New equipment for cultivations and drilling will be in action at the Tillage-Live event. Peter Hill reports on some of the highlights.

Amazone

The first public outing for the Certos heavy compact disc cultivator will mark Amazone’s working plot at Tillage-Live.

This implement complements the lighter Catros range as a heavier implement using 660mm-diameter serrated discs and available in four sizes from 4m to 7m in trailed format.

See also: Top cultivation kit at Lamma 2015

The Certos 5001-2TX being demonstrated is a 5m version with central running gear, out-front guide wheels and a rear packer, together with hydraulic depth control allowing on-the-move adjustment from 7cm to 20cm.

Discs are arranged in two rows, angled 17deg in the back row and a more aggressive 22deg at the front, with good trash clearance ensured by mounting each disc individually on arms able to flex against rubber clamp bushes.

The implement will also feature a new wedge ring roller designed to be easier to pull but still giving targeted reconsolidation in all soil types.

An Amazone GreenDrill seeding system is optional for sowing catch and cover crops.

Claydon

An enhanced specification for Claydon Hybrid drills will be highlighted at Tillage-Live, where a four-channel Can-Bus control terminal with Isobus compliance will be shown for the first time.

The controller has added functions and enables the operator to capitalise on the extra information and controllability that plugging into a tractor’s Isobus system provides.

In addition, there will be details of a new front press option for the 6m and 8m Hybrid T trailed drills that is designed to help the machines work across a range of soil types and conditions.

Claydon drills get a new Isobus-compliant controller being featured at Tillage-Live and a front press option for the 6m (pictured above) and 8m trailed models.

He-Va

A subsoiler/disc cultivator combination for one-pass, deep soil loosening and surface tillage will be demonstrated for the first time by Opico and dealer Brockhills of Yorkshire.

The 3m He-Va Combi-Disc brings together two established implements – the Combi-Lift and Disc-Roller – to create a new, one-pass machine needing about 200hp to subsoil, cultivate and consolidate in one go.

A key feature is that the working depth of each element can be adjusted individually from the tractor seat.

There are five hydraulic reset tines up front, subsoiling to a maximum depth of 40cm to remove compacted layers of soil, improve water holding capacity and drainage, and open the soil structure to encourage root development – especially for crops such as oilseed rape.

Two rows of 510mm diameter He-Va Sabre discs follow to cut and mix trash into the soil to a depth of 125mm. Each of the individual disc-mounting arms is cushioned by rubber clamp inserts.

Designed to work effectively at shallow depths, the discs progressively adopt a more aggressive angle as working depth is increased to ensure thorough cultivation across the working width.

The following V-Profile steel press has 700mm-diameter serrated “rings” welded to a 300mm tube.

This design is intended to keep the packer turning in wet, sticky conditions while consolidating with a weatherproof finish.

Horsch

The first tractor-mounted combination seed drill from Horsch using a power harrow rather than discs or tines for cultivation will make its working debut at Tillage-Live.

Proven components from Horsch’s Pronto seed drill are integrated with a 10-rotor Kredo power harrow for the Express KR, which is designed to provide intensive seed-bed preparation, even in heavy and/or stony soils.

There are 3m, 3.5m and 4m sizes, with the 1,500-litre capacity seed drill mounted on the packer element.

That means the power harrow’s working depth and the sowing depth can be adjusted individually by hydraulic cylinders from tractor cab without cultivation depth having any influence on sowing depth.

Horsch TurboDisc 2 seed coulters – introduced on all Pronto drills for this autumn – are standard on the combination drill.

Four rubber inserts on each coulter arm clamp transfer up to 120kg pressure to ensure good penetration and maintain consistent working depth at high speeds.

Lifting the seed coulters allows the Kredo power harrow to work on its own where soils need extra working down before sowing, and releasing four fixing points makes it feasible to remove the drill altogether.

KRM

The Agrisem Maximulch – available in sizes from 3m to 6m – will be in action at Tillage-Live for the first time, as importer KRM demonstrates the machine’s deep soil loosening and surface cultivation capabilities.

Two features distinguish the Maximulch from other implements designed to do the same job – each of the 560mm-diameter cutaway discs is carried on a pigtail tine, which allows the discs to move in three directions, and the deep loosening tines are positioned between the two-disc gangs.

