Gourmet Potato Farmer Finds CASE Simplicity Sprouts Many Benefits

“The Case CX350C is a great machine – we use it to do just about anything and everything on the farm, from digging, excavating and backfilling.”

Barry Hawkes – Hawkes Produce

Based in Boneo on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsular, Hawkes Produce is a grower of premium produce including Kipfler Potatoes, Dutch Carrots, Spring Onions and Sunnyridge Strawberries.

Run by the Hawkes family for the past 50 years, current owner Barry Hawkes has been farming all his life, although now with only 140 acres of arable land, these days, his focus is squarely on the gourmet end of town.

Farming is hard work, however thanks to the reliability and simplicity of Case equipment, Barry finds that even the hardest jobs on his vegetable farm are now a lot easier than ever.

“When I started in vegetable farming, we had an International Harvester (IH) tractor, so when Case took over the IH brand, I was familiar with their machines and so I have kept using them ever since.”

Although he has a number of Case machines at his disposal, for all his general earthmoving and farm duties, Barry uses his trusty Case CX350C Excavator that is designed to deliver superior power, unmatched performance, and a healthy return on investment for his sand mining operation.

SIMPLICITY

Moreover, according to Barry, one of the best things about his Case CX350C Excavator is its simplicity, which for him means more work and less downtime.

“The Case CX350C is a great machine – we use it to do just about anything and everything on the farm, from digging, excavating and backfilling.”

“However, one of the best things about our CX350C Excavator is the fact that it is a simple machine that has less moving parts that can break down – this means we get less downtime and more usage out of the machine.”

“It’s a really simple machine to use as well as being tough and well-built which means that regardless of who is operating the Case Excavator, very little, if anything, can go ever wrong with it.”

POWER

“We’ve also compared the CX350C to a number of other brands on the market, and found that the Case machine also has a lot more power than its opposition.”

This is not surprising since with its reliable 198kW diesel engine, not only is there power to spare, the Case CX350C Excavator also provides up to 15 per cent greater fuel efficiency than any of the competition models.

EASY MAINTENANCE

When a scheduled maintenance is required, this becomes a quick and easy task thanks to the wide-open panels for easy access to service points, ground level access to the grouped lubrication points, quick-change filters and simple gauges for daily service checks.

To add to that, the CASE EMS (Easy Maintenance System) uses stratified bushings and plated pins, which hold grease longer thereby preventing rattling, and in turn, lengthening service intervals.

SAFETY

With safety being a constant concern on Australian farms, the rearview camera with its 7-inch monitor as standard equipment that provides improved visibility from sunrise to sunset is one of the machine’s real standout features.

COMFORT

When it comes to operator comfort and productivity, with increased cab space, improved airflow and air conditioning, spending the whole day in the cabin in the hot Australian sun is also no longer an issue.

 

FINAL NOTES

“Basically, our Case CX350C Excavator has become our daily workhorse – we use it for just about everything and anything on the farm,” said Barry.

“Over time, we’ve found that the CX350C is bulletproof, which, when you add the simplicity, power and reliability, makes it one of our favourite farm machines.”

“We are really pleased with our CX350C, and together with the top notch service we get from Case Vic, we wouldn’t bother with any other brand.