Holding Product Demo Days is a great way to introduce a little March Madness (the good sort)!

We held two demo days in March 2019, together with Cowra, Forbes and West Wyalong Machinery Centres. These days offered a great chance for local (and not-so local) farmers to view ripping and tillage demonstrations, be among the first to get a glimpse of new K-Line Ag products, and check out a range of New Holland tractors. Its a great opportunity to see our products working in real conditions in the paddock, rather than just displayed in a showroom. Add that to a free lunch, prize giveaways and the opportunity to meet the teams from CMC, FMC, WWMC and K-Line Ag in person… it’s not much wonder these days were a rounding success!

Cowra Demo Day: March 19

Cowra’s Product Demo Day on March 19 was a Ripper of a day! A very welcome few mm of rain the night before settled the dust, which made the demos much more pleasant for onlookers. We had a great turnout of local farmers and others who had travelled from further afield.

Throughout the day we ran a number of product demonstrations: a Speedtiller Powerflex^®, 7-tyne MaxxRipper^®, and our ‘soon-to-be-released’ SpeedChisel. Watch for this exciting new development to be launched later this year – sign up to our eNews to make sure you get first dibs!

3 lucky attendees came up trumps with our demo day prize draw. Congratulations to Lawrence Parrish of Canowindra, Gary Amos of Cowra, and Tim Johnstone of Woodstock!

West Wyalong Demo Day: March 22

A few days later, the teams headed out to West Wyalong, ready to roll again. It was great to meet the team at West Wyalong Machinery Centre, the newest dealership on board with Forbes Machinery Centre Group. Being a relatively new area for K-Line Ag equipment, this was an excellent opportunity to show our machinery to local farmers and agronomists on their own turf.

The day was off to a great start as the teams and early-bird farmers watched a beautiful storm roll in, bringing with it the desperately needed rain. The dark clouds and the smell of rain put a grin on everyone’s faces… and made for some hasty team work saving the tents from blowing away (check it out below)!

Once the storm had passed, we got on with the product demos. The ground was incredibly hard; it had been flooded a few years ago and then had cattle on it, making for severely tight compacted ground: a great opportunity to demonstrate what K-Line Ag machines are really made of. There’s a reason we build them tough, and build them to work in tough Australian conditions! We ran the MaxxRipper^® first to loosen up the compacted ground, and then demonstrated the ability of the Speedtiller Powerflex^® to create a beautiful level seedbed.

Congratulations to the lucky winners of the West Wyalong product demo prize draw: Peter Morton of Stockinbingal, and Andrew Forsyth of West Wyalong!

Fab Feedback

Thank you for your valued support!

We’d like to thank everyone who attended both product demo days for their support; it was great to catch up with some familiar faces, and meet other new ones! We hope you enjoyed the day as much as we did; make sure you follow our social media pages to keep in touch about future events near you. Plus, make sure you check out our Events page for the next events on the K-Line Ag horizon.

To the teams at Cowra, Forbes and West Wyalong Machinery Centres: many thanks for your help to host both days, and for all the work behind the scenes that went into it. Thanks to FarmPix Photogaphy and Brett Naseby Creative for snapping some great footage of both events. And thanks to Andy Smith of Cowra, and Mark & Kylie Warner of West Wyalong, for generously lending us their paddocks for the day!

Australia’s K-Line Ag Officially Launches U.S. Company and New Speedtiller Powerflex^® at National Farm Machinery Tradeshow, Louisville

K-Line Ag, global leader in agricultural machinery and technology, announced their official launch to mainstream dealerships of its subsidiary company in North Dakota and its newly designed Speedtiller Powerflex^® in the United States, the latest innovation in its Speedtiller^® line. To mark its U.S. market debut, the K-Line Ag subsidiary company will be present at the National Farm Machinery Tradeshow, February 15-18, in Louisville, KY to discuss the unveiling of the Speedtiller Powerflex^®.

