Lemken Solitair DT featured at TFM open day

On the current open day held by TFM in Templetuohy, Lemken had introduced alongside a Solitair DT mixture drill which took centre stage in its show space.

This drill units out to be one thing of a swiss military knife, able to coping with all kinds of seeds in all kinds of circumstances and in all kinds of tillage programs.

A drill for all seasons

Lemken doesn’t declare that it’s 100% appropriate for all conditions, however, like different producers, the corporate is acutely conscious that tillage farming is now not an easy rotation of cereals plus a break crop going into ploughed floor.

The transfer to new crops, together with inexperienced cowl crops, and the questioning of the plough because the important cultivation instrument, has introduced the necessity for drills which are way more versatile in operation functionality.

The Solitair DT is Lemken’s reply to those shifts in strategies and sentiment. It’s described as a mix drill that may work in typical ploughing regimes, min-till and even go direct drilling if circumstances are appropriate.

Derek Delahunty of Lemken suggests, nevertheless, that with the acquisition of the Equaliser drill firm of South Africa, full-on direct drilling coulters might be obtainable on Lemken machines within the close to future, so it is perhaps price ready if considering of switching to direct drilling altogether.

Beneficiant house body

Within the meantime, the Solitair DT can address practically all different conditions, he explains. The machine on present at Templetuohy was geared up with the choices that Derek believes greatest suited Irish circumstances.

The primary merchandise on the body was a tyre packer, which can get replaced with levelling boards if required.

The aim is to crumble, stage and reconsolidate the highest floor after cultivation earlier than the 2 banks of symmetric discs work the soil additional.

The discs are held to the massive body by springs slightly than rubber block mounts, giving, it’s mentioned, a extra exact depth management and better monitor stability throughout operation.

Clog free curler

Following the discs is a second tyre packer curler by which the person wheels are offset to forestall clogging and the tyres are positioned the ‘fallacious method ‘ spherical.

This has the impact of shifting the soil to the centre of the wheel slightly than throwing it out sideways, leading to a smoother total seedbed, based on Lemken.

Earlier than the coulters get to position the seed, there’s the selection of inserting a row of harrow tines for additional levelling, or trapeze sort rollers which consolidate the soil instantly forward of the coulters.

These latter gadgets are mounted within the main place, guaranteeing they’re pressed down onto the floor.

Lemken’s personal Optidisc coulters then carry up the rear, and these are fed from a central metering system by way of distributor heads sitting above the coulter bar.

Solitair DT choices

There’s the choice of becoming low draught corrugated discs that are appropriate for drier circumstances as not all of the seedbed is cultivated, permitting moisture to stay beneath the soil floor within the undisturbed strips.

These ‘wavy’ discs solely domesticate the strip in entrance of the coulters which reduces weed seed chitting and lowers the ability requirement, saving gas and permitting using a smaller, lighter tractor.

An alternative choice is the putting of financial institution of coulters instantly after the discs for fertiliser placement forward of the seed. This will even be used for a second sort of seed if a companion crop is to be sown.

Distant management

Naturally there’s a diploma of in-cab management of the varied components by means of an ISOBUS connection and a SIM card communication unit permits real-time information switch on drill operation to Lemken’s iQblue telephone app.

The ISOBUS management system permits for sequential disengagement and engagement of the drill components on the headland, which can in flip be linked to a headland marker line saved within the satellite tv for pc navigation system, making for an automatic headland administration system.

Altogether the impression is that Lemken has put lots of thought into the design of the Solitair DT.

Its modular development permits it to be configured for a variety of conditions. Farmers would seem to agree, the corporate had deliberate to construct 100 fashions this yr, thus far it has bought over 150.

Compact discs

Additionally exhibiting on the open day was Lemken’s newest set of compact discs referred to as the Rubin 12.

The chief characteristic of this mannequin is the massive disc diameter of 73.6cm or 29″, which makes it extra a disc plough than secondary cultivator and certainly, this attribute permits it to domesticate all the way down to 20cm (8″).

Working at this depth places it on par with tined cultivators, but it’s extra versatile as a consequence of its shallowest setting being 7cm (3″) at which it is going to nonetheless domesticate throughout the entire width of the machine.

The key to this efficiency is the angle of assault, with it being set at 20° angle to the course of journey to assist penetration, and 14° angle for the primary financial institution and 16° off the vertical for the second financial institution, to make sure cultivation over the whole width.