Profi March 2022

Flicking through Twitter, there are lots of farmers and contractors making the most of the dry conditions across the UK and Ireland. Proving the point, It’s certainly not every year that you'll see dust rising off the rings when rolling spring-sown crops. Locally, there also isn't the usual amount of mud on the road from the start of the slurry spreading season. But then, with the recent increase in fertiliser prices, the consensus is that many farmers are holding off on applying the large tonnages of muck and slurry that would normally be spread at the start of the season. Throughout the year, farming equipment trade bodies the Agricultural Engineers Association (UK) and the Farm Tractor and Machinery Trade Association (Ireland) send out their monthly bulletins on tractor registrations, giving…

REVERSE DRIVE MERGER Benefits of the two reverse drive Respiro mergers from Austrian manufacturer Reiter include good visibility of the working units and eliminating driving over the material. Claimed outputs of the R6rd (6.0m) and R7rd (7.0m) are 4.0-8.0ha/hr and 5.0-10ha/hr, respectively.  Suitable for use in grass, alfalfa, hay and straw, the two belts can deposit material to the left or right, or both sides. The lack of a central swath option not only helps to reduce the complexity but also the weight; the 3.38t R7rd is half that of the 6.40t trailed R9 profi (R6rd weighs 3.15t). Transport width is 2.4m and height 3.5m (R6) and 4.0m (R7). Standard belt widths are 700mm (R6) and 1.0m (R7 - optional on R6). The belts can be stopped for the last…

The G series is a fine example of the advantages of being part of a larger collective. Launched at the end of 2020, the relatively new addition to the Valtra line-up shares an AGCO platform with the Massey 5S — good company to be associated with. For Valtra, the 105-135hp G series pops in between the small A series (75-135hp) and the larger and heavier N series models (135-165hp). Agile four-cylinder with plenty of power Our test tractor was the top model, the G135 in fully-loaded Versu spec. In contrast to the HiTech and Active versions, this has the full accompaniment of armrest controls, including a joystick and terminal. Since the bodywork paint on some of the test tractors we've had of late were suffering from an ‘orange peel’ finish,…

Although the SuperMaxx has been in the Güttler price list for some time, the range has been expanded and refined over the years. As it stands today, the tines on the 3.0m to 9.0m wide line-up can be spread across either five or seven rows. The Bio moniker on our test machine means it has a following harrow rather than a roller at the rear. For the five-row and 3.0m-6.0m cultivators, Güttler has a lightweight plastic prisma ring press, these versions identified as ‘Culti’ rather than ‘Bio’. The 6.0m model we looked at in the 9/2017 issue had the packer. No roller We used the SuperMaxx 70-7 Bio on our test farm for nearly two seasons doing all sorts of cultivation work. The 2.5t implement was used with 200hp to…

As part of last month’s practical test looking at different tanker-mounted cultivators incorporating slurry, we wanted to assess what impact the different systems had on yield. So we followed the crop through to harvest. The host farm’s test field had been sprayed with glyphosate to kill off the cover crop mix and volunteer beans. Afterwards, in mid-April, the farmer applied 120kg Nges (72kg NH4, 53kg P2O5, 109kg K2O). The NIRS sensor on the Kotte slurry tanker consistently controlled the application rate in line with the target nitrogen rate on a per hectare basis. Slurry was applied in several bouts using a Meyer MixF disc harrow and GG tine cultivator as well as a Kuhn Striger strip-till cultivator. A month later, in May, the maize was planted with a variable-rate drill.…

When our Scorpion 960 was delivered, we thought Claas had perhaps made a mistake and sent the wrong test machine. At first glance the telehandler, which without attachments is just under 6.00m long, 2.50m wide and 2.65m high, doesn’t give the impression that it has the wherewithal to lift 6.0 tonnes. Even when it was being driven off the truck, the 960’s manoeuvrability gave us the impression of sitting on a smaller machine. And the turning circle with four-wheel steering confirmed this: Less than 8.50m – which we measured as usual to the outside of the wheels – is impressive, The subsequent trip to the weighbridge, however, provided some clarity: a figure of 11,790kg in test specification without an attachment left no doubt – it was indeed the Scorpion 960…