K-Line Ag has been present in the US and Canada since 2012, with machines being successfully trialled and proven in field and now in operation throughout the country. With the official launching of this operation, K-Line Ag now offers its state-of-the-art equipment to the North American and Canadian farmer and dealership markets.

“As a family of farmers, we not only understand the agricultural industry from first-hand experience, but have a deep-rooted passion for it,” said Bill Larsen, Director of Sales and Marketing at K-Line Ag. “By opening a U.S. operation and continuing to manufacture industry-leading equipment such as the Speedtiller Powerflex^®, we hope to revolutionize the farming industry and make tilling more efficient for farmers worldwide.”

The new Speedtiller Powerflex^® is the award-winning flagship of K-Line Ag and incorporates highly advanced and field-proven features with the existing Speedtiller advantages. This dual-purpose machine was designed and built for superior performance in all soil types and conditions, allows for maximum weed-cut, a smoother field finish, and more consistent sizing and incorporation.

Equipped with 31 separate 24-inch discs, the Speedtiller Powerflex^® is designed to accommodate the needs of large-scale farmers and custom operators seeking efficiencies in today’s challenging agricultural environment. Ideal for sizing, mixing, and incorporating high residue crops in corn, beans, and cereals, the Speedtiller Powerflex^® features a heavy-duty disc arm for a maximum digging capacity of up to 348 pounds per disc, power down wings, and rubber suspension rollers with dual float and fixed working modes. The dual operating mode allows the tiller to operate in Full Float Mode for undulating fields and terrace following, or Non-Float Mode, allowing the tiller to go further in soft, wet, or sandy soils.

Some of the key advantages of the Speedtiller Powerflex^® include:

About K-Line Ag

A family-owned and operated company, K-Line Ag was founded in 1993 by Richard Larsen and is the leading global manufacturer of agricultural machinery and technology. Headquartered in Australia, the company manufactures heavy duty lines of farm machinery, including Speedtillers, Trash Management equipment, CropCommanders, Harrows & Bars, Turf Mowers and Hay Rakes.

In 2012, the company established a subsidiary company in North Dakota, thus making its high-end machinery accessible to farmers in the North American and Canadian markets. Under the direction and leadership of the Larsen family, K-Line Ag has transformed from a two-person company in 1993 to a market-leading international business in 2016.

K-Line Ag's journey began 30 years ago when the Larsen family identified a gap in the market for more diverse and efficient tillage equipment. The company's original philosophy of designing, engineering, and manufacturing their products in Australia has been preserved to this day.

In 2019, CNH Industrial acquired K-Line Ag, and since then, the company's Case IH and New Holland dealerships have been selling the brand's machinery across Australia and in some of the world's largest agricultural markets. The acquisition expanded K-Line Ag's reach and strengthened its commitment to delivering high-quality tillage equipment to a global customer base.

Bill Larsen, Sales & Marketing Manager K-Line Agriculture and Brandon Stannett, Managing Director, Agriculture, CNH Industrial ANZ, celebrate 30 years of K-Line Ag's innovation and success.

The Open Day event was not only a celebration of K-Line Ag's 30-year journey but also a demonstration of the company's commitment to Australian manufacturing and the use of renewable energy to power its facility. The company opened its doors to dealers, customers, and media, allowing them to experience firsthand where and how K-Line Ag's products are manufactured. The event was attended by company spokespeople, including Bill Larsen, the company's founder; Brandon Stannett, Managing Director of CNH Industrial, Australia and New Zealand; and Dave Gibson, CNH Industrial National Sales Manager – Seeding & Tillage, Australia and New Zealand. The spokespeople shared their insights on the company's history, products, current customer demand, and the industry outlook.

K-Line Ag's dedication to Australian manufacturing was highlighted during the Open Day, demonstrating the company's resolve to keep production local and create jobs for the Cowra community. The use of renewable energy to power the facility showcased K-Line Ag's commitment to sustainability and environmental responsibility, aligning with the growing demand for eco-friendly practices within the agricultural sector.

