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December 2006;
We had just started our Harvest for the season with our
Trusty 1994 R62 Gleaner, and as we are always look for
ways to improve the performance of our machine. We had
heard of a new rotor called the Bison Rotor that was
been used in Gleaners and Case combines, Hearing good
reports, but Due to the fact that our current harvest
was all but a total loss (we did 1000 hectares in five
days!) we had some time to drive over to John Ryan's
area in Eastern Victoria to view a demonstration of the
Bison Rotor in his R75 Gleaner.
John and Bevan Ryan had been harvesting Canola with
Bison Rotor when we arrived and they were just about to
start into their irrigated Barley crop!
With several other combine owners of different coloured
combines there to see the result as well. Within a few
hours of testing and observations we knew that there was
something very unique about this rotor! Lots of
discussion was ensued on the way home and the despondent
view that we Wouldn’t be able to try it for a couple
years due to the drought conditions that we have endured
here in Southern Australia for the last 10 years.
Forward to season 2007;
Again, Southern Australia was hit with another very dry
winter/spring, and I had all but given up again and was
keeping a very tight grip on what spending we did! With
lots of neighbors cutting wheat for hay and making other
decisions to minimize losses to income, I had become a
bit slack in worrying about organizing the R62 for the
07 harvest (it looked like it would be worse than the 06
season!) then in early November we got just over 40 mm
of rain, just at a point that the wheat could make use
of it!
Things started look up a bit! There was a bit of a mad
panic to get started, as we watched our neighbors start
into their barley crops as we were getting our 62 ready!
The topics of the Bison Rotor came up again and were
looking at making a poor man’s version of it ourselves!
Time was against us and I made a fateful phone call to
John Ryan inquiring about a demo Bison that they might
have there! We still didn't know what our yields would
be and didn't want to commit to spending anything
without some proof that the Bison would operate in our
conditions.
John had a talk with Stanley the designer and
distributor and they agreed to let us rent a demo unit
for the season. I sent my father ROM (Rolfs Old Man)
over to Eastern Victoria (600km trip) to pick up the
rotor from John's place and bring it back home!
The next week or so was in setting up the Rotor to fit
our machine due to the fact it was one of the very first
prototype rotors in the country and need a few things
adjusted on it to fit out 94 model 62.
Grain and pulse prices were going thought the roof for
the first time in years (decades!) and it was making the
potential harvest look much more promising!
Only having Wheat and Lentils to harvest made things a
bit easier to organize and we had a reasonable area of
each to evaluate the rotor!
We started in our lentils first as they can drop their
pods on the ground with wind or rain and we need to get
as much as we could! As with previous years with the
lentil's we have had some very, very green vine with
ripe pods on them! This was going to be a big test with
Bison!
We have made many improvements over the years to our R62
Gleaner to improve the performance as well as fuel
efficiencies and general to take the shock load off all
the mechanics. All these improvements have served us
very well and made our older model combine very
competitive with today's model combines in terms of
tonne's per hour per liter of fuel.
With Bison installed and our combine and crop ready to
start, we tried it in our first Lentil crop and were
very happy that it worked straight off the bat, and with
only a few minor tweaks the Gleaner was mowing the
Lentil's off in a very smooth and efficient manner!
Grain loss was the least amount that we have ever
achieved with the R62 and was running less than
10-15Kg/Hectare.
After 510 hectares of Lentils were very happy with how
it was working.
The Bison is so silky smooth and running at lowest rotor
revs we could (200) we had a relative clean sample as we
only had a yield of 670 kg/Hectare so not very much
material going through the machine.
All the lentils achieved an Export number one grade of
less than 1 % splits and fewer than 4% defective! These
lentils where shipped as is, via container to overseas
markets.
Once we finished the Lentils, we then proceeded to move
on to our hard winter wheat.
Within the first grain tank full, we knew that the Bison
was a good investment and achieved very good capacity in
a 2+ ton/ Hectare wheat crop, of around 21 ton an hour
on the go with only 260 hp!
