THE product Hartzell Kaeb is associated with finished runner-up in the 2013 Henty Machinery Field Days Machine of the Year.
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But rather than being disappointed with the result, the man from Illinois in the US still had a hell of a good time.
Mr Kaeb is associated with Kotzur Silos, which is the Australian distributer of KSI Conveyors, which he part owns with three of his brothers.
“I am the transportation manager for our company,” he said.
“I oversee the logistical stuff involved with moving something from point A to point B.
“I have come over here specifically for the show, to support Kotzur.
“They are our Australian distributor and my goal here is to support them in any way possible.
“I arrived a week ago yesterday, spent some time at Kotzur, helped set up yesterday and I’m looking forward to the next three days, before I go back on Friday.”
Mr Kaeb said it was his first visit to Australia.
“It has been a great blessing,” he said.
“I didn’t know what to expect I when I thought about Australia.
“You think of Sydney and Melbourne and a few of those but this home; agriculture is home to us in the US and this is my heart.”
Mr Kaeb said he also felt very much at home because he came from a town very similar in population to Walla, the home of Kotzur Silos.
“We manufacture there and also have a second manufacturing facility in Kansas, in a town that has about 4500 people,” he said.
“The area I come from is very rural and I was raised on a dairy farm, the seventh of 12 children.”
The machine that Kotzur entered in the MOTY competition was a model 161282SA Swingaway mobile conveyor.
“It is a conveyor for any type of commodity, not just grain,” Mr Kaeb said.
“In the US we use it for a lot of seed production and handling.
“KSI Conveyors has been in production for 13 to 14 years and this particular model has been in production for four to six years now.
“It landed in Aust- ralia a week ago, last Friday.”
Mr Kaeb said the primary point of difference between his conveyor and others was its cleated belt, a proprietary product to KSI.
“The cleats actually carry the grain instead of propelling the grain,” he said.
“So you can go on a steeper incline and still be able to carry the grain, because you have the cleat on it.
“The advantage to the farmer is to maintain the integrity of the product, it’s gentle on product.”
