Celebrating Australian success stories could not be more important in a year that started in flames, was overtaken by a pandemic, and compounded by rising unemployment, and yet the Aussie spirit confronted with all these obstacles pushes on.
Two such success stories came together in a perfect marriage of hard work and Australian ingenuity on a remote Queensland property.
Father and son team Philip & Tom Coggan own this beautiful remote Australian operation. Nestled between St George and Goondiwindi, in South Western Queensland, they proudly speak of their Ennara feedlot with 8000 head of cattle, a 2000ML storage dam, a huge grain handling facility, 40,000 acres of dryland cropping, and 2,000 acres more irrigated.
For years they’ve needed to screen multiple materials around the farm. Always being too busy to thoroughly research the idea and not overly excited or completely sold on the market options they had seen. One day, Phil was tagged in a Facebook post to watch a video that would forever change the way they did things around their farm.
Phil’s immediate thoughts while watching the video were; why had no one ever done this before and where do these things come from!?
He had been tagged in a video of topsoil being screened. The video showed a 3-ton skid steer with a FlipScreen screening attachment laying topsoil to where it was needed, and screening straight from the pile directly into trucks. With a quick 5-minute mesh change it was screening different graded oversize material.
The IHI CL35 Multi-Terrain skid loader in the video darts around a lot, laying topsoil at a rapid rate using a FlipScreen, and the operator Andrew Camarata comments “This thing works great! The big advantage I am seeing is you only have to handle the material one time. You can screen right where it needs to be. And they sell different size screens for it too. The brush keeps the screen clean and from clogging up, and since it is not a vibratory machine, it’s not shaking itself apart the whole time. You can also screen directly into a truck, dirt in one, and your rock into another or wherever you need it.” The FlipScreen model in the video is an S45, which weighs 578kg and can screen 62m³ per hour.
On further investigation, Phil was surprised to find out that the FlipScreen is Australian born and bred, invented in a farm machinery shed at Mangoplah, NSW and now manufactured up the road in Wagga Wagga.
The inventor, Sam Turnbull, with years of experience in the demolition and excavation industry was inspired to find a solution to painful, almost medieval screening practices, that were slow and damaging to carrier machines and operators.
The FlipScreen concept uses a smooth 360-degree continuous rotation and sorts all types of material from concrete and scrap metal to fine prilled urea and strawberry plants. An idea that has grown into a global company servicing 43 countries and counting and used in varied situations within the demolition, scrap metal, earthmoving, landscaping, agricultural, and mining industries. It’s even used in landmine clearing operations by the US Military.
An Australian made product sounded good to the Coggan’s and after enquiring about which FlipScreen model would best suit the amount and type of material they wanted to process, they were introduced to the WL285 Waste Master! They then went about purchasing a brand new 18-ton Hyundai HL760-9 Wheel Loader as it’s carrier machine.
The Waste Master is a 2950kg attachment with a bucket capacity of 8.5m³, screening 2.85m³ per scoop.
Phil spoke with the team at FlipScreen who expanded on his original ideas for screening. Suggesting that with their manure piles building up, the FlipScreen provided a means of sorting out the stones which were breaking their spreader spinners, and with material from their quarry they could now also screen different sized road bases 75mm and down and also create flooring for their feedlot pens. The team at FlipScreen also explained that they no longer needed to buy bagged fertilizer at a premium. Phil and Tom could now save money by buying in bulk and screening the fertilizer only when needed. With its rotating design and the addition of a stainless-steel screen for corrosive material, the FlipScreen can remove the hard crusts and lumps from the urea and in most cases will break them up so it can go through the air seeder and avoiding costly and frustrating blockages.
They were sold on the multiple uses of the FlipScreen. They placed their order and a few weeks later received their WL285 Waste Master more than rapted with their investment.
Philip Coggan has noted the 75mm mesh used for the road base is processing up to 480 tons per hour. The FlipScreen is working nights in the quarry screening gravel and the days rolling silage, filling feed carts, cleaning urea, and creating spreadable manure for the paddocks.
They have even used some of the oversized rock for river crossings. As in the cover photo.
Their operation has certainly been expanded and become a lot more efficient and productive due to this innovative Australian owned, designed, and made attachment. And considering that it is manufactured with reinforced steel, they will be using the FlipScreen for a long time to come.
For further details on the benefits of a FlipScreen screening bucket www.flipscreen.net/