Grainswest - Tech 2025

Tech 2025 Grains West 18 PERSON PLACE & THING The driver alone can position the com- bine approximately. Some people don’t even back up. They get out of the seat, disengage the latch and pull the hitch itself, the unit that is removable, away from the combine to where your header trailer is. They’ll lock the hitch in place, go back to the winch and re-engage the clutch. And then you just stand back with a wireless FOB that has a 300-foot range. You pull the trigger, and it pulls it back in, lines it up and auto latches. It typical- ly takes about 45 seconds to hitch up. You can do it in the middle of the night. GW: Do customers ask why someone hasn’t thought of this before? RG: We heard a lot of that, especially the second year we did trade shows. “You’re a marriage saver,” and from retired farmers, “Where were you 40 years ago?” GW: Does the prototype differ from the final product? RG: The prototypes have been in use for a few years with no issues, but I wanted to create as much redundancy as possi- ble. Two hooks in the latch, two springs and so on to double the safety. We drilled a series of hole patterns to fit on as many combine makes as possi- ble. That allowed us to supply a kit of bolt spacers and hardware needed to mount it to a lot of the New Holland combines. It will work on the latest New Holland CR11 and Case IH combines, including the AF11. All the S Series and X Series John Deere combines. Some dealerships sell the X9 with the Spider Hitch on it. GW: In 2023, you posted a Facebook video of the Spider Hitch hitching a combine header, and it went viral. RG: By the fifth day, we had 13.5 million views. We then got inquiries from every- where: Australia, Europe, India, Mex- ico, New Zealand, Scandinavia, South America. Now that video is at almost 41 million views. GW: Was that when you first realized you had a hit on your hands? RG: Yes. At the beginning, we wanted to make sure it was patented and the intellectual property was protected before we really put it out there. Once that was safe, we did a little batch, then a bigger batch and so on. We approached a company just north of Calgary to man- ufacture the components and ship them north to us. We do all the assembly, test- ing, the literature and hardware package and the crating and shipping. GW: Can you keep up with demand? RG: We’ve ramped up. At the beginning, we worked like slaves, but now it’s better. In our machine shop we built a long, specialized work counter with the nec- essary stations and equipment needed to assemble things easily and quickly. It’s like a miniature assembly plant. GW: Where is Spider Hitch sold? RG: Primarily in Canada and the United States. GW: Will you export beyond the two countries? RG: Definitely. We’ve had serious inquir- ies and talks with people in Australia, Europe and Mexico. GW: Can Spider Hitch be used for additional farm tasks? RG: We did an update, so it is highway approved. It can be used behind a service truck. Some farmers are putting it on their toolbar, pulling in the anhydrous tank. The majority is combine headers, but second would be anhydrous applica- tion or delivery. GW: Can it be used outside of agriculture? RG: We’ve had inquiries from forestry, mining and heavy construction. GW: Spider Hitch won the grand prize of $20,000 at the Ag Innovations Awards competition at the Agri-Trade Equipment Expo in Red Deer in 2023. What was that like? RG: It was thrilling to receive the top prize and all that entails: the whirlwind of publicity from newspapers, magazines, television and radio. It opened doors. GW: What advice would you give to other independent business owners who have developed new agricultural products? RG: Make sure your intellectual property is protected. If it does take off, people will try to copy it. Don’t cheap out. Use proper engineering and testing. Do the home- work so you can be confident in describing your product, how it works and how safe it is. Outfitted with a 12,000-pound winch and 80 feet of synthetic cable, a single person can use the device to hitch up a combine header in about 45 seconds, said Garant.