It's about accurate seed placement - Kuhn North America

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top Table 4: Susceptibility to defects Kuhn Lemken Accord Amazone Pöttinger Rabe Gaspardo Anzahl 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 Number of repairs per machine and 500 hectares of Reparaturen je Maschine und operation 500 ha Einsatzfläche Service counts Rabe and Pöttinger earned nearly identical results in the survey. Both manufacturers market quite identical drills. The leading press plays a key role in the overall quality of seed placement. Wedge-shaped and trapezium-ring designs obviously deliver exceptionally good results as they form furrows for the coulters to run smoothly and plant at more accurate depths. The two press designs earned a 1.8 and 1.6 respectively for providing good depth control. By comparison, such rollers as toothed and cage rollers that consolidate the entire work width scored only 2.2 and 2.4. The problem about preparing a furrow in extremely wet conditions is that the bottom of the furrow may be too hard for the coulters to drill deep enough despite a high pressure loading, a situation in which only little loose soil is left for covering. Most coulters used were disc coulters – 417 of the surveyed machines came equipped with this type (67%). The remaining machines relied on traditional Suffolk coulters. The popularity of disc coulters springs from a growing trend towards min-till systems, where disc coulters hold a share of 51% and Suffolk coulters 30%. Disc coulters do not block up as easily and give better depth control in extremely trashy conditions although they do not give better seed placement than Suffolk coulters – on the contrary, discs may leave seeds on the surface. Disc coulters are often followed by Manufactured in the same plant at Bernburg (Eastern Germany), Pöttinger’s mechanical (Vitasem/Multidrill) and pneumatic drills (Aerosem/Turbodrill) re- ceived similar marks. The repair logs show 4.0 and 4.5 repairs per 500 hectares, which is a slightly higher rate than for competitor models. Quality of work and ease of operation earned slightly lower marks, a fact however, that is attributed to the older vintage of the mechanical versions. However, customers seem to be forgiving such weaknesses if the service is right. This is an area where Pöttinger seems to perform better than Rabe. After all, the dealership is an important selling point for 55% of all Pöttinger users compared with 38% of Rabe users. The great disparity suggests that Pöttinger does much better in terms of customer retention than Rabe. Hence, 90% of all Pöttinger customers surveyed say they would buy a Pöttinger drill again. This is the best result in the entire survey. Compare this Press, coulters and tines put the seeds to bed Exact tines with horizontal ends. This was the case on 86% of the surveyed drills. Their quality of work and risk of blockage was rated 1.8 and 1.6 whereas the standard with 71% for Rabe. 11% of the surveyed Rabe users even say no, they would not buy a Rabe drill again. Obviously, the company’s restructuring process has taken a toll here. The manufacturer that scores lowest is Gaspardo. Only 44% of machine owners say yes, they would go for Gaspardo again. 22% categorically refuse to buy another Gaspardo drill, arguing that they are not satisfied with its quality of build, which earns a low 2.7. Compare this with 2.0, the average mark. The assessed drills broke down three times as often as their competitors, a fact that cannot be attributed to machine age and hard work, because the average machine is 5.3 years old and the average acreage is only 386 hectares. Worse, the company’s repair service is not particularly good, which is reflected by marks as low as 2.7 for repair service and 2.4 for parts supply. These results are clearly lower than the average survey results (1.9 and 1.8). There is growing trend towards disc coulters. The following press wheels give enhanced depth control. tine design scored lower 2.2 and 2.1 marks. Apart from earning better scores, Exact tines also provide better covering.
There is a growing trend towards cultivator-mounted drills Makes and models aside - our survey revealed some interesting trends in machine designs: Drills that mount directly on top of a powered or non-powered cultivator are gaining ground over linkage-mounted drills, because as they move closer to the tractor they allow for larger hopper capacities. The average hopper capacity is 700kg on 3m cultivator-mounted drills. This compares with 420kg on linkagemounted designs that operate in conjunction with cultivation equipment. The larger piggyback capacities earned higher marks (1.9) than linkage-mounted capacities (2.3). Surprisingly, the higher lift requirement for larger hoppers was not an issue, which can be explained by the fact that these machines are operated by higherpowered tractors. On average, these ver- D Accord The DA series has been around for more than 20 years and has been further developed during this time. Therefore and despite its age, it earned good marks in the survey. The drill is lighter than its competitors are and is not very susceptible to defects, except for the flimsy mountings of the tine bar and bout markers. The distributor head is placed inside the hopper, which seed growers find an awkward location that makes it difficult to empty tank-leftovers. Besides, it obstructs filling to full hopper capacity. Calibration testing is quite time-consuming, because the venturi cone needs removing first and is difficult to get at in the first place. To make up, application rates sions are operated by 140hp tractors, whereas linkage-mounted drills are operated by ca. 120hp tractors. Whether piggyback or linkage-mounted, the version has no effect on the quality of work, because most versions rely on the same type of coulters, metering system, tine bars, etc. Yet, cultivatormounted systems sow more accurately to calibrated rates than linkage-mounted designs, because spike wheels produce less wheel slip than rubber wheels. In addition, many cultivator-mounted drills use pneumatic seed metering systems, which are found to be more accurate than mechanical systems. Nevertheless, the survey did not reveal a clear trend towards pneumatic systems. A total of 185 cultivator-mounted machines were equipped with pneumatic metering systems, on which 70% of Table 5: What motivated you to buy this drill? (percent of total number of responses) Purchase reason Accord Amazone Gaspardo Kuhn Lemken Pöttinger Rabe Price 33 25 94 58 21 64 52 Recommendation 45 37 11 24 37 32 34 Advice 14 29 11 55 57 23 34 Dealer 49 65 33 64 65 55 38 Good residual value 37 47 0 18 32 14 28 The same machine may appear in more than one category. match up with calibration rates and conversion to small seeds is straightforward. The owners surveyed are less pleased the owners said they would buy them again. This compares with 79% in the mechanical sector (259 machines). However, most drills do not work wider than 3 metres, a width at which a pneumatic system has little chance to play its trump card and hardly pays off. This is different on 4-6m machines, where a pneumatic system provides for easier folding and larger hopper capacities. The average capacity among the surveyed drills is 938kg. This compares with 576kg for the mechanical drills. Rapeseed farmers prefer pneumatic models because of their central hopper outlet, which allows drilling to lower seed levels. This is a problem on mechanical drills where some peg wheels may run out of seeds sooner than others. Besides, seed level gauges work better in central hoppers. This category earned a 2.2 mark from owners of pneumatic drills and a 2.6 from owners of mechanical drills. In addition, swapping between normal and small seeds is easier on pneumatic systems because there is just one central metering wheel. R. Lenge The individual assessments by make are published on the following pages. DA range Year of manufacture: from 1984 Work width: 2.5 m and 3.0 m Hopper capacity: 750 l Coulters: Suffolk coulters and CX disc coulters The DA drills are Accord’s entry-level models, which offer proven technology. Yet the design has come of age. with the depth and coulter pressure control system. Some users find seed depth is not always uniform.
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