The recent Open Day was an opportunity for dealers, customers, and media to explore the premises and gain insights into the brand's history and products.

The event also served as an opportunity for dealers and customers to learn about K-Line Ag's seasonal conditions and industry outlook. As the agricultural sector faces challenges from fluctuating weather patterns and climate change, the company is well-positioned to address these issues with innovative and efficient tillage equipment. K-Line Ag's long-standing expertise and strong customer focus have contributed to its success over the past three decades, solidifying its position as a leader in the agricultural machinery market.

The 30th-anniversary celebration reflected K-Line Ag's legacy of quality, innovation, and customer satisfaction. As the company continues to grow and evolve, the Cowra community and the Australian agricultural industry can look forward to more groundbreaking advancements in tillage equipment and sustainable manufacturing practices.

K-Line Ag's Open Day commemorating its 30th anniversary was a resounding success, offering dealers, customers, and media an insightful glimpse into the company's history, manufacturing processes, and dedication to Australian manufacturing. The event highlighted the brand's ongoing commitment to innovation and environmental responsibility, setting the stage for continued growth and leadership in the agricultural machinery market for years to come.

As pioneers in Australian agricultural tillage equipment, K-Line Ag has an international reputation for innovation, efficiency and productivity. We are pleased to announce that K-Line Ag has signed an agreement to become part of global leader in agricultural machinery – CNH Industrial.

This is an exciting opportunity for customers, dealers, and both K-Line Ag and CNHI teams. It will give us the potential to expand the reach of K-Line Ag products, while the emphasis by CNH Industrial on agricultural technology and product innovations can only benefit the further development of K-Line Ag’s current product line-up.

It’s also a fantastic recognition for our team, who have worked so hard to establish K-Line Ag as a serious competitor on the global agriculture stage. Our family business is in the very best hands to continue our push for ongoing innovation and expansion for the benefit of all of our customers and dealers.

The Larsen family will also remain heavily involved in strategy and day to day management of the business. The manufacturing of K-Line Ag products like the Speedtiller^® will remain in Cowra NSW, Australia (and Grafton, North Dakota, USA), with plans to ramp up production and increase the number of units produced each month.

It will be very much business as usual for both K-Line Ag dealers and staff, and we are committed to making this transition period as smooth as possible.

K-Line Ag Products & Dealer Network

K-Line Ag products will continue to be sold under the K-Line Ag name in Australia and New Zealand through our existing network of Case IH, New Holland and selected independent dealers. In North America, the products will be branded as Case IH for Case IH dealers, while the current K-Line Ag branding will remain the same for all non-Case IH dealers within the US market. Our dealer network is one of our greatest assets and integral to the success of the K-Line Ag business; we are confident that K-Line Ag will go from strength to strength under CNH Industrial’s ownership.

Get in Touch!

For any questions discussions about this development, we’re always glad to hear from you; please don’t hesitate to give us a call on 1800 194 131.

We greatly appreciate the involvement with, and support of the K-Line Ag brand to date that we’ve seen from our dealers, customers, staff and indeed all stakeholders. We look forward to continuing to work with these well into the future to deliver our customers the best technical and innovative solutions.

After years of no-till conservation practices, a need for deep tillage equipment has arisen. Manufactured for breaking hard pans and deep tillage applications, the K-Line Ag MaxxRipper® loosens up tough, compact soil to prepare it for planting.

Built tough to withstand harsh conditions, it can break up compacted soils to a depth of 600mm (23″). Where soil compaction is encountered, the K-Line Ag MaxxRipper® is your answer for:

• Superior root structure
• Greater nutrient uptake
• Better moisture availability
• Healthier plant development
• Higher yields

How It Works: Benefits of Deep Ripping

How the K-Line Ag MaxxRipper® System Works:

Soil Compaction Issues, Before Deep Ripping:

Soil Structure After Deep Ripping:

Watch Videos of the MaxxRipper^® In Action

This video explains the features of the K-Line Ag MaxxRipper® and the benefits of introducing it into your farming operation.

