When Cameron Turner first started CP & EA Turner Baling Contracting Services from his home in Wodonga eight years ago, he welcomed the challenges and complexity of the baling business.
Specialising in the Krone Square Balers that he was accustomed to operating for his baling contracts, Cam was able to corner the market in his area by adding baler repairs to his offered services.
“Given the intricacy of the balers units, most mechanics deem the machines too convoluted to tackle the maintenance and repairs for them,” says Cam of his rare capability.
Balers are also at the mercy of ever-changing topsoil quality, climate conditions, dryness, heat, and moisture. In addition to this, Cam notes that, “the properties, palatability, and nutrients in every hay crop on every farm change with each season.”
From pickup to processing, the Krone balers require heavy-duty roller chains to feed the bales into a twine knotting mechanism that wraps, ties, and knots the bales into the squares commonly seen being carted across the countryside.
“The durability of the chain for balers is particularly important because if the chain fails, it can incur thousands of dollars of damage to the machine,” says Cam.
“The cost of downtime to farmers is enormous. To be on the safe side, I aim to maintain, relubricate, and replace chains every season where necessary, and I encourage farmers to plan ahead for the year when ordering their chains. It is also critical to avoid pushing a chain to its limits,” he states.
Cam orders his chains from BSC and says the service at the Wagga Wagga branch has been “above and beyond.”
“In contrast to most suppliers, the team at BSC are not just there to move product. They are customer focused,” Cam enthuses BSC are invested in seeing my business succeed and they align my supply needs with my long-term goals and seasonal conditions.”
One of the biggest challenges Cam and other businesses in the agricultural sector are facing is the supply of parts.
“We have seen a shortage in stock due to a reduction in imports from overseas,” Cam expands. “However, the guys at BSC will bend over backwards to get stock to you. They manage to make the impossible possible, no matter how big a roadblock I have encountered.”
Russell Randal, National Segment Manager for Agriculture, based at the BSC Wagga Wagga branch understands the importance of keeping on top of farm machinery maintenance. “Having parts stocked locally is crucial during harvest in the event of untimely breakdowns, the team at Wagga have opened the store at all hours and driven many kilometers to keep machines running,” says Russell.
“What I love most about Agriculture is the incredible resilience of our farmers. They rarely get a break and there is always something to do. Farmers don’t have the luxury of taking an extended break, they just have to get on with it,” he says.
For this reason, Russell stresses the importance of having a risk and contingency plan in place for the supply of parts and repairs.
“There are a lot of good incentives right now to upgrade equipment due to government funding making AG OEMs busy, coupled with a good season last year,” he emphasises. “Part suppliers are being pushed to the limit with increased demand with many suppliers struggling to meet this, with some parts being already sold out across the country.”
Russell explains why Diamond by Timken chain is suited to Cam’s applications.
“For Cam’s business we supply the Diamond® Heavy Duty roller chain for his Krone Balers because they have the highest tensile strength, and are a proven premium quality chain. The Timken brand is exceptional at supplying stock ready to meet the demands of the agricultural industry,” he says.
Moreover, the Diamond chain products meet strict quality controls as well as the ASME/ANSI B29.1 chain standard requirement. The Diamond series chain includes the attachment roller chain, double-pitch conveyer chains, and specialty agriculture chains.
“The ASME/ANSI Standard Roller Chain series has been designed to fit a wide variety of standard applications with a dimensionally accurate fit to sprockets on balers. Although the complexity of the baling business is not limited to the operation of the machines, having durable and reliable parts at your fingertips can make all the difference out in the field,” Russell concludes.