vantage BMS.
A born and bred Longreach farmer, Keith moved to the Western Downs about 15 years ago, expanding his operation from primarily steer cattle to include cropping.
Logan Cattle Company now farms 4,000ha of wheat, chickpeas, sorghum, mung beans, and barley, while also running 1500-2000 head of cattle.
“When we first started Logan Cattle Company, we were buying our GPS systems through the tractor dealer directly,” says Keith. “They just weren’t up to scratch knowing the product and how to fix them.
“We needed better support, so we went to our nearest Trimble dealer.”
Partnering with Vantage BMS for around a decade now, Logan Cattle Company now boasts a wide range of Trimble precision solutions across their mixed fleet of Case IH Quadtrac® and CLAAS AXION tractors, Goldacres sprayer, and Toomey Scraper and K-Tec blades.
This includes Trimble’s GFX-750™ and GFX-1260™ displays, the new R750 Base Station, Field IQ™ crop input control system, ISOBUS planter control, FieldLevel™ II system, and more.
Recently, Logan Cattle Company began optimising their field level using leading farm earthworks software, OptiSurface™.
“In our melon-holey country, you physically can’t level an entire field. It’s just not possible,” says Keith.
“When we made the decision that the next step in our operation’s development process wasn’t levelling, but landforming to improve drainage and prevent ponding and erosion, the Vantage BMS Toowoomba team suggested that OptiSurface might be the way to go.”
OptiSurface’s Optimum Surface Landforming involves modifying the field topography by cutting and filling to a predetermined 3D surface using GPS machine control, rather than planar laser levelling an entire field.
Unlike laser grading, OptiSurface uses a variable-grade, 3-dimensional surface instead of a single-plane design to improve water management with minimum earthworks.
When compared to planar laser levelling, it can save up to 80% on earthworks costs because the aim is not to entirely level the surface but to optimise.
“It’s not difficult,” as Keith explains. “You just survey your paddock, email the data, they provide the cut-fill maps, put that in the screen, and off you go. It’s simple.”
The cut-fill maps integrate with Logan Cattle Company’s Trimble Field Level™ II system installed on their grading equipment.
As they move across the field, the system automatically controls the hydraulic valves on any type of bucket or scraper for accurate land forming.
For Logan Cattle Company, this is a two-step process: firstly, using a Single GPS Trimble Field Level™ II system on a Toomey Scraper to tackle the bulk of the work and then using a Dual Trimble NAV-900 Field Level™ II system on a K-Tec Blade to refine the grade and level.
“We’ve done about 1500ha to date using OptiSurface,” says Keith. “So far, it’s working very well.
“Vantage BMS is always good to deal with. When you ring, they answer the phone or ring you back as soon as they can. And if you ask a question they don’t know, they find out.”
And, on his experience with Trimble aftermarket precision solutions:
“I’d recommend Trimble—I just like it. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t keep buying it!”
Learn more about Vantage BMS’ earthworks solutions:
