Landaco Equipment Product Focus

The Maxispread Spread Pro series of variable rate spreaders from Landaco Equipment is winning plaudits – and orders – for its engineering and capability, not least at the Henty Machinery Field Days, where it won the 2016 TMA Machine of the Year prize.

“A lot of thought has gone into the utilisation of the machines for both lime and urea applications,’’ Henty Machinery Field Day director Nigel Scheetz says.

“It has the capability to spread urea out to 36 metres and is set up for controlled traffic and to suit specific customer requirements, wheel centres and tyre specifications.

“It can be used for a multitude of products such as gypsum, lime, granulated and prilled fertiliser, composts and manures.”

Landaco director Peter Connor is combining his   engineering skills with knowledge gleaned from a career spent in the spreading industry to continue the company’s tradition of design and manufacturing started by his late father, Norman Connor.

The Spread Pro Series machines are the culmination of constant development, Peter says, and include a number of features that make them more versatile.

“The Maxispread Spread Pro series machines are set up with proportional direct hydraulic drive to the conveyor and are built weight scale ready, which allows our equipment to be compatible with electronic controllers on various tractors brands,’’ he says.

“The SP series machine is designed so the L36 1100mm two-blade precision urea spinners can be taken off, and the 800mm dished four-blade spinner disc quickly interchanged for lime, gypsum, and manure spreading.”

Peter adds that there are optional cameras to monitor the feed of the product off the back of the machine from the tractor cabin, which gives the operator the benefit of seeing the spreader working.

“The machines have an access ladder on the front for viewing, fully enclosed drive line, and safety bars on the back,” he says. “There are options on the Maxispread machines where the rear auto door closes automatically when the spinners shut down.

“People like the simplicity of the machine and the modular concept where the machine can adapt to different wheel bases and tyre specs, spinner systems for various widths and controlled traffic.’’

Referring to the TMA Machine of the Year prize, Tractor   and Machinery Association executive director Gary Northover says many of the past winners of the award had gone on to become household names and play an integral role in the rural industry.

“This award is presented annually to recognise the best new Australian-designed and built agricultural machine,” he says.

Peter accepted the award and says he’s grateful to receive   the recognition.

“It is nice, as an Australian manufacturer, to be recognised,” he says. “Field days provide a great place to catch up with new and existing clients.

“We have had good feedback from our customers, with farmers liking the constant development of the product and adaptation to the latest technologies available.”

He says that word of mouth and the passion people display about a product when it meets or exceeds their expectations is a major reason Landaco is receiving new orders for spreaders every day.

Landaco has remodelled many of its components from stainless steel to increase their longevity.

Along with all mild steel components they are shot-blasted and painted in high-grade, two-pack enamel as individual parts, and then assembled in its factory in Wagga Wagga, southern NSW.

Landaco’s background

For over 30 years Landaco has developed a technologically advanced range of spreaders that can be adapted to suit all facets of farming. It now supplies linkage and trailing fertiliser and manure spreaders from two tonnes to 35 tonnes.

Norman Connor was a farmer from Hay, NSW, who established an agricultural machinery sales business in the early 1980s.

As a design engineer with skills in welding and computer drafting, Norman designed a prototype which dispensed with chain distributors and other ungainly components, replacing them with a belt-driven spreader, hydraulic spinners and sleek, uncluttered lines.

Peter joined the business in 1985 and also operated a contract spreading business.

As the contracting business grew, the limitations of spreading equipment in the market became evident to both father and son.

Peter says the design used today had its genesis in the company’s 1980s machines, which were tested under the heavy demands of the contract fertiliser spreading business.

As production for the Landaco spreader increased to meet demands, it was necessary to outsource some of   the production. With time, however, it became evident that   a move to a larger centre with greater control over production from the company’s own factory would be a necessary next step.

In 1997 the company, now managed by Peter, relocated to Wagga.

As a centre providing rural services to the Riverina region, Peter says Wagga has proven an ideal location for Landaco Equipment to continue to develop, manufacture and market agricultural machinery, and from which to expand its customer and dealer networks around Australia.