Nice meeting!
In the new season, AGCO has prepared an array of new products for farmers. AgroCentre customers who attended the presentation of equipment in Simferopol could see them all for themselves.
The focus was on tilling and seeding equipment. The guests familiarised themselves with a new cultivator for vertical and band-type tillage, heavy disc harrows and pneumatic seeders. Sergey Lukyanets, an AGCO expert on seeding and tilling equipment, told us about the new products' special features.
The tooth does it
The new Challenger 6600 vertical tilling cultivators are manufactured at the AGCO Corporation's facility in Beloit, Kansas, USA. For over half a century, this plant has produced tilling machines for use in different climates. The special feature of the machines is an array of toothed discs set at an 18° angle of attack. This makes it possible to concentrate one’s efforts on crushing the crop residues and drying the soil. The cultivators are ideally suited for use in regions with a cold and humid climate, making it possible to start the seed work ten days earlier. Another advantage of these machines is their soil compacting capability. The operating width of the cultivators varies from 6.4 to 10 metres. The cultivator treats the soil to a depth of 8 cm. The front and rear disc row levelling system is driven by a hydraulic unit controlled from the tractor operator cabin.
For a strip
Challenger 7600 cultivators are designed for strip tilling. When using this technique, the soil is tilled only in the strip into which the seeds are introduced. Thus, the between-the-row space remains untouched. Stilling is used for growing tilled crops. The Challenger 7600 series of cultivators includes models with an operating width of 6.1 to 9.15 m. The disc blades, 61 cm in diameter, penetrate deeply, cutting both on- and under-surface crop residues and preventing their build-up on the tillers. Steady tilling depth is achieved by using an adjustment band on the disc blades. Thus the cleanness of both blades and bands is maintained by adjustable cleaners suitable for operating in the hardest of conditions. Particularly careful soil tillage for better penetration of moisture is achieved via the cleaners, which remove the cut crop residues from the row directly before the tillers. The ridge cutting disc blades, 40 cm in diameter and having a wave-shaped edge, are fully adjustable. These are fitted next to the loosening rack so as to better grip the upturned soil and to make ridges of optimum shape and height.
At high speeds
Due to simple adjustment, tuning and servicing, the Challenger 5700 pre-seeding cultivators ensure high-speed operation. Consisting of 3 to 5 sections, the machines have an operating width of 7.6 to 18.3 metres. Depending on width, the number of tillers varies from 43 to 103. The cultivators can be attached to 175-540 hp tractors. Extra strength is provided by a sixth beam added to the rear of the main frame. The floating suspension mechanism helps the machine to closely follow the profile of the field being treated, all of which ensures superior cultivating quality.
The power is there – time to work
In the 1960s the forebears of those producing today's Challenger disc harrows designed and offered to the market the first tilling tool that made it possible to treat soil on an irregular surface and get efficient edge finishing of the field. The expertise accumulated when creating cultivation equipment makes it possible for us to offer a variety of tools meeting the demands of most farmers.
The new series 1800 heavy disc harrows are double-disc models with an operating width of 4.3 to 11.7 metres. They differ in having larger diameter discs. Due to the strong frame, the machines can operate on hard and difficult soils. The cut-out discs are fitted on the outside edges of each gang. The support wheels are located in front of the lateral sections, thereby helping to maintain a steady cultivation depth. The rear wedge-like gangs change the angle of attack. All of this contributes to even tillage without formation of ridges and furrows.
Seeding to enjoy
We presented a new pneumatic seeder, Challenger 9800. Its special feature is the use of a patented technology of single-disc coulters positioned opposite each other which raise and remove the soil in a 15 cm inter-row spacing. The loosened soil from the coulters moves backward to the roll-on wheel, which levels out and compacts the soil. Such removal of the soil prevents compression of the side wall and penetration of the stubble into the furrow, thereby easing sprouting.
The seeders are simple to use and suitable for seeding by zero, minimal or traditional tillage methods. Due to such an arrangement, the operator can remain in the cabin: the disc pressure is regulated by the onboard terminal and not manually as on most counterparts.
The seed and fertiliser introduction process is controlled by modern onboard computers. The Challenger 9800 basic component package includes transducers used to monitor the batcher shaft, bin filling level, batcher clogging, system movement speed and ventilation rotation. The seeding area and seed consumption meter controls the process with a very high degree of accuracy. In addition, these seeders are adapted to the ISOBUS system, which facilitates operation via the tractor's onboard computer.
Andrey Tabachkov, head of a farming enterprise, likes the Challenger equipment. On his farm, he uses the series 5 tractor (230 hp):
“It's good that AGCO arranges such events,” says Andrey Tabachkov. “I've spotted interesting newly developed products for use on different soils and set my sights on some of them. This is trustworthy equipment, all the more so because it comes from a dealer like AgroCentre. Their servicing is superior and attitude is responsive.”