Good speed helps sowing!

This spring AgroCentre conducted several equipment demonstrations in which about 20 models of agricultural machines were presented.

“We believe that it is better to demonstrate agricultural machines in action once than to tell stories about them one hundred times. Our spring demonstrations confirmed this once more: our machines were taken from demo field to farms immediately,” says Sergei Lomantsov, Executive Director of AgroCentreLiski LLC.

According to Aleksandr Kirichenko, Director General of Agroholding-AST LLC, Lipetsk oblast:

“Just before the start of the new seeding season, AgroCentre carried out a demonstration of the Challenger CH 9030-40 Single Disc pneumatic drill. As a result, two machines featuring 12.2 m coverage are operating at our farm. Fuel economy was the first thing we noticed, because preliminary tillage was not required. This multifunctional drill allows sowing either by traditional or zero technology. We seeded spring barley using zero technology and thus spent less motor-hours and man-hours.”

“Sprouting quality was really pleasing – the sprouts were even and uniform as if set by scale. We carried out sowing at different speeds – 9, 10, and 12 km/h. Agronomists found no difference between the sprouts sowed at different speeds. We wanted to try sowing at 15 km/h, but our machinery operators were afraid to do so. Now when we see that good speed helps sowing, we can work at 15-16 km/h!”

“I think machine design is the key factor here. Opposed single discs rise and move soil between two narrow 15 cm wide rows. Broken soil is moved from the discs to press wheel, which levels and presses the soil down. Such displacement of soil doesn’t compact the side wall and prevents stubble from jamming. We have seen the results, so the equipment made it clear by itself.”

The Row-crop drill Tempo F8 by Vaderstad became the hit of the demonstrations in Penza oblast.

“Compared to the other seeders, Tempo features an absolutely new seeding-down method. Farmers have already heard about its high-speed seeding,” said Artem Simbulatov, Executive Director of the Penza branch of AgroCentreLiski LLC. “However, some people do not believe that a row-crop drill is able to operate at 12-15 km/h or even 19-20 km/h without compromising the quality of sowing. We have quietly proven its capabilities in action.”

Ruslan Ayupov, Chief Engineer of Niva JSC, Penza oblast, says:

“At first, our attitude was sceptical, but later on we liked this eight-row Tempo drill very much. When AgroCentre invited us to watch the machine in action, our doubts dissipated: they were ready to show us the machine in action, which means they were confident in its capabilities. Using this machine, they seeded over about 50 ha of sunflower where no spring treatment of soil was done, only shallow cultivation in the autumn.”

“The machine was operated at 15 km/h. Traditional row-crop drills could not even dream about reaching such a speed. Again we had our doubts about this ‘racing drill,’ but after we saw the even and uniform sprouts, we had to put all kidding aside. The seeding was done with sniper precision! We are very serious about buying this machine for our farm.”

“We also liked the Tempo settings and adjustments — everything is simple but smart. All settings can be done from the cab, and there’s also an optional remote control of the drill operation. Deactivation of separate row units is one more useful function which helps to save seeds, in particular, in uneven fields.”