Ollie Mackintosh’s inter-row seeder has been awarded highly commended in our Inventions Competition.

Having built a successful 6m inter-row seeder for sowing grass under maize (featured in the 2016 Farm Inventions Competition), Doncaster-based farmer Ollie Mackintosh decided to manufacture a bigger version.

Having looked at machines already on the market, he couldn’t find a model as wide as he wanted that would provide seed placement.

The answer was to build a custom 9m model in the farm workshop, which features Weaving double-disc coulters.

This width was chosen as it matches up nicely with the Vaderstad Tempo he uses to establish the crop, plus it would allow him to cover the ground quickly.

See also: Contractor modifies Vaderstad Tempo to sow maize and grass

Rather than building a frame entirely from scratch, he picked up a 6m hydraulic folding power harrow headstock from a local farm sale for just £250.

To this he attached a frame that holds two 4.5m toolbars, both of which pivot in the centre to follow ground contours.

The frame folds vertically for transport and the outer sections are tucked in manually to make it a sensible height on the road.

Seeding is carried out via 25 Weaving disc coulters, which are fed from a Bullock Tillage seeder mounted on the tractor’s front linkage.

This has an 800-litre hopper, meaning it can drill 60ha before needing to refill. It covers the ground quickly, with work rates hitting 10ha/hour.