Western Australia - Recently, Harvestaire hosted Kondex representative Andy Theisen (Product Development Manager) on a four-day tour through Western Australia. The trip highlighted the critical role of Kondex technology in local ag, with Kondex meeting with farmers and industry partners to observe firsthand how Kondex products drive efficiency in the field.

Day 1: Harvestaire Facility Tour and Pitman Farm Visit

Kondex Reps began their visit with a tour of Harvestaire’s facility in Balcatta Western Australia, where they understood how Kondex products (like backbones and sections) are used in the manufacture of Harvestaire’s knife assembly popular product lines. Later, they travelled to Corrigin to meet with Laurie and Clint Pitman, early adopters of the Kondex Australia Kit, which combines 3 MaxThresh and 3 MaxGrate concaves. The Pitmans also run a full small-grain threshing kit with a John Deere Dense pack and, this season, added a Lankota unloading clutch kit with a Lankota Adjustable Auger Spout. Their current setup has enhanced performance, with impressive results in harsh conditions.

Day 2: Key Testing Sites and Product Performance Evaluation

The second day commenced with a visit to Tim Barndon’s farm, a key testing site for Harvestaire. The Barndons, in their second year with the Kondex Australia Kit, have seen canola samples of exception quality and recorded losses below 2%. Their Kondex MaxThresh concaves have now run 6,500 hectares with minimal wear. This supports what we hear from grain-growing regions worldwide - Kondex is the best-wearing concaves available, and the tungsten carbide laser cladding technology goes a long way to make this happen.

The Barndons also run a John Deere Dense pack and have removed the corn ledge from all their rotor bars. This year, they installed new Harvestaire sieves and a Lankota Adjustable auger spout.

Next, Kondex Reps met with Ben Milton of Afgri in Wongan Hills, focusing on the Kondex Revolution concaves in John Deere X9 Headers. A later visit to Glenvar Farms showcased two X9 1000 headers with Kondex KX7s, reinforcing a strong farmer preference for the KX7 configuration in local WA conditions.

Harvestaire originally assisted Glenvar in installing a set of Kondex KX7s into their first X9 at the start of Harvest 2023 and again this year in their second X9. The second X9 came from the factory with Kondex Revolutions, but the Glenvar team felt that standard Maxtrhesh would be better suited to their conditions.

There is a distinct difference between Kondex Revolutions for X9 and Kondex KX7s for X9, meaning that farmers are more familiar with the performance of Kondex KX7s in X9.

Day 3: Midwest Knife Durability and Additional Field Applications

The third day began with a visit to Ben Strickland’s farm as we headed back west from Koorda. They were shown how the solid Kondex backbone (21mm) plays a crucial role in Harvestaire Complete Knife assemblies for Midwest fronts. Two of Ben’s three 50-foot fronts currently run Harvestaire Midwest knives. The benefit of Kondex solid knife back on a Midwest is that we sell the knife in 5.9m sections – they outlast genuinely, and Harvestaire’s updated stainless steel support strap that we add onto the head end ensures fewer breakages.

Ben is also using Kondex Revolutions in a 4 / 2 configuration.

The team also visited farmer Liam McCreery. He previously used Kondex while working with Luke Stratford in Wyalkatchem. It worked so well for him then that they purchased Kondex KX7s from Harvestaire this year. When we arrived, they only used the Kondex concaves for a couple of hundred hectares but were very impressed—they had a big boost in capacity, and their sample was perfect.

Further along, Kondex Reps visited Jatso Farms, where Alex is using Kondex Revolutions in Slot 1 with 25 Wire OEM concaves and in Slot 2 / Kondex Grates in Slot 3. He also uses a Crary Wind System (CWS) supplied by Harvestaire.

The last stop was Chad Ewa’s farm (an Afgri Carnamah customer), where Fin from Afgri performed a drop test on Ewa’s two X9s, which were set up exactly the same with Kondex Revolutions. Acceptable losses for both the farmer and Afgri.

Day 4: Geraldton Area Partnerships and Product Innovations

In Geraldton, Kondex Reps visited Kupsch Mechanical, where owner Brenden Kupsch introduced them to his customer, Perry St. Quinton. He is running a 9660 STS and previously could only get 20t/hr capacity. This year, Kupsch installed a set of Kondex KX7s in slot 1 and a full set of small grain threshing elements in rows 1 through 5. As the rotor requires modification prior to installing a dense pack, we chose not to do it this time around.

Perry reported back that he achieved up to 27t/hr with virtually no loss in Barley—this is in tough threshing conditions with a lot of rye grass.

Headed further North to Bryce North’s farm, in Binnu. We worked with Rod Gribble and Brenden Kupsch to set up their one flagship, an 8230, with Rod’s full solution.

This included:

A new set of top sieve rear curtains

34 Spiked Rasp Bars on the rear of the rotor

RC Thresh inserts manufactured by Harvestaire and installed in genuine Kondex frames in slot 1

RC Separation modules in slot 3 and slot 4

Bryce confirmed that just the previous week, when he and Brendan Kupsch tested the machine, they were achieving close to 60t/hr with losses below 0.5%, and the header was comfortably sitting at between 50-55t/hr with losses as low as 0.2%

This header has been set up exactly according to the operator’s manual. Bryce's parting comment is that he is running out of horsepower.

The tour concluded with a meeting at Afgri Geraldton with Matt Partington. Matt took the team over how they set up headers for their region using 4 Kondex Revolutions in slots 1 and 2 and 25 wire concaves in slot 3. They also install a full compliment of small grain threshing elements including a John Deere Dense pack at time of PD.

The Afgri team is getting great results with the above setup and headers. Running this configuration, on average, uses 300 fewer separator hours each year.

Strengthening Partnerships and Performance in Australian Ag

Kondex's tour showcased how Australian farmers benefit from Kondex’s advanced concave solutions, which improve efficiency and reduce losses across various crops and conditions.