Again we achieved an Australian Hard grade and less than
1 % splits and comments from other truck drivers at the
delivery paint of how clean the sample was and no dust
as the truck was tipping off!
The Bison has proved its worth very quickly, and was
purchased after the Harvest was over, as it has more
than recouped its cost!
Australian grain producers are usually very conservative
about trying new equipment other than OEM in their
combines, but I can say with all certainly that the
Bison WILL improve any combines performance and
efficiency for a lot less $ than buying a bigger
machine!
And, very importantly, improve your fuel consumption and
smoothness of the running of the machine in crop which
must help with maintenance and reliability.
The Bison is a very different concept, which could be
why I'd say it's never been thought of before, but I'm
sure no one will be disappointed with its ability to
increase your combine performance and reduce your grain
losses to very low levels.
Rolf Hedt
Horsham
Australia.
We produce Wheat, Barley and Canola on 2500 acres.
About half of this area is irrigated and therefore
we have a wide range of harvest conditions.
We use a Gleaner R 75 with a 36 ft draper header and
we windrow our Canola to harvest.
Our Harvest conditions are usually very hot and dry,
which tends to make separation difficult - resulting
in excessive rotor loss and overloading of the
cleaning shoe.
Since installing the Bison Rotor, we now discharge
much more long straw and do not break the Canola
straw so severely - resulting in greatly increased
capacity and a fraction of the previous rotor loss
from the cleaning shoe and cylinder.
In my 25 years of running Gleaner Rotaries, this is
truly a new direction and a huge advance.
I can highly recommend the change
John W. Ryan
YARRAWONGA VIC
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I PURCHASED A 1480 COMBINE
HARVESTER FROM BETHAL INTERMEC. I ALSO PURCHASED A
BISON ROTOR. THE BISON ROTOR'S DIESEL CONSUMPTION
FOR 300 HA OF SOYAS WAS 26% LESS THAN WITH THE
STANDARD MAIZE ROTOR I.E. 10.8 LITRES/ HA, VERSUS 8
LITRE/HA.
THE ROTOR DOES NOT SLUR IN GREEN STEMMED SOYAS AND
WHEN CONDITIONS ARE TOUGHER IT REALLY PERFORMS VERY
WELL. THE BISON ROTOR ALSO SAVES ON ROTOR BELTS+
SEPARATOR DRIVE BELTS.
THE GROUND SPEED IS ALMOST DOUBLE WITH THE BISON
ROTOR, WHICH MEANS MORE HECTARES PER DAY,
YOURS TRULY
PIETER VAN STADEN
REP.
OF SOUTH AFRICA
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30 June 2008
Bison Rotor fitted to case 8010
We fitted a Bison Rotor supplied by Stanley to our 8010
combine last season. We harvested mostly drought
affected, difficult to thrash and separate wheat.
We used two 8010 harvesters in the same paddock: both
running 50 foot custom built McDon fronts, , one with
the Bison and one with the standard AFX rotor.
We had no rotor loss with the Bison rotor, with a better
sample of grain compared to the AFX rotor which had
excessive grain loss and a poor sample. We have found
this to be a common problem with the 8010 AFX in these
conditions.
We have yet to test this rotor in a normal season, but
this was the first time we have been able to eliminate
rotor loss completely.
Hoping to fit another one this year.
Chris Dowling
Yarrawonga Victoria Australia
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I AM A CUSTOM HARVESTER FROM SOUTH
AFRICA.
I OWN 7 MACHINES, 3 X I H 2388 AND 3 X 2188 AND I X
1MASSEY FERGUSON 8780
HARVEST +-14,050 HA PER ANNUM
WHEA T 3000 HA
SOJA BEANS 3000 HA
DRY BEANS 1050 HA
MAIZE 7000 HA
I DID ALL THE PRELIMARY DEVELOPMENT TESTS WITH THE BISON
ROTOR
I DID EXTENSIVE TESTS WITH THE NEW BlSON ROTOR IN ALL
CROPS, I FOUND THE ROTOR TO BE PARTICULARY EFFECTIVE IN
WHEAT WITH HIGH MOISTIJRE CONTENT. ALSO IN WHEAT WHERE
THE WEED KILLERS DIDN'T WORK Effectively AND THE FIELDS
WERE DIRTY- THE GROUND SPEED MORE THAN DOUBLED.
