German company Kockerling held a demo day last week. Emily Padfield went along to see what was on offer

A familiar name on the continent, Westfalia-based Kockerling specialises in min-till cultivation and tined drilling equipment as well as producing grassland machinery.

There are two ranges of tine drill: the direct-drill Ultima and the simpler Triathlon model, designed for drilling into prepared seedbeds. Concentrating on tined seeding is uncommon in Germany, but the company argues that discs can fail to cut through straw, resulting in seed lying on top without soil contact.

The 6m mounted Triathlon is thrifty on diesel, says Kockerling. The four-row machine is fitted with a 1300-litre Rauch/Kuhn drill, hydraulically driven, and uses six litres of diesel an hour.

The Ultima, available in 3-8m working widths, is fitted with 60mm-wide sowing tines positioned 12.5cm apart and located directly behind a sensor roller that acts as a guide to sowing depth. Behind the coulter, there are levelling tines followed by a soil-to-soil (STS) roller – a familiar feature of most Kockerling kit.

Each section between the rollers on the STS is designed to fill up with soil to give soil-to-soil contact, which is a better option in wet conditions, says the company.

The 3-6m versions have a 3000-litre capacity and the 8m is fitted with a drawbar-mounted 4000-litre hopper.

Launched at Cereals earlier this month, the Vector four-row tined cultivator is an updated version of the existing Quadro range. The 8m machine can work to a depth of 35cm and, depending on the tractor or depth, operators can detach the outside wings to reduce the working width to 5.7m.

TopMix tines can be changed for shallow and deep working, and they are fitted with guide plates to prevent blockages. Double springs start to act if there is 450kg pressure at the point.

Front support wheels hydraulically control depth from in the cab, and it has a double STS roller on the back for consolidation.

The Precision Cultivator (PC) has been Kockerling’s most successful machine for the UK market. It is available in working widths of 3-7.5m – with horsepower requirements of 136 to 400hp – and has eight cross-beams.

At 1t/m, it is a heavy machine that can be fitted with 130mm or 60mm points, depending on the working depth. On the 3m version, there are 23 heavy-duty 16mm leaf spring tines, whereas on the largest 7.5m machine, this jumps to 57 and hydraulically-operated depth wheels at the front work together with the roller at the back.