Autumn drilling season has come back around with many hoping for a kinder term ahead. But whatever the weather decides to do, having the right drill for the job is as important as ever. CPM examines some of the latest products on offer.
“Direct drilling has changed how we operate.”
By Melanie Jenkins and Rob Jones
As the demands on modern seed drills increase, manufacturers are constantly evolving to meet these requirements whether growers opt to direct drill or use power-harrow combination drills, plus everything in between. Here’s a selection of the latest machines to hit the market as well as some hands-on experiences from across the UK.
Amazone
As of spring 2024, Amazone celebrated 75 years of seed drill production. The latest additions to its stables include a new Precea trailed precision air seeder in 6m working width and a Cataya Special EcoLine harrow-mounted seed drill.
The new Precea 6000-TCC 6m complements the high-performance capabilities of the 9m and 12m models shown at last year’s Agritechnica. A key feature of the Precea 6000-TCC is the option of either the Central Seed Supply delivery system or with individual seed hoppers on each sowing unit.
In addition, the firm offers both variants with a large single-chamber fertiliser hopper with a capacity of 3000 litres together with a central fertiliser metering system. The eight rows can be set to row widths of 70cm, 75cm and 80cm; row widths of 45cm and 50cm based on 12 rows will also be available in the future.
The new Cataya Special EcoLine rounds off the lower end of the Cataya harrow-mounted seed drill product range from Amazone.
The Cataya 3000 comes in a predetermined specification but still aims to offer high performance and reliability in this segment. The harrow-mounted seed drill has a working width of 3m and features a 650-litre seed hopper with a large opening for quick and loss-free filling.
The 24 maintenance-free, RoTeC single disc coulters, with a row spacing of 12.5cm, are designed for precise seed placement. The Control 10 depth guidance disc or the Control 25 depth guidance roller prevent the soil from sticking to the sowing disc to maintain the pre-selected sowing depth.
The Exact harrow is supplied as standard and provides even seed coverage and blockage-free operation when mulch sowing with large amounts of straw.
The AmaLog+ in-cab terminal aids the driver in changing the tramline rhythm. Other functions include field and total area hectare meters, fill level control and speed monitoring of the mechanical drive.
Dale Drills
Dale Drills’ Mounted Tine Drill (MTD) now offers a split tank feature enabling the simultaneous sowing of two different seeds or products. Equipped with narrow coulters, the tines blend the two products as they penetrate the soil. The 1500-litre hopper, divided evenly, integrates two Accord seed metering units, managed through an RDS Isocan control system.
Available in working widths ranging from 3-8m with row spacing options of 12.5cm, 16.6cm, 18.75cm, 20cm, or 25cm, the MTD aims to address the growing demand among farmers to diversify their seeding methods.
“We’ve observed an uptick in farmers seeking to incorporate multiple seeds or products with the drill. This split hopper feature, a novelty for mounted tine drills, provides farmers with considerable versatility at a competitive price point,” says James Dale.
Additionally, the firm’s Eco Drill range has undergone enhancements. Among the upgrades is a rubber semi-pneumatic press wheel, specially designed for customers utilising the 25cm row spacing configuration. This press wheel compacts soil around the seed utilising its flexible rubber material and scraper to prevent soil adherence.
Moreover, farmers can now optimise soil coverage with the incorporation of a pair of Guttler rings affixed to a tandem axle. These redistribute soil over the seeded row, compacting it around the seed to help improve growth conditions.
Grange
This year’s Cereals Event saw Grange Machinery enter the drill market for the first time with its Tine-Drill Toolbar (TDT).
“The changes in weather patterns during the past five years have affected the traditional end of harvest and drilling seasons drastically. So in our opinion, the requirement for a flexible and lightweight setup to ensure crops can be established in tricky conditions but sown with precision and a light ground footprint, has never been more important,” explains the firm’s Rhun Jones.
“We took the forward step of design and manufacturing our first 6m unit three years ago to meet an order from PX Farms in Cambridgeshire who specifically wanted a light but strong framed tine drill for drilling cereals and beans,” he explains.
Available in working widths of 3m, 4m, 4.5m, 4.8m, 5m and 6m, 250hp upwards is required for the 6m TDT. The drill is supplied with a Cat 3 and 4 linkage headstock and uses 20mm Grange tines across four rows on the toolbar frame at a tine spacing of 250mm.
An interesting feature of the design is the use of contouring wings which have a pivot pitch of up to 5o side to side integrated into the carrying frame above each wing to allow for undulations and varying terrain, maintaining seed depth across the full width of the drill.
High chromium tips with a strategically placed 2cm carbide nose tile, does most of the work of the coulter, but also creates a drainage channel below where the seed is placed. Tines are followed by double rear harrow frames which are height and pitch adjustable and fitted with a Z-tine harrow system.
Hydraulic seed depth adjustment allows for easy change on the move with each of the land wheels having a pair of tines positioned equally behind them in the frame to remove all wheelings.
The drill can be specified with either one or two distribution heads for seed-only or a grain and fertiliser combination.
An LED road lighting kit come as standard along with depth adjustable track eradicator tine brackets to accept various manufacturer eradicator tines.
The front tank can be set for the customer’s preference and can be specified according to the type of metering system preferred, or other features that they’d like to have incorporated into the system. Grange Machinery is working with all mainstream manufacturers’ front tanks to use in combination with the rear mounted Grange TDT.
Further options include a rear access platform and seeder mounting bracket, Stocks Turbo Jet 8 i-Con seed applicator and rear bar fitted with seed pipes and outlets brackets for Avadex or slug pellet application.
Lemken
The new mounted Lemken Solitair with a working width of 3m and 4m is equipped for both conventional and conservation tillage.
The MR series features a 1500-litre tank which is suitable for fertiliser even in its basic configuration. The tank is optionally available with a 2000-litre capacity which can be split 60:40 on request for simultaneous application of several components. A further 200-litre MultiHub can be added to the tank so multiple crop systems can be cultivated in a single pass.
Seed from the MultiHub is placed via the existing seed lines or via a baffle plate in front of or behind the harrows. To make it user-friendly, the MultiHub control is fully integrated into the user interface of the ISOBUS terminal as an additional seed line.
The drill is equipped with the maintenance-free OptiDisc coulter bar with row spacings of 12.5cm or 15cm and features parallelogram-guided double disc coulters and trailing depth control rollers for uniform field emergence. To achieve this, the coulter system is available in a hydraulic version (up to 70kg coulter pressure) and a mechanical version (up to 45kg coulter pressure).
Both coulter pressure and seed depth can be adjusted independently and don’t affect one another. According to the firm, this is particularly useful in the increasingly popular cultivation of mixed crops.
The correct placement depth for the different crops can be set by applying a separate drilling depth setting to each second row. Seed should always placed at the same depth, even at high forward speeds and in changing soils. The depth control roller then presses seed down to aid quick and even emergence.
The distributor heads, which are positioned directly above the coulter bar and don’t require a seed return function, should ensure transverse distribution.
The new drill is equipped with two metering systems which each supplies one distributor with seed so that even the basic configuration offers width section or half-width control. A hydraulic tramline mechanism can be added as an option. The iQblue Drill software supports the work in the field for example, by checking if tramline control is possible.
For those opting for the single or double shot version, the MR comes with four metering units for two width sections each. This means each of the two distributors can be supplied with both components (single shot) or each of the four distributors can be supplied with one component each (double shot).
This article was taken from the latest issue of CPM. Read the article in full here.
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