After taking delivery of their telehandler, which came with pallet forks and a 2cu m bucket attachment, the decision was made to custom make a 4-tonne hopper bin.

Located on the machine's forks, it allows them to transfer seed and fertiliser to their 4.5t Simplicity airseeders.

The idea is to limit downtime when their two 18m (60ft) wide planters are earning their keep by covering up to 405ha (1000ac) when working from 7am-8pm.

"The hopper bin is filled from two trucks and then we bring it over the top of the airseeders with the telehandler and pull a shoot to fill the planters,"’ David said.

"We can now fill quickly - it saves us a lot of time.

"We were using an auger, hopping up and down and switching things on and off, so we thought this would be the way to go," said.

In action, the property's long runs - which vary between four and eight kilometres - see the rigs re-fill at the end of a run.

The JCB telehandler effortlessly carries the four-tonne bin and was put to good use when 250t of fertiliser was spread earlier this year.

As well, the machine had used its 2m bucket to put gypsum into a big spreader.

"We can also use the telehandler for building sheds, lifting machines, shifting dirt and even pruning trees," David said.

"We handle a lot of Roundup shuttles, and we have a drawbar with it so we can tow a 5000L water cart."

He said they inspected other telehandlers, but the JCB loadall “looked a better machine’’ and was priced very competitively by JCB Construction Equipment Australia.

Delivered with the bucket and forks, David and Jeremy then made their hopper bin.

The new JCB Dieselmax engine in the Agri‘Super Loadall delivers 4pc more power to a maximum of 97kW (130hp).

The 4.4-litre, 16-valve turbo diesel has high pressure common rail fuel injection with intelligent electronic control, plus it also meets Tier III exhaust emissions standards.

The Agri Super model uses a proven six-speed, 40kph multi-mode powershift design with torque lock direct drive in the top two gears.

This, combined with JCB's Smooth Ride System, maximises efficiency when driving or towing along the road.

New transmission control features include a forward-neutral-reverse selector on the leading face of the boom control joystick, allowing drivers to keep a firm left-hand grip on the steering wheel at all times.

A new Vari Flow hydraulic system in the Agri Super introduces a variable-flow piston pump, while the existing load-sensing triple gear pump system remains standard on all other models.