It's about accurate seed placement - Kuhn North America
It's about accurate seed placement - Kuhn North America
It's about accurate seed placement - Kuhn North America
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top<br />
Table 4: Susceptibility<br />
to defects<br />
<strong>Kuhn</strong><br />
Lemken<br />
Accord<br />
Amazone<br />
Pöttinger<br />
Rabe<br />
Gaspardo<br />
Anzahl 0 2 4 6 8 10 12<br />
Number of repairs per machine and 500 hectares of<br />
Reparaturen je Maschine und<br />
operation<br />
500 ha Einsatzfläche<br />
Service counts<br />
Rabe and Pöttinger earned nearly<br />
identical results in the survey. Both manufacturers<br />
market quite identical drills.<br />
The leading press plays a key role in<br />
the overall quality of <strong>seed</strong> <strong>placement</strong>.<br />
Wedge-shaped and trapezium-ring designs<br />
obviously deliver exceptionally<br />
good results as they form furrows for<br />
the coulters to run smoothly and plant<br />
at more <strong>accurate</strong> depths. The two press<br />
designs earned a 1.8 and 1.6 respectively<br />
for providing good depth control. By<br />
comparison, such rollers as toothed and<br />
cage rollers that consolidate the entire<br />
work width scored only 2.2 and 2.4.<br />
The problem <strong>about</strong> preparing a furrow<br />
in extremely wet conditions is that<br />
the bottom of the furrow may be too<br />
hard for the coulters to drill deep<br />
enough despite a high pressure loading,<br />
a situation in which only little loose soil<br />
is left for covering.<br />
Most coulters used were disc<br />
coulters – 417 of the surveyed machines<br />
came equipped with this type (67%).<br />
The remaining machines relied on traditional<br />
Suffolk coulters. The popularity<br />
of disc coulters springs from a growing<br />
trend towards min-till systems, where<br />
disc coulters hold a share of 51% and<br />
Suffolk coulters 30%.<br />
Disc coulters do not block up as easily<br />
and give better depth control in extremely<br />
trashy conditions although they do<br />
not give better <strong>seed</strong> <strong>placement</strong> than Suffolk<br />
coulters – on the contrary, discs may<br />
leave <strong>seed</strong>s on the surface.<br />
Disc coulters are often followed by<br />
Manufactured in the same plant at Bernburg<br />
(Eastern Germany), Pöttinger’s mechanical<br />
(Vitasem/Multidrill) and pneumatic<br />
drills (Aerosem/Turbodrill) re-<br />
ceived similar marks. The repair logs show<br />
4.0 and 4.5 repairs per 500 hectares, which<br />
is a slightly higher rate than for competitor<br />
models. Quality of work and ease of<br />
operation earned slightly lower marks, a<br />
fact however, that is attributed to the older<br />
vintage of the mechanical versions.<br />
However, customers seem to be forgiving<br />
such weaknesses if the service is<br />
right. This is an area where Pöttinger<br />
seems to perform better than Rabe. After<br />
all, the dealership is an important selling<br />
point for 55% of all Pöttinger users compared<br />
with 38% of Rabe users. The great<br />
disparity suggests that Pöttinger does<br />
much better in terms of customer retention<br />
than Rabe. Hence, 90% of all Pöttinger<br />
customers surveyed say they would<br />
buy a Pöttinger drill again. This is the best<br />
result in the entire survey. Compare this<br />
Press, coulters and tines put the <strong>seed</strong>s to bed<br />
Exact tines with horizontal ends. This was<br />
the case on 86% of the surveyed drills.<br />
Their quality of work and risk of blockage<br />
was rated 1.8 and 1.6 whereas the standard<br />
with 71% for Rabe. 11% of the surveyed<br />
Rabe users even say no, they would not<br />
buy a Rabe drill again. Obviously, the<br />
company’s restructuring process has taken<br />
a toll here.<br />
The manufacturer that scores lowest is<br />
Gaspardo. Only 44% of machine owners<br />
say yes, they would go for Gaspardo<br />
again. 22% categorically refuse to buy<br />
another Gaspardo drill, arguing that they<br />
are not satisfied with its quality of build,<br />
which earns a low 2.7. Compare this with<br />
2.0, the average mark. The assessed drills<br />
broke down three times as often as their<br />
competitors, a fact that cannot be attributed<br />
to machine age and hard work, because<br />
the average machine is 5.3 years<br />
old and the average acreage is only 386<br />
hectares. Worse, the company’s repair service<br />
is not particularly good, which is reflected<br />
by marks as low as 2.7 for repair<br />
service and 2.4 for parts supply. These results<br />
are clearly lower than the average<br />
survey results (1.9 and 1.8).<br />
There is growing trend towards disc coulters. The following press wheels give<br />
enhanced depth control.<br />
tine design scored lower 2.2 and 2.1<br />
marks. Apart from earning better scores,<br />
Exact tines also provide better<br />
covering.