HORSCH 3m MOUNTED DRILL IN FIELD THIS AUTUMN
Simba Horsch will be launching a new 3m mounted cultivator drill in Britain next spring. The Pronto EX, as it will be called in Britain, was premiered at the company’s 25th birthday celebration, and will receive its full European launch at this autumn’s Agritechnica.
Simba will field-test at least one machine this autumn in as wide a range of soils and conditions as possible, ahead of its UK launch – planned for LAMMA 2010.
The Pronto EX is a compact three-point linkage mounted drill with a 1,500 litre hopper capacity. It is designed so that its weight (2.162 tonnes) is located very close to the tractor, enabling it to be both lifted and operated behind relatively low hp models. The cultivation element is an X-format disc harrow. In field trials the drill has proved equally adept at working in non-inversion systems or on ploughing.
Behind the discs a finger harrow helps level the soil ahead of the drilling elements. This harrow can also be lowered to perform an aggressive levelling action if required.
The drill features 18 drilling coulters at 16.5cm spacings, these being fitted with Horsch’s new PowerDisc (38cm diameter) disc coulters that achieve exceptional accuracy of seed placement.
In normal conditions they work with 60kgs coulter pressure, but this swiftly rises to a maximum of 150kgs when a coulter rides out of the soil to avoid a stone or similar obstruction, ensuring that it resets to the selected working depth quickly and the evenness of drilling is not affected.
The coulter is protected by a newly designed solid spring protection, with the bearings of each disc being maintenance-free and featuring no lubricating nipples, as is the case for all Horsch machines. A 40cm press wheel runs behind each coulter and ensures even drilling depth is maintained at all times.
Simba’s Guy Leversha comments: “Simba Horsch already offers the most complete ranges of cultivator drills from 4m to 12m widths with the Pronto and Sprinter/CO and this launch brings the benefits of Horsch’s market-leading design to a huge number of a huge number of smaller scale farmers who might not previously have been able to benefit from it”.
