New Holland’s newest product, the CR11 combine harvester, has been praised by Intersales, the newest member of its national dealer network
New Holland has unveiled a big addition to its combine harvester lineup, adding new technologies and capacity thanks to a full ground-up rebuild.
The CR11 combine was debuted at Perth’s Convention and Exhibition Centre last month and it has already got eastern states dealership group Intersales excited.
The CR11 boasts a 15.9L engine producing 775hp (578kW) along with a 20,000L grain tank capacity.
New Holland’s CR10, which is a companion model coming to Australia later in the year, offers a 12.9L engine producing 635hp (473kW) and a 16,000L grain tank.
These twin-rotor combine harvesters are the result of extensive planning and testing by New Holland, promising to increase profitability for farmers by reducing the total harvesting costs.
Intersales general resource officer Jarrod Stephenson attended the Perth launch and says the CR11 is an exciting machine which boasts significant benefits.
“One of the most impressive things about it is that it’s a full ground-up rebuild,” he says.
“It’s not just adding a couple of features to what’s currently in the CR10.90s and 9.90s – they’ve taken it back to the drawing board over the last 10 years and redesigned the cleaning area and bigger rotors, right the way through.
“Obviously there’s a few commonalities, but rather than just looking at a couple of improvements, it’s been restarted from scratch – looking at what works and what doesn’t and focusing on the good things.
“It’s an enormous machine and I don’t think anyone matches it for capacity and efficiencies out there on the market.”
New Holland’s latest combines have been built at the company’s Centre of Excellence in Belgium and has undergone comprehensive validation testing in Australia.
The CR11 was also awarded the Gold Medal Innovation Award at Agritechnica in Germany last November, which was the first time the machine had been seen globally.
Its next step for the local market will be in-field demonstrations and limited production of new machines for the 2025 harvest.
Stephenson believes the trend towards larger machines such as the CR11, along with ongoing labour shortages in Australian agriculture, will make it popular with not only Intersales’ catchment area but across the nation.
With dealerships in Temora, Griffith, Wagga Wagga and Albury/Wodonga, Intersales took on the sale of New Holland products earlier this year after acquiring Cadmac Machinery.
“Looking at the way the global market is going, we are adopting bigger and bigger machines,” he says.
“I think it’s certainly got a place for multiple unit farms or the bigger contractors.
“The west will definitely take it on in a big way and we will have some of our bigger guys over this way use it along with the corporates.
“The other thing is that good people are hard to come by in this day and age.
“If you could have two machines doing the job of three or four, or one machine doing the job of two, it cuts down on an extra driver.”
Close to zero grain loss, improved residue management and maximum uptime are three key areas in which New Holland says the combines will offer increased productivity to users.
Both the CR11 and CR10 offer twin 600mm rotors of increased diameter and length, which the manufacturer says will provide greater capacity for the crop to circulate and the grain to be threshed and separated.
The CR11 provides a 210L per second unloading rate while the CR10 offers 159L/second.
They both feature a revised and improved IntelliSense automation system, which will make automatic adjustments according to the chosen harvest strategy – whether it be limited loss, best grain quality, maximum capacity, or fixed throughput.
Another big development has been a totally new cleaning shoe.
The Twin-Clean cleaning shoe consists of two sieve systems in sequence, New Holland says, with each having its own upper and lower sieve and clean grain auger.
This cross-distribution mechanism guarantees an even clean in all conditions, the manufacturer adds, which maintains maximum grain quality and reduces grain loss to near-zero.
According to Stephenson, while the increased capacity will make a noticeable difference, it is this new cleaning shoe which will help users maximise the combine’s benefits.
“One of the things that New Holland has always been good for is that they don’t lose grain out the back of the machine,” he says.
“It’s all well and good to punch horsepower and pull more material through a machine, but if you haven’t got the cleaning area to get the capacity out of it and still keep the grain in the header then there’s no point.
“The new cleaning area design is where they’re getting the extra capacity from and this is an impressive feature.”
New Holland has also introduced a totally new residue management system to the CR combines.
The IntelliSpread feature uses twin radars which continuously measure, interpret and control the residue spreading system to ensure a full width and uniform spreading coverage.
A spread width of up to 18m means even the largest of draper heads on the market can be satisfied.
A driveline which New Holland says is the cleanest in the market will significantly reduce downtime and maintenance, while the number of drive components have been reduced by 25 per cent and all drive chains have been completely eliminated.
All of this leads to a machine which aims to reduce the cost of harvesting and be a savvy long-term investment for Australian farmers and contractors.
“One of the big focuses for New Holland is that whatever they’ve done to this machine had to show that it was going to reduce the cost of harvest,” Stephenson says.
“Bigger machines cost more money, but at the end of the day, they need to be able to satisfy the farmers’ need to reduce their cost at harvest time.
“Whether that’s in efficiency with the machine, reducing grain loss down to next to nothing means you’re not wasting money out the back.
“New Holland has already got the header which holds the record for the highest capacity – and they’ve gone and redesigned and improved it. It’s pretty impressive.”
To find out more, visit Intersales online at www.intersales.com.au