Talking Gear Tuesday EP26 catches up with Luke O’Connor at Deniliquin NSW to learn...
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Needtt a seeding contractor around Western Flat, Bordertown, Keith, Mundulla or the SA/Victoria border?
Cadell Earth & Ag is based at Western Flat in South Australia and carries out agricultural and earthmoving contracting, including seeding. You can view Cadell Earth & Ag on Broadacre Contracting and talk to the team about whether your location, hectares, timing and paddock conditions suit their operation.
If Cadell does not suit the job, you can also browse tillage and seeding contractors, post a tender through Broadacre or give Dillon a bell on 0439 300 380.
Availability, mobilisation and job suitability still need to be confirmed with the individual contractor.
Talking Gear Tuesday — Episode 27
What do you do when you buy a new air seeder and do not know everything about it? According to Shaun Francis from Cadell Earth & Ag: grab the manual and have a read.
Righto legends, we are back at Western Flat in South Australia with Shaun, and this time we have swapped clay spreading for seeding.
The machine in front of us is Cadell Earth & Ag’s new 8m Väderstad Seed Hawk air seeder, running behind a John Deere 8R 250 on rear duals.
We are getting into the stuff I actually wanted to understand: why Shaun chose it, how the separate seed and fertiliser knives work, how the depth adjustment is set, why folding an 8m machine down to around 3m matters between jobs, and whether we are supposed to call this seeding, sowing or planting.
Back to Western Flat
If you caught our first Cadell Earth & Ag yarn in Talking Gear Tuesday EP24 , you will remember Shaun walking us through clay spreading on non-wetting sandy country around Western Flat.
That episode had a very different job.
EP24 was about clay spreading, soil amelioration and why they are changing the profile of problem sandy country.
This one is about the seeding side.
Shaun and Kate Francis run Cadell Earth & Ag as a family farming and contracting operation. Something I like about their business is that it still feels personal. They know their clients, they know the country and they have built the operation around gear that actually fits the work they do.
And that is where this Seed Hawk becomes interesting.
Air seeder: 8m Väderstad Seed Hawk
Row spacing: 10 inches
Opener system: separate offset seed and fertiliser knives
Tractor: John Deere 8R 250
Tractor setup: rear duals
Transport: Seed Hawk 30 Series documentation lists an approximately 3m folded width
Up Front
Shaun Francis:
“We’ve got a John Deere 8R 250 up front, running rear duals. It’s a nice, comfy tractor with good lighting.”
Shaun told us the 8R spends most of its time on seeding duties.
They are running a Generation 4 display with paddocks and headlands mapped, and from Shaun’s point of view the tractor and seeder combination simply suits what they are trying to achieve.
That matters more to me than turning this into some sort of brand war.
There are plenty of tractors that can pull seeding equipment. The more useful question is whether the whole combination fits your soils, hydraulics, transport requirements, wheel centres, implement demands, support network and the operator sitting in it for hours on end.
Why Change?
Before this machine, Cadell Earth & Ag was running an older Flexi-Coil bar with a Horwood Bagshaw box.
Shaun reckons it had been a good seeder.
It was also getting tired.
So the Seed Hawk is not a case of buying new gear just because shiny red paint looks good in the shed. The change gives Cadell a different system for depth control, seed and fertiliser placement, in-cab pressure adjustment and moving between paddocks.
A setup Shaun says had served the business well, but had reached the point where it was getting tired.
A more recent seeding system with separate seed and fertiliser knives, quick-pin depth adjustment, press wheels and hydraulic opener pressure.
It is worth making one distinction here too.
This article is specifically about Cadell Earth & Ag’s 8m Seed Hawk 30 Series machine. Seed Hawk equipment has existed in several sizes and generations, so do not assume every Seed Hawk you see online has exactly the same dimensions or configuration as Shaun’s.
The Bit I Got Wrong
I need to correct myself from the episode before we go any further.
I called the setup “double-shoot boots”.
Close.
Not quite.
Shaun’s Seed Hawk is using a double-shoot arrangement with separate offset knives.
The machine runs on 10-inch row spacing.
The forward knife creates the fertiliser furrow, with product delivered behind the knife.
The offset seed knife opens a separate furrow so the seed is positioned shallower and to the side of the fertiliser.
The individual opener arrangement uses a press or packer wheel behind the knives to help control depth and close the disturbed area.
Väderstad describes this offset arrangement as its Single Side Band knife. The manufacturer describes the design as creating separate trenches for seed and fertiliser rather than dropping both products into the same furrow.
You can see Väderstad’s explanation of the opener system on the Väderstad Seed Hawk product information .
Dillon’s take: looking at the system, the part that interests me is not just that there are two knives. It is the intention behind where each product ends up.