Case Study: Soil Solutions & Deep Tillage Equipment at Young NSW

Case Study: Soil Compaction Solutions & Deep Tillage Equipment – David McMillan, Young NSW

Getting your soil right is one of the most important tasks for any farmer, and ‘plough pans’ of compacted, dry soil are regularly encountered across the often drought-stricken Australian continent.

David McMillan knows this all too well. McMillan’s property in Young, New South Wales is a mixed operation with stud cattle and lambs, as well as various grain crops. Dry, compacted soil affected by decades of ploughing and planting needs to be carefully worked to allow moisture back in, which in turn allows roots to grow deeper.

View footage of K-Line Ag products running on McMillan’s farm, and follow the prompts to read the full case study at this link: McMillan Case Study

The Proof is in The Pudding

MaxxRipper^® Trial Results

At K-Line Ag, we’re constantly trialling and testing our products, and we’re accumulating indisputable evidence of the benefits of strategic deep ripping. Keep an eye on our eNews and social media channels for more trial result updates as they become available!

All attendees of our 2017 Reseller Conference “Innovations in Agriculture” voted that the day was a great success, and we couldn’t agree more! We invited our key Speedtiller and Trash Management Resellers to visit Cowra for a day in early August, which was packed full of value and team spirit.

We kicked off the day in the picturesque setting of the JT Pridham Centre, with an award presentation for our Reseller and Salesman of the Year Awards. Congratulations to:

Cowra and Forbes Machinery Centre

Dealer of the Year

Peter Nixon

Forbes Machinery Centre

Salesman of the Year

Axel Amory

Milne Bros Emerald

Runner-up Salesman of the Year

Thank you to our Guest Speakers

Thank you to our guest speakers for your valuable time and contributions to this event. First up, we had Marcello from our dealer rewards team, who gave us an excellent rundown on the dealer exclusive K-Line Rewards Program.

Keep an eye on our blog – next we will be sharing some of the pearls of wisdom received from Peter Watt, Senior Regional Agronomist at Elders Cowra, who spoke to us about Nutrient Stratification and how this can be alleviated through strategic cultivation.

We then heard from David and Henry Nash of Cooyong Pastoral Company, who presented to us their experiences with developing deep ripping in their cropping operation. The Nash family saw the need for implementing a deep ripping system on their property, and came to K-Line for help in developing a deep tillage machine that was robust enough to suit their needs. After much research and development, the Nash’s purchased our MaxxRipper® prototype for this deep tillage application on their property, and “can’t speak highly enough of it”.

After a short break where the whole team got the chance to meet each other and “put a face to the name”, we regathered and split into groups for a networking experience. Here we drilled down into current relevant issues we are all facing in the machinery industry, and found great benefit in sharing thoughts, experiences, and a wealth of agricultural knowledge between teams.

Back to Base

After a sumptuous lunch catered by The Smoking Brothers, we headed back to the base to conduct a Factory Tour and New Product Preview. We introduced two new products to our dealers: the MaxxRipper® and the Delta Hay Pro. They also received a sneak preview of two more products that are in the pipeline, to be launched in 2018. But as the word ‘preview’ suggests – they aren’t available yet, so keep your eyes peeled for more details on these!

We received amazing feedback from the day, backed up by the fact that 100% of attendees said they would attend a day like this again!

As Henry Ford once said, “Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.”

Thank you to all attendees for your input – it is invaluable, and we intend to use what was gleaned from this day to continue to improve our service to our dealership network, to the farmers we both serve, and to the land we care for.

It’s official – our newest model Speedtiller Powerflex^® is now available in Australia! With an operating width of 6.25m (20.5ft), this model embodies all the award-winning Powerflex advantages in a smaller machine. The smaller operating width means it suits smaller tractors, making it available to more Australian farmers.

Watch the 2 minute video below!