The “percussion” effect that comes from the pigtail tine movement is said to help the discs penetrate hard soils for consistent working depth, and Agrisem has reportedly recorded up to 20% savings in power requirement and fuel consumption.

There are no pivots to wear and the disc bearings are maintenance-free.

Pan busting tines are designed to lift and restructure the soil in a “wave”, creating vertical fissures that improve aeration, drainage and root growth.

Maximum working depth is 30cm and the tines can be protected by shear bolt or a non-stop break-back mechanism.

A “V” profile roller completes the implement, with simple pin and hole adjustment regulating disc and tine working depth.

Agrisem Maximulch has rigid, soil-loosening tines positioned between two rows of pigtail-mounted discs.

Kverneland

Although the focus of Kverneland’s plot will be on existing arable implements, the potential for using the Optima V seed drill for precision sowing of arable crops – and as part of a strip tillage system – will be an added interest.

This mounted six-row seeder has metering units with electric drive motors compatible with Kverneland’s GEOseed GPS control software.

That means the drill will work fast while placing seed in patterns that give each plant the optimum space and with perfectly matched row ends at angled headlands.

Two years ago, the Optima V was upgraded with the introduction of a powered telescopic frame, with each sowing unit attached to the 180mm square tube by brackets for quick and easy changes of row spacing from 45-80cm.

Extending the frame to the 4m working position or retracting it to the 3m transport width takes no more than the push of a button.

Kverneland plans to demonstrate that this flexibility – together with the ability of the metering units to handle a wide range of seed sizes – makes the implement a viable option for precision sowing of oilseed rape as well as sugar beet, either into a regular seed-bed or behind a Kverneland Kultistrip (or similar implement) as part of a strip-tillage system.

Maschio Gaspardo

A combination seed drill designed to tackle heavy soils and stony ground will be in the spotlight on the Maschio Gaspardo working plot manned by dealership Brockhills of Yorkshire.

The Alitalia combination drill will have a new Combi-Packer Roller, designed to give improved consolidation in line with the Perfecta double-disc seed coulters to further improve consistency of seed depth and germination to achieve better establishment of the crop.

There are 3m and 4m sizes, each with a 1,500-litre hopper and Maschio’s own Flexeed metering system, which can be fitted with up to seven different segmented metering rollers.

They use GPS speed monitoring as standard to regulate seed delivery to the Perfecta double-disc and depth wheel seeding units, which are mounted on parallelogram linkage to faithfully follow surface contours. For easier soils, single-disc and Suffolk coulters are available.

Three different ranges of power harrow are available for the drill but the Tillage-Live unit is based on the most heavy-duty of the three – the Orso with a 250hp-rated gearbox distributing drive to the close-spaced tine rotors.

Pottinger

The Fox 300D disc cultivator for use in combination with a piggy-back seed drill will make its Tillage-Live working debut in partnership with an Aerosem 3002 ADD pneumatic seed drill.

This compact combination from Pottinger is suited to mid-range tractors of 150hp or thereabouts and soil types that do not need the more intensive working down provided by a power harrow.

Faster working speeds and lower fuel consumption are among the attractions of this approach.

However, the new implement does have the same modular mounting system as the Lion power harrow, so it is possible to interchange the Fox and Lion cultivators on farms with disparate soil types.

The Fox cultivator comes with two close-spaced rows of 410mm serrated discs 130mm apart.

They are intended to work 3-8cm deep to complete seed-bed preparation after ploughing or on loosened stubbles.

Cultivating and drilling in one pass ensures seed is deposited in moist soil, with Pottinger claiming that precision placement from the Aerosem’s double-disc coulters also helps get crops off to a good start.

Vicon

An “entry level” implement and machine controller with Isobus capability will feature on the Vicon exhibit in the sprayers area of the Tillage-Live event.

The Tellus Go replaces the non-Isobus Focus II controller with a 7in display and two USB ports, and nothing more than the press of the “on” button to bring the control screen for a connected Isobus implement into view.

It can be used to set-up and operate implements using the touchscreen, a dial on top of the housing or a keypad where the housing forms a hand grip, and its capabilities include task documentation, manual guidance, camera control, PDF document reader and calculator, as well as gathering data from a tractor ECU.

Add-on software applications include auto-section and variable-rate control and support for auxiliary devices.