Latest News - January 07
17.01.07 - SIMBA HORSCH KNOWS THE DRILL
Simba Horsch is introducing a range of updates to its drills for 2007, with all machines now being supplied with the Muller Drill Manager – a sophisticated system that is ISOBUS compatible, so it can be used with all main farm data recording systems, and can be moved between tractors if required.
In addition, all new Pronto DC drills feature ‘on the move’ adjustment of the cultivating discs as standard, with the option of running a levelling board between the discs and the drilling coulters.
Other changes made for 2007 include the introduction of half width shut-off as standard on all four, six and eight metre drills, while the standard hopper size of the Pronto 6 has been raised to 3,500 litres
The introduction of the Muller Drill Manager has followed successful field trials of the system over the past year on a number of British farms, during which time the systems have shown their abilities and reliability in tough working conditions.
The system gives the operator complete control all major drill functions, in addition to several other significant factors like the variable deployment of bout markers – as might need to be done when working on headlands.
It also enables users to maintain even seed rates even when working through ‘wet holes’, by enabling them to lift the drill slightly to help maintain forward speed but match seed supply to the forward speed achieved, so the seed rate applied remains consistent across the field.
One farmer who has the Muller system fitted to his 6m Sprinter drill is PR Farming, based on the Hertfordshire/Bedfordshire border: “We have the same controller on our fertiliser spreader and it has proved very accurate, especially for record keeping”, says partner Philip Woods.
PR Farming operates across five farms and needs to keep an accurate record of all inputs used across all five units in order to complete individual management accounts:
“Keeping all those records used to be a long and often difficult paper chase – now it is far simpler. Once we have calibrated the drill and started working the new system enables us to check we are sowing at the rate we want, and check how much seed we have drilled and what we have left in the hopper”.
Drill operator Graham Starkey highlights the ‘one touch’ control that enables him to raise or lower the seed-rate by increments of 10% as being especially useful when working on headlands:
“All the essential information I need when working can be displayed on the one screen, which makes it very simple to check what is happening as you are working. We are already moving to variable rate fertiliser applications, and might move to variable rate drilling as well”.
