3m YIELD-PRO PLANTER LAUNCHED

Great Plains is launching a new version of its market-leading Yield-Pro precision planter that folds to 3m for transport especially for the Western European market.

The company is exhibiting in Hall 12, Stands B02/B03.

The new machine, the YPE-825A, can plant a wide range of row-sown crops in either eight or 16 rows according to whether it is working conventionally or using Great Plains' Twin-Row system.

It combines the company's Series 25 opener, Air-Pro ® meters and Clear-Shot ® Seed Tube to maintain optimum seed placement accuracy at faster speeds than competitors can achieve.

Buyers can choose between four different row spacings when working in conventional format: 70cm; 75cm; 76.2cm (30 in) and 80cm. The three wider spacings are available in Twin-Row format.

Pneumatic power is used to feed seed from the 53 litre tanks serving each row, and to move fertiliser from the 1,700 litre tank. Application rates are controlled via ground driven wheels.

The planter needs between 160hp and 200hp, depending on whether it is single or Twin-Row format.

The larger machines are 11.81m and a 14.63m wide models, which are designed for operators looking for simply operated machines that offer high output with the ability to place fertiliser, and include either a 3,525 litre dry fertiliser or a 2,840 litre liquid tank.

4B DISCS GET US BACK TO OUR ROOTS

Great Plains is going back to its roots with the production of the new 4B discs at its Sleaford factory.

The original Simba company built its reputation making robust cultivators, tool-bars and road-planes for the East African fruit-growing estates, and that will be a key market for this new machine.

The 4B Series includes three models – at 3.10m; 3.80m and 4.60m widths – and are off-set disc harrows, which are proven to work better than conventional discs in these conditions because they are less affected by changes in working speed.

They are pulled from the disc axle bearings rather than the top-frame to maintain stability and balance, while also ensuring correct tracking when in work so the machine automatically compensates for changes in disc gang angling and always pull straight.

A rear drawbar is an option to tow rolls/presses to enhance the cultivation effect and leave a weatherproof, stable surface.

The harrows feature 915mm disc blades made of 12.5mm thick chrome boron steel at 400mm spacings. Blade weight is 380kg – 410kg which ensures excellent penetration and work to 250mm deep

DEEP WORK BOOSTS TWIN ROW OILSEEDS

Re-structuring below the seedbed is already showing significant benefits on a trial site near Doncaster, where we are working with Agrovista to learn more about precision one-pass oilseed rape establishment and the potential use of Great Plains Twin-Row system in it.

As reported in September's update, we ran a Simba ST Bar ahead of a Twin-Row planter on half of the trial area, and planted normally on the other half.

There are already clear differences, Chris Martin, from Agrovista told a group of leading Czech Republic farmers when they visited the site:

“We know there is a clear correlation between the size of a plant's root system and its yield potential, and we can see that the Yield-Pro has done a virtually perfect job of establishing a crop in which virtually every plant has optimum root space.

“We visited the field just eight weeks after planting and the better development of plants in the areas where we ran the ST Bar ahead of the planter is obvious”.

The differences in soil structure were apparent when Chris and Simon Revell, Great Plains European Exports Director, tried driving a soil probe into the surface.

In the areas between rows the soil was firm and it took considerable effort to drive the probe in to any depth; in the rows where the ST Bar had worked ahead of the planter it easily penetrated much deeper, which is good news for the crop's future, says Simon:

“That shows how well the soil deeper in the profile is now structured, which will enable the plant to establish a good deep rooting system to seek out moisture if conditions get drier, or allow water to percolate into the soil easier in damp conditions.

“We know oilseed rape plants are like humans – they don't like having their feet wet – and in the areas of this field where the soil is still tight the crops could have issues in either weather extreme”.

THE DONCASTER SITE is one of six on which we are staging oilseed rape establishment trials, working with Agrovista, and all will be hosting farmer visits during November.

The dates are:

Cirencester, Tuesday 12th November.

Morley, Tuesday 19th November.

Brechin, Wednesday 20th November.

