Machinery distributor KRM and its seed-drill supplier, Spanish manufacturer Sola, have entered the market for disc coulter direct drills.

The KRM Sola GS300 is aimed primarily at sowing grass seed into an existing sward or establishing a new ley with minimal or no preparation.

See also: Top tips on direct-drilling for grassland farmers

But with an optional 2,000-litre hopper available for seed-only or seed and fertiliser, the new drill also has the capacity for grains and other crops.

In grass seed form, the tractor-mounted GS300 comes with a 300-litre pressurised hopper and two separate rows of 32 coulter arms, each clamped to the frame with rubber inserts and spaced 94mm apart.

A wider row setup is available too, providing 24 coulters at 125mm spacing, and in both cases a weight transfer system can be deployed to help surface penetration without adding ballast to the drill.

Either way, each seed outlet is positioned in the shadow of a 400mm diameter serrated disc opener set at a 5deg angle to the direction of travel, with the seed boot adjustable laterally and vertically to compensate for wear.

Working depth from +3cm to -13cm is altered in 5mm increments simply by repositioning shims on the arms that carry the cast prism roller.

Low-rate metering

A new metering system developed to deliver low rates of herbal and multi-species mixes, as well as companion crops, is driven by electric motor under the control of Sola’s Performa system operated using membrane buttons and a liquid crystal display.

This unit can also control the optional 2,000-litre single-product hopper, but an isobus display is needed for the partitioned version equipped with two metering units, and when the MiniSeed tank is added.

An isobus display unit will also offer variable rate, auto on-off and guidance functions.

Equipped with the 300-litre hopper, the Sola GS300 is priced from £39,670.