The Royal Highland Show offered farmers north of the border the chance to check out some of the latest kit on the market.

Combination drills proved popular with the passing punters, along with some less mainstream machinery such as bumpers to fit on a tractor’s front linkage and an electric-powered loader.

Tractor bumpers look set to become all the rage – and maybe a legal requirement – judging by the new devises on display at the show.

They are designed to mark the extremities of a tractor, especially at night, more clearly than standard tractor lights.

The units also act as a buffer to deflect a car or other road vehicle and discourage the tractor wheels from riding over a vehicle in the event of a collision, as well as providing ballast and/or a tool box.

The unit produced by front linkage and pto specialist Sauter has wing sections with angle and width adjustment (from 2.3-2.7m) to suit different tractor and tyre sizes.

Shear bolts allow the wings to fold back upon impact.

Hella triple light units and marker rods identify the outer extremities in addition to large reflective panels.

A plastic toolbox of up to 10 wafer weights each of 90kg can occupy the space behind the centre section.

Price is £1,450, plus £1,300 for a full set of weights.

See also: What’s in Your Shed? We visit a Borders mixed farm

Zuidberg’s version from Lynx Engineering has vertical LED lights marking the outer edges of the angle-adjustable and telescopic wings and there are built-in parking stands for when the device is dropped off.

A clevis and pin towing point is provided at the front and users have the option of carrying the device directly on a three-point linkage or “A” frame, or bolting it to a 900-1,400kg front weight block.

It is priced £1,500.

The Bumpy (pictured above) differs from other tractor safety devices in having a large plastic “cushion” covering the steel frame, which absorbs impact energy in a collision.

Unlocking and lifting the cushion on its hinges reveals a compartment for adding ballast weights.

Split hopper for AD-P drill

Amazone revealed a new split hopper for the AD-P Super piggy-back air drill, which will be of interest to growers in Scotland and the north of England who establish crops with a traditional plough and one-pass power harrow/seed drill combination.

For the new combi version, the standard hopper makes way for a Agriweld-made 2,000-litre structure with a 500-litre extension if required and a bolt-in divider.

Having two outlets, metering kits and distribution systems – both with electric tramlining – means the drill can operate grain-only or put down different combinations of seed and fertiliser without wastage.

Other updates include a larger access platform, roll-over hopper cover, electric metering roller drive, new tramlining system and Isobus compliant electronics.

The combi conversion adds £8,000 to the price of the regular version.

KV combination drill

Kverneland’s solution to creating a combi version of the iDrill has been to mount a DF-2 tractor front hopper on the frame to provide 1,500-litre capacity for grain and fertiliser.

The standard coulter comes with a flexible plastic scraper disc and is followed by a soft press wheel.

Fertiliser is dispensed from a tube positioned immediately behind the single disc coulter.

Kverneland recommends the NG-S or NG-H power harrows for the outfit, which are mounted on a parallel linkage to automatically compensate for tine wear. They are rated for tractors up to 240hp.

Prices for a 4m DFC start at £42,500.

Diesel-free Kramer loader

Spookily silent operation is claimed for the new Kramer 5055e.

It’s identical to the regular model in all respects except that an electric motor and battery pack replace the diesel engine to power the hydrostatic four-wheel drive with zero emissions – at the point of use, that is.

Charging from a mains supply will give up to a full day’s operation, says Kramer.

There’s no noise or exhaust gases bothering either the operator or livestock.

Expect a price tag upwards of £40,000 for the 1.8t to 3m lift machine.

Portequip launches compact cattle floats

Scottish livestock equipment manufacturer Portequip has started building compact, heavy-duty cattle floats with smaller producers in mind.

This 18ft long, 8ft wide version has capacity for eight cows in two compartments, with a gate opening against one of the wheel arches to provide safe refuge from animals eager to disembark.

There is a floor lip and built-in slurry tank to avoid contaminating rural roads, while the roof panels and stock gates are made from aluminium to save weight. The list price is £8,900.

Updated Abbey diet feeder

Abbey Machinery showed a new sliding and tilting cross conveyor on the 21cu m VF2100 twin-rotor diet feeder. It comes with the wide tub of a 2250 cut down to size and set on a lower chassis to bring overall height down to 2.88m.

The plastic belt conveyor can operate horizontally discharging at 0.83m or hooked to automatically angle upwards to dispense forage at up to 1.5m over barriers or into troughs.

New-look Fleming topper

Fleming’s new 3m tractor-mounted topper has higher grade steel to get weight down to 730kg so that a 100hp tractor can handle the out-back transport position more easily.

Three rotors with two swinging flails each do the mowing, with the central bed pivot and a floating top link helping the machine follow surface contours.

A check valve on the swing-round cylinder allows the mower to break back against an immovable object to minimise impact damage. List price is £4,000.

 

 

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All photos © Peter Hill