Henty 2018: Self-opening hay rake named Machine of the Year

The innovative and simple-to-use Next F Series V-Rake by Schinckel Hayrakes has beat out 23 other entries to take home the prestigious Henty Machine of the Year at this year’s Henty Machinery Field Days.

Featuring self-opening wings to reduce heavy lifting by the operator, the V-rake has telescopic arms fitted to the raking arms and the main beam.

Manufacturer Simon Schinckel of Naracoorte, SA, spent two years fine tuning a 'smarter, simpler, safer and sexier' way of lifting out the 15 to 20kg telescopic arms into position for V raking.

The required raking width can be pre-set with a magnetic pin fitted to the telescopic arm.

There are nine different pre-set raking positions, ranging from 4.2 to 9.1m wide for V raking.

Announced on the opening day, the Machine of the Year award is presented to the most outstanding new piece of agricultural machinery exhibited at the field days. The award was open to all machines on site released into the Australian market in the 12 months prior to the field days.

It was judged by an independent panel of regional primary producers on Monday (September 17) and presented at the field days opening on Tuesday (September 18).

In many cases the winning machine has gone on to become a standard piece of equipment on farms throughout Australia.

Judging criteria include the machine’s purpose and suitability, scope of application, construction (durability and design), ease of maintenance and service, ease of operation and adjustment, availability of parts and overall value for money.

Last year, the award was won by the 3420 PHD Paralink Hoe Drill entered by Bourgault.

Judge Andrew Alexander said much thought had gone into the Schinckel hay rake for the operator to easily fold out the machine.

“It is designed for simplicity, ease of operation and is price competitive,” he said.

“It doesn’t have hydraulics, making it cheaper, and it can be towed behind a ute. Hay is topical and everyone is talking about how much they will cut or not.”

Co-judge Mark Bowyer said the V-rake is user friendly and more affordable for farmers, being manually adjustable.

“This company has been making hay rakes for a long time and most of the components are Australian sourced,” Bowyer said.

A ‘Highly Commended’ award went to the Post Straightener developed by two mates, Daryl Irving and Dan Robinson of Mudgee, NSW.

The Post Straightener uses a relatively small amount of energy to recycle quality old steel posts, eliminating the need to manufacture new ones.

Bowyer said the Australian designed and manufactured Post Straightener recycled old steel posts into a useable product, no matter how bent or twisted.

“Even if the posts had a bit of wire on them, the machine chipped the wire off,” he said.

“They virtually come out like a new post. It would be a good add on for a fencing contractor’s business.”

He added he was impressed with how quick the Post Straightener worked and what a good job it did.

“There wouldn’t be too many farmers around without a heap of bent posts lying around,” he said

Entries for the Machine of the Year award this year ranged from large seed drills to a camping generator.

“There were some quite clever entries like the two wheel drive electric ag motor bike from Konigs and the Q Catch 8600 Series cattle crush from Arrowquip,” Bowyer said.