IN EDIBLE BEANS THE IROTOR Performed ABOVE EXPECTATIONS.
IN WET BEANS IT PERFORMED REALLY WELL AND THERE WAS NO
ROTOR LOSS. IN EDIBLE BEANS ONE HAS TO REPLACE THE CONCA
VES AND GRATES IN THE MACHINE WITH ONES THAT STANLEY
GRIBBIN MAKES
FOR THE HARVESTER. THE SAMPLE IS ALSO OF HIGH QUALITY AS
THE SPLITS ARE WELL BELOW NORMAL.
IN SOJA BEANS THE ROTOR REALLY PERFORMS WELL 'WITH
GROUND SPEED WELL ABOVE THE CASE AFX ROTOR 'WITH NO
ROTOR RUMBLE. THE BISON ROTOR HAS MUCH
MORE CAPACITY AND
THE DOCKAGE IS LESS THAN AFX ROTOR. IT WORKS
PAHTICULARLY WELL IN SOJAS WHOSE STEMS ARE STILL GREEN &
THE SEED IS DRY. BEHIND THE Machine THERE IS ALSO NO
ROTOR LOSS.
IN MAIZE THE BISON ROTOR HAS GOT MUCH MORE CAPACITY IN
COMPARISON TO THE NEW AFX ROTOR AND IT HAS LESS DOCKAGE
AND NO ROTOR LOSS IN HIGH YIELDING MAIZE.
THE FINAL ADVANTAGE THAT THE Bison ROTOR HAS IS THAT THE
ONLY ADJUSTMEN THA T YOU HAVE TO MAKE IS THE SET OF
CONCAVES & GRATES FOR HARVESTING EDIBLE BEANS.
YOURS FAITHFULLY
TINUS COETZEE
17 August 2006 The
Bison Rotor:
About 3 years ago, my
Case 1644 harvester picked up a stone while harvesting
Soybeans in South-Africa. The insurance company offered
to replace the Rotor, but unfortunately the Case agents
couldn't supply me with a rotor in time. I was on dire
straits and on the way to loose my whole soybean crop.
I went to Bethal Intermec, S.A. to ask Mr. Stanley
Gribin for advice. He and his brother Denis were of the
biggest Custom Harvester in South-Attica, maybe the
biggest, owning nearly 35 combines. They stopped
harvesting and started a well-known engineering company
where they repaired harvesting machines and started to
build pick-up units for edible beans and their own
designed rotor for Axial- flow harvesters.
At that stage they just
completed their first rotor for a 8-row combine. They
scaled down the plan to equip me with a suitable rotor
for my 1644. After 4 days the rotor was completed,
balanced and put into my combine.
The rotor worked
fantastic. I completed my harvesting and also helped a
neighbor with his process. He had 720 acres left for his
ill 9600 8 row harvester. I was due to help him with
only 30% of the remaining crop, but at the end my 1644,
5-row harvester did about 70% of the area left.
Last year I bought a
1688 Case harvester. I immediately replaced the rotor
with a Bison All Crop Rotor. My neighbor was harvesting
soybeans next to me with two 2388 Case machines equipped
with AFX rotors. I made a video of the process. My 1688
with the Bison rotor did the job in much better crop
with more than twice the speed. I started earlier in the
mornings and carried on at night until all the trailers
were full. The dew on the plants didn't affect the
process at all. My other neighbor hired a contractor who
used JD STS's. A lot of farmers gathered at my farm to
see how these old machines run around the new ones. Some
of the farmers immediately replaced their rotors with
Bison rotors. I also replaced the nametags on my
machines with the word "Axial Flow Bison". |
