<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/82bc6cef-ba9a-44d1-92ff-f73fca70b555/6956CD22-F65D-4D44-A992-9EB2FBDD649D/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://nenews.com.au/stories/chStory11n.htm" href="http://nenews.com.au/stories/chStory11n.htm" style="font-size: 11px;">nenews.com.au</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://nenews.com.au/stories/chStory11n.htm"><P>WINTER pruning is well under way at vineyards throughout the King and Alpine valleys.</p> <P>Both mechanical and hand pruning is used at the majority of vineyards, with many bringing in contractors to undertake the mechanical side of things.</p> <P>That is where vineyard maintenance contractor Michael Marasco comes in.</p> <P>Mr Marasco uses a Pellenc Visio pruning attachment on his tractor, something he says significantly cuts down the time involved in pruning.</p> <P>"<B>This machine uses visionic technology, which is the first farming machine equipped with a vision system,</B>" he said.</p> <P>"<B>I’ve been using this machine for four years and growers have come to realise the potential cost-saving over previous models.</B></p> <P><B>"<B>The machine uses sensors to detect the posts and opens and closes (around the post) by itself.</B></B></p> <P><B><B>"<B>It tracks the cordon and significantly reduces fatigue.</B>"</B></B></p> <P><B><B>Mr Marasco said the pre-pruner reduced costs of pruning by as much as 70 per cent and made it easier for hand pruners to finish the job.</B></B></P></blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/6956CD22-F65D-4D44-A992-9EB2FBDD649D/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content8.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>

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