At seeding time we cannot control the season, but we can pay attention to depth, placement and whether the machine is actually doing what we think it is doing in the paddock.
That is not me saying a Seed Hawk is automatically the right bar for every farm.
Soil type, moisture, stubble load, crop, fertiliser program, speed, depth and the rest of the farming system still matter.
Grab the Spanner
Shaun Francis:
“You just grab the three-quarter or 19mm spanner and change your seed depth to the letter you want.”
This was one of the parts of the machine Shaun was particularly happy with.
The Seed Hawk’s quick-pin opener uses lettered depth positions. The packer arm gear is rotated to the required setting with a three-quarter-inch wrench, while opener pressure can be adjusted hydraulically.
The approximate lettered settings documented for the Seed Hawk 30 Series are:
3/8 inch — approximately 9.5mm
1/2 inch — approximately 12.7mm
5/8 inch — approximately 15.9mm
3/4 inch — approximately 19mm
1 inch — approximately 25.4mm
1 1/4 inches — approximately 31.8mm
1 1/2 inches — approximately 38.1mm
Important: those settings are approximate references, not a substitute for checking the paddock.
Ground conditions affect actual placement. Follow the operator’s manual for the machine and physically check seed depth and placement after adjustments and as conditions change.
That last bit is probably the most useful part of the whole conversation.
The letter on the machine is a setting.
The seed sitting in the dirt is the result.
Eight Metres in the Paddock
Shaun Francis:
“It folds up good, down to three metres. Nice and nimble through the gates. Even being an 8m, around trees, the seeder is great.”
This bit immediately got my attention.
Documentation for the Seed Hawk 30 Series lists a 3m transport width for the 8m machine.
That is bloody useful when the work is not all sitting in one giant square paddock.
Gates matter.
Trees matter.
Farm entrances matter.
Moving back to fill matters.
And if you are contracting, getting from one client’s place to the next matters.
Shaun talked in the episode about being able to move the machine without an escort for the routes and circumstances he deals with. Treat that as Shaun describing his operation, not a blanket road-transport rule for every grower or contractor.
Agricultural vehicle access requirements can depend on the complete tractor and implement combination, width, length, mass, road zone, route, visibility, travel conditions and jurisdiction. Before road travel, check the current NHVR agricultural vehicle requirements and any relevant state or road-manager conditions.
The machine folding to 3m is still a major practical feature.
It just does not magically answer every legal question on the road.
Important Agricultural Journalism
Dillon: Is it seeding, sowing or planting?
Shaun: It’s seeding.
Dillon: Why?
Shaun: That’s what we call it here, and when I look at Farm Machinery Sales, it says “air seeder”.
I wanted to ask because the wording genuinely changes as you travel around.
One place calls it sowing.
Another calls it seeding.
Somewhere else you will hear drilling or planting.
Same game, different wording.
For this yarn I am backing Shaun.
It is his machine and his district.
Seeding it is.
The Rabbit Holes
I recently jumped into a brand-new John Deere 8R with heated and ventilated seating, a massage function, in-cab lighting, fridge and all the other bits.
To be very clear, that was a different tractor. I am not saying Shaun’s 8R 250 has every one of those options.
But spend an hour in an old Chamberlain moving a field bin on a 35-plus-degree day with the windows cracked and earmuffs on, then jump into modern gear.
Bloody hell.
We have come a long way.
I do wonder about the balance though. Music, Bluetooth, podcasts and comfortable cabs are great, but operators still need to stay in tune with the machine. Sometimes that tiny noise is the first warning that something is not right.
I spent a few years seeding with a Horsch Avatar behind a JCB 8330, moving between places like Corowa, Alectown and Grenfell.
At times it was basically a one-man travelling circus.
Swag and clothes on the walkway.
Fold it up.
Head to the next farm.
That experience taught me that what happens between the hectares can matter almost as much as what happens while the bar is in the ground.
Filling, transport, gates, turning, checking hoses, walking around the machine and getting back into the next paddock all add up.
Smaller bins can mean more filling and more stops.
That can absolutely cost time.
But when I had to stop, it was also my chance to walk around the machine, inspect the discs, check hoses and make sure everything was still doing its job.
I am not saying more stops automatically equal better work.
I am saying every stop is an opportunity to look.
Shaun’s Seed Hawk also has blockage monitoring and press wheels, but the parts that really stuck with me in this episode were placement, adjustment and flexibility.
Another Way to Seed
One reason I love doing these episodes is that you can drive a few hundred kilometres and see a completely different answer to the same basic problem.
In Talking Gear Tuesday EP23 with O’Connor Farming at Deniliquin , Luke walked us through two Horwood Bagshaw sowing rigs on 11-inch spacing behind Case Magnum tractors.
Here with Shaun we have an 8m Seed Hawk on 10-inch spacing behind a John Deere 8R 250.
