Kent farm manager Elliott Waters has trialled the new Case IH AF10 rotary combine, marking the first official UK outing for the machine.

Elliott has been pleased with the performance of the new AF10, which was put to the test at Quex Farm, near Broadstairs, harvesting a crop of milling wheat.

The machine was kitted out with a 45ft header, cutting at a peak rate of 100t/hour.

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“The new combine has demonstrated well and would be of even better use during a year of patchy weather so that a higher output could be obtained,” says Elliott.

To provide efficiency and productivity the AF10 comes standard with powerful technology. The combine has a 20,000 litre grain tank, 775hp engine and can unload at a rate of 210 litres a second.

Wheat harvest

Quex Farm covers 1,150ha of arable land including wheat, spring oats, beans, oilseed rape and Wildfarmed wheat.

Wheat harvest started a week ahead of schedule for Elliott, on 10 July, with a moisture of 12.9% and yields below average, ranging 8-11t/ha. Yields have been more variable than expected due to the lack of rain throughout the growing season.

The farm has been busy cutting milling wheat in the last few days, with best performing varieties of Cheer and Skyfall.

Rates of sulphur applications were increased during the growing season in a bid to improve protein levels, which has proved successful with Skyfall samples coming back over 13% protein.

Specific weights have been good this year, averaging 80kg/hl due to high levels of sunlight. The farm usually averages between 75-77kg/hl which is close to the bread maker standard of 76kg/hl.

Hagberg results have been positive, averaging 350, which is well within the required milling standard.

This year, he is growing the new breadmaking variety Cheer for the first time across 60-70ha of land, with other varieties including Palladium, Skyfall and German E wheat, Nelson.

Elliott has been pleased with the early start to harvest this year, with the dry conditions keeping disease at bay and with a successful demo of the new combine.