Combining all the Powerflex Advantages you know about…

• Selective Dual Mode Weight Transfer System
• Wing Down Pressure
• Quick Adjust Lateral Disc Positioning
• Proven Extreme Duty Disc Arm & Hubs
• Roller Shock Protection

…in a smaller model to suit more applications!

The smaller size machine suits a lower horsepower tractor, making this machine a great option for all farming operations. Ideal for cotton and mixed vegetable growers! Its narrow transport width makes for simple road travel & easier accessibility on the farm (no more squeezing through those gates!)

Tried & Proven

It’s been successfully trialled and running in the US for a year, and has passed in-field testing in Australia with flying colours.

The newest addition to the ever expanding range of K-Line machines is the 8.25m (27.06’) Speedtiller Powerflex^®. This is the fifth size available in the Powerflex^® configuration. it is ideally suited for the high end front wheel assist, 300 horse power+ tractor range of 8.25m giving it a true 8m working width, excellent for 8 row cotton configuration.

Powerflex Advantages

Tried & Proven

It’s been successfully trialed and has passed in-field testing with flying colours. Click below to watch the video of the 8.25m Speedtiller Powerflex^®.

Ask 1000 farmers a question about how to raise their crops, and you’ll probably get 1000 different answers. For some, “the way it’s always been done” is the answer; for others, it’s the latest study or newest method. For most, the answer lies somewhere in between.

While opinions vary on a number of ag-related topics, one common topic of discussion is tillage frequency and its implications for soil health. No-till systems have been steadily gaining ground across the world since the 1950s, shortly after Edward Faulkner’s “Plowman’s Folly” raised awareness of the harm of deep mouldboard ploughing on American prairie soils. Faulkner’s tenets have spread over the intervening years, but additional research, university studies, and machine innovations have tempered some of his original observations.

But no-till isn’t always the most beneficial, particularly in harder soil types or those that pack tightly, like clays and clay mixes. These soils can develop hard pans at the 100mm to 150mm range, creating a host of problems^[1]. The pans keep water from penetrating more deeply into the soil, where it can nourish developing root systems and be locked away for future use during dry periods. Pooling water on the top few inches of soil causes other problems as well, like acidification of soils from accumulated fertilizers and additives. Some of these additives, like lime, have limited wicking penetration abilities, and without tillage, can only penetrate 15-20mm/year their own and must be constantly re-applied to provide benefit to the crop.

To address these issues while causing the least possible disturbance to soils, farmers have turned to minimally-invasive deep ripping with specialty tools like the K-Line MaxxRipper^®, strategically planning their tillage every 4 or 5 years in an otherwise no-till system. Deep rippers provide 200mm + deep soil disruption without sacrificing the residues and humus richness a minimal-till or no-till approach develops^[2].

Benefits of deep ripping include:

There are some additional short-term considerations when contemplating a strategic deep ripping till of a no-till system, particularly in regards to weather forecasting and rain expectations. However, managing these considerations are a small thing compared to the potential benefits a deep ripper can provide with your no-till subsoils.

What an amazing response from our Agricultural Survey we ran in July/August 2018! 663 people responded, an amazing round-up of responses, with insights from every part of Australia.

We thought you might like to see what others are saying, so we’ve put together a quick info-graphic with some of the statistics we pulled from the survey, which you can view below. But first, we’re sure you all want to know who were the three lucky winners of the Driza-Bone Draw!

And the winners are…

To announce the winners, we’ve put together a funny little video just for kicks!

So what did others say?

And now for the stats! Weed resistance, drought, rain, tractor types, most used on-farm implement, irrigation and deep-ripping were just some of the questions asked.

Most Used Tractor-Drawn Implement on the Farm based on all responses. The larger the word, the higher the usage!

Some happy customer feedback

We also asked for reviews from existing customers and we were blown away by the kind words we received, so we decided to share a few of the happy customer responses.

(Video won’t play? The 3 Winners of the Driza-Bone Coat Draw were Andrew Hermiston, Darren Curry, Stuart Buller)