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AutoFarm® Hands-Free Haying Tour 2007

FREMONT, Calif., July 24, 2007 - This summer, wheat producers from Texas to the Dakotas have had a chance to see AutoFarm hands-free GPS steering in use on custom harvesters' combines. Now, hay producers and custom swathers are also on the Hands-Free Harvest trail with windrowers operating hands-free using the AutoFarm RighTrac™ Advanced GPS Steering System.

"The Hands-Free Haying Tour gives hay producers and custom cutters a chance to evaluate AutoFarm GPS steering systems on their windrowers," says Tom Morgan, AutoFarm vice president-marketing.

"Swathers have been a difficult application for GPS steering due to their hydrostatic drive setups. The RighTrac system integrates directly with the steering wheel, eliminating manual steering obstructions caused by friction drive motors and gives the positive connection needed to make consistently accurate steering corrections. With our AutoSteer roof antenna module and base station, RighTrac consistently gives accurate steering with repeatability, even in swather applications."

Tim Parks, Merrill, Oregon, runs four swathers on his operation and three of them are running the AutoFarm RighTrac GPS steering system. His RighTrac GPS steering units include two New Hollands, an HW325 auger header and a HW365 rotary or disc unit, plus a Deere 4895 auger header windrower.

"We do about 4,500 acres a cutting and we're just about through the second cutting...we've cut about 8,000 acres so far," says Parks.

"We're pretty happy with what we see them doing in the field. I use high school students to drive the swathers and they're making straight windrows and taking a full header swath."

"As far as accuracy, Parks adds, "I'd say they're six-inch or better for sure which is way better than manual. People who are good swather drivers probably think they can do that but I don't think they really get it done."

"You can't miss the hay. We do a lot of custom work and you can't leave strips of hay out there, it looks bad and the customer doesn't like it."

"The best thing for my drivers is they can relax a little more so it makes them feel better by the end of the day. It's more relaxing if you can get off having to concentrate all the time. And they have time to look out the back window to see what they're doing which helps them catch any foul-ups a little faster."

"I like to run the RighTrac steered units together, that's one of the big advantages. We've got a lot of big fields and when we're working a big one like a 200 acre field, we run a pass a quarter of the way, a quarter of the way, a quarter of the way...then pull in there with four machines and cut the whole thing. It's easier to get that 200 acres done in five hours or so, and it'll help keep you on your baling schedule. It just does a lot nicer job on the field."

"We're also cutting some pivots with them and I think that's really working good. We're getting a lot better job done on the pivots as far as our spacing being right. When you rake it you pull together 28 feet of hay (two 14 foot windrows) and get a nice, even windrow that'll dry good," Parks says.

"My big idea originally was that this steering would really help make the machines run like they were designed to run. These 14 foot headers are built for seven feet coming in from the left, seven feet coming in from the right and it all goes through a conditioner. When manual steering you could have as little as four feet coming in on one side and that's not running efficient. With the steering system you keep a full header that makes a nice even windrow that dries better."

Parks sums it up with, "You're making the machine run like it was designed to and that part of it is really working."

AutoFarm, a division of Novariant Inc., is the premier solutions provider for precision positioning and intelligent control systems. AutoFarm manufactures and markets Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers and precision agriculture solutions for automatic steering and leveling based on its experience in advanced aviation landing systems.

Please Note that AutoFarm has moved. As of July 5, the new address is:

45700 Northport Loop East
Fremont, CA 94538
Phone: (510) 933-4800
Fax: (510) 933-4801

Media Contact: Joe Robertson
Red Lizard Creative
San Diego, CA
Ph: 858-453-3761
Em: joe@redlizardcreative.com