Stoughton, Leicestershire, Wednesday 20th November.

Croft, Darlington, Wednesday 27th November.

Doncaster, Thursday 28th November.

To find out more about each site or register to attend any of the above events please visit www.agrovista.co.uk; click on the tab for “Technical”; then on the “Grow Crop Gold OSR Trials” and e-mail the Site Manager.

NEW TURBO MAX MODELS LAUNCHED

Great Plains is expanding its Turbo Max cultivator range with the addition of 35 foot (10.52m) and 40 foot (12.04m) models to the top end of the range.

The Turbo Max is the company's biggest selling cultivator, thanks to the efficiency with which it chops and incorporates crop residues, and leaves a well cultivated and levelled seedbed.

It features two gangs of 50cm cultivating discs set at 18.75 cm spacings on the axle; the second gang running in the spaces between the first so crop residues are chopped to less than 10cm length.

Disc angles can be altered “on the move” from zero to six degrees, so they can do anything from a straight chop or trash and crop residues to incorporating this material effectively.

The seedbed is finished by Great Plains' patented rolling spike harrow, which crushes remaining clods and leaves a well-levelled seedbed.

Both models use hydraulic down pressure to ensure the wings remain in work and achieve a consistent cultivation across the full width. The 3500TM needs 340 to 385hp, while the 4000TM needs 380 – 400hp.

SLOVAKIAN TRAINING

AgriCS, Great Plains' importer for the Czech Republic and Slovakia, has an entire new sales team appointed for Slovakia, who received a detailed briefing into the company's machines and philosophy from Vasek Madl and Jana Kubatova, the product managers for both countries:

“We provided them with a full briefing on the whole range of cultivators, drills, planters and seeders the company provides, as well as on the Land Pride range of groundscare equipment.

“There is most interest in European-style cultivators like the X-Press, SL and FlatLiner, but also in American models like the Spartan and the LandPride equipment”, says Vasek.

“Slovakia remains a difficult market due to a lack of capital and a relatively weak economy,

“But this is a very good time for us to start explaining to farmers how our one-pass oilseed rape establishment systems and things like Twin-Row planting can help them cut the time and cost of crop establishment, conserve valuable moisture and help them achieve more reliable yields”

TAKE TWO IF YOU NEED TO . . .

Some arable farmers need to accept that it might take them two years to correct all the damage caused to their soils over the past two years.

So says James Clark, Great Plains' Territory Manager for Eastern England, after talking to a range of visitors at the new CropTec event, held at the East of England Showground, Peterborough:

“We spent a lot of time at the event discussing soil structure, and many visitors said they now accepted it might take more than one year to undo the damage done in the past two wet seasons.

“Conditions in the summer and early in autumn were very dry and hard, but ideal for sub-soiling. But for many farmers they turned damp very early in the season and that stopped them from doing as much work as they had planned.

“The season is now over, so they are probably best leaving the land alone and planning for next year, when they should make a priority of tackling the worst problems as early as possible.

“Some soils may have slumped, so they might consider fitting something like a FlatLiner with our LD legs, which do an excellent job of restructuring the soil to depth with less surface disturbance”.

YFC VISITORS IMPRESSED

A group of over 30 members of North Holland Young Farmers Club – some of whom use Great Plains' equipment on their farms – got the chance to see where their machines were made when they visited the Sleaford factory:

“They were all very impressed with the investments made at Sleaford and the fact that we have returned to full manufacturing on the site”, says David Holmes, UK Sales Director, who briefed the party on latest developments at the company.

“There were several users of machines like the SL, DTX and CultiPress among them.

“As well as talking machines we talked about cultivation methods, and highlighted the technical advice we provide to our customers on restoring and maintaining good soil structure”.

Club chairman Andrew Smith – who works on a farm near Boston - said members were always interested to visit local machinery manufacturers and find out more about them:

“Great Plains is a progressive company and for those people who already use their products it was great to see where they are made. In don't think many of us realised just how much manufacturing and assembly goes on at Sleaford”.