Throughout the growing season a farmer does everything in his power to establish a successful crop. When it is finally time to reap the benefits of all the hard work, a solid, reliable and efficient harvesting partner is needed. The MacDon FD75 FlexDraper is such a partner.

“We have drastically improved our combine’s capacity with the smooth and constant feed coming from the FlexDraper,” says Rassie du Toit from Mkushi. He says with an auger one tends to get clumps of material being fed into the combine, but with the draper the material flows evenly and gently into the machine. Pieter Janse van Rensburg from Mpongwe agrees: “I will never again use an auger feeder – the feed from the draper makes all the difference. You can also see better because there is nothing blocking your view.”

Rassie and Pieter have both been farming in Zambia for many years and they put a high premium on the reliability of equipment. Pieter says he is impressed with the strength and sturdiness of the header: “It is built to last!” He says any machine that he buys must be easy to handle, easy to maintain, able to do the work it was designed for throughout the whole season, and it must improve his yield.

The Mac- Don FD75 FlexDraper does it all… The MacDon FD75 FlexDraper recovers more soy beans because it diminishes losses due to jumping pods, and its ground-hugging ability even efficiently picks up wheat that has fallen down. Rassie says it is wonderful to see how neatly the MacDon cuts even crop that is lying down. He ascribes it to the constant small clearance between the reel and the cutter bar. A small critical gap between the reel fingers and the cutter bar is maintained at all times, even when in full flex.

The MacDon reel offers four adjustable cam positions, allowing you to select the setting that best suits your harvest conditions. Positions 1 and 2 are for fair harvest conditions with ripe, standing crops and no green weeds or undergrowth. Positions 3 and 4 allow you to put the reel in front of and below the cutter bar for lifting downed and low podding crop. You can also use the header tilt and fore-aft reel positioning for even more aggressive action when required. Following contours is no problem.

Rassie says because it is a mechanical action and not hydraulical, reaction to contours or uneven terrain is immediate. Skid plates instead of sensors are being used and even in its fully flexed position an even cutting height is maintained. The MacDon FD75 is a floating, three-section flexible header with a split reel allowing the entire header frame, cutter bar and reel to follow ground contours as a unit. The whole width of the 13,7 metre head is fully utilised.

Pieter says it is also very easy to change from full flex to a solid bar and back. “It is a matter of loosening two latches and moving two steel bars.” According to MacDon’s experienced developers, the 5 Series Drapers are designed to provide smooth, consistent heads-first feeding to the combine, even in the most challenging harvest conditions. Feeding crop heads first is the best way to get the best performance out of your combine – burning less fuel and taking less time to process means getting the crop off quicker and more efficiently.

Pieter says they have experienced this first hand. He says the window period for harvesting is often very small with imminent rain or soya pods threatening to pop, and you cannot afford to waste time. With a higher yield and shorter working time, the MacDon FlexDraper may provide just the cutting edge to a farming enterprise to put money in the farmer’s pocket!

To find out more about the excellent range of MacDon equipment please call Jurie Swart at +27 83-375-8840, 021-907-8000 or Louis van der Merwe at 072-626-8409, or send an e-mail to jurie@vitamech.co.za.

Pieter Janse van Rensburg from
Mpongwe says with the MacDon
FlexDraper he can fully utilise the
small window period they have for
harvesting.