Different country.
Different machinery.
Different decisions.
That is exactly why I do not like pretending there is one magic seeder that everybody in Australia should own.
The useful conversation is why this operator chose this setup for this job.
More Than Seeding
Cadell Earth & Ag works across both agricultural contracting and earthmoving.
Their clay spreading work is covered in much more detail in TGT EP24 , so I am deliberately not turning this article into another soil-amelioration yarn.
EP27’s job is the Seed Hawk.
Service Area
Cadell Earth & Ag is based at Western Flat, South Australia, in the Tatiara district around the broader Bordertown and Keith farming country.
Cadell has indicated that work within roughly 150km of its base is normal territory, while jobs farther away can be considered when the scale, timing, travel and mobilisation make sense for everyone involved.
That does not mean every town below is guaranteed coverage. It means they are sensible nearby areas for growers to discuss with the team.
Western Flat, Bordertown, Mundulla, Wolseley, Bangham, Frances, Padthaway, Willalooka, Keith, Sherwood, Naracoorte, Lucindale, Tintinara and surrounding districts.
Serviceton, Kaniva, Minimay, Apsley, Edenhope, Goroke, Nhill and surrounding Wimmera districts may also be worth discussing, depending on the individual job.
Farming does not stop because somebody drew a state border through the middle of the country.
But availability, travel distance and job suitability still need to be confirmed directly.
Need a Contractor?
If you are chasing a seeding contractor around Western Flat, Bordertown, Keith, Mundulla, Padthaway or nearby districts, start by looking at Cadell Earth & Ag’s Broadacre profile.
When you enquire, give the contractor enough information to decide whether the job actually suits.
If Cadell does not suit the location, timing or equipment requirement, Broadacre gives you another pathway.
You can browse tillage and seeding contractors or post the job as a tender.
Relevant Broadacre contractors can review opportunities available through the network, and eligible paid members can receive SMS job alerts. Contractors can then assess the job and make contact where it fits their operation.
Or just call Dillon on 0439 300 380.
Keep Digging
This article started with Shaun explaining the machine to me and then, as usual, I went down the rabbit hole afterwards.
Talking Gear Tuesday
Running something interesting?
Bought a machine and learned a few things the brochure did not tell you?
Built something yourself?
Got a setup that suits your country even though the bloke down the road reckons you should have bought something completely different?
That is the yarn we want.
Talking Gear Tuesday is obviously about machinery.
But the best part is understanding the people running it and why they made the decision.
Give Dillon a call on 0439 300 380 or contact Broadacre Contracting.
Questions Growers Ask
The Väderstad Seed Hawk is a broadacre seeding system that uses independent opener assemblies to place seed and fertiliser. The machine featured in Talking Gear Tuesday EP27 is Cadell Earth & Ag’s 8m Seed Hawk 30 Series air seeder at Western Flat, South Australia.
An air seeder meters seed and other products from a hopper or air cart and uses airflow to move them through distribution hoses to the opener assemblies. The opener system then determines where the products are placed in the soil. Exact metering, opener and fertiliser arrangements vary between manufacturers and machines.
Shaun’s 8m Seed Hawk runs on 10-inch row spacing. Its offset opener arrangement uses separate seed and fertiliser knives. Väderstad refers to this style of offset placement as its Single Side Band system.
On Shaun’s setup, one knife opens the fertiliser furrow and an offset knife opens a separate seed furrow. The seed is positioned shallower and to the side of the fertiliser rather than placing both products in exactly the same trench.
Shaun uses the Seed Hawk’s lettered quick-pin depth adjustment and a three-quarter-inch or 19mm spanner. The documented A-to-G settings are approximate, ranging from about 9.5mm to 38.1mm. Actual seed depth should still be checked physically in the paddock because soil and operating conditions affect placement.
Seed Hawk 30 Series documentation lists an approximately 3m folded transport width for the 8m configuration. That does not by itself determine road-access, pilot or escort requirements. Operators need to check the complete combination, route and current regulatory conditions before travelling on public roads.
The setup featured in TGT EP27 uses a John Deere 8R 250 running rear duals. Shaun says the tractor primarily handles seeding and uses a Generation 4 display with paddocks and headlands mapped.
Shaun says the Seed Hawk replaced an older Flexi-Coil bar paired with a Horwood Bagshaw box. The previous setup had served the business well but was getting tired, which led to the change.
Yes. Seeding is among Cadell Earth & Ag’s agricultural contracting services. The business is based at Western Flat SA. Travel, availability, job size and equipment suitability need to be confirmed for each enquiry.
Growers can browse Broadacre’s tillage and seeding category or post a tender with their location, hectares, crop, timing and machinery requirements. Relevant contractors can review the opportunity and make contact where the job suits their operation. You can also call Dillon on 0439 300 380.
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