Several cultivator launches took place at the Lamma show.

Notable unveilings included a new Cousins Top Disc, He-Va’s dark-liveried Stealth subsoiler and Grange Machinery with wider versions of its subsoiler toolbar.

See also: How to pick the best cultivator wearing metal

Grange Machinery soil loosener

© Jonathan Page

Fledgling cultivations company Grange Machinery is expanding its portfolio with the addition of a 6m low-disturbance soil loosener, and 3m close-coupled toolbar for use with precision seeders.

The hydraulic-folding loosener is the widest of the firm’s low-disturbance loosener (LDL) range and has 12 hydraulic front-cutting discs in front of each low-disturbance leg, followed by two mounted packers.

In the same vein as the firm’s 3m and 4m LDL machines, the 6m model is designed to remove compaction in the 18-25cm zone.

To improve versatility, it also comes with the option of a split seed hopper and for establishing oilseed rape and cover crops.

The 3m close-coupled toolbar has been purpose built for maize, sugar beet and OSR drills, such as the Vaderstad Tempo and various Monosem models.

Its aim is to allow maize and sugar beet crops to be established quickly without needing to plough beforehand.

The machine can be used with any mounted or trailed implement that is powered through the pto.

Cousins Top Disc

© Jonathan Page

Those in the market for a budget mounted disc cultivator needed to look no further than the Cousins of Emneth stand.

The Norfolk firm displayed its Top Disc high-speed compact disc harrow, which comes in 3m rigid or 4m and 5m folding formats, and is designed to work at speeds of 12-20kph.

Central to the design is a new open-channel soil-to-soil roller that uses 600mm rings set at 150mm centres. This offers speedy consolidation of soil moved by the front two rows of discs to leave a ridged finish.

The 510mm discs are individually mounted on maintenance-free bearings and ideally work at 100mm deep.

A refreshingly modest entry price of £6,995 has been quoted for a limited time only.

He-Va Stealth subsoiler

© Jonathan Page

He-Va has added the ultra-low-disturbance Stealth subsoiler to its range, in a bid to reducing mixing through the soil profile.

UK importer Opico says there’s a growing demand for implements to loosen and fracture mid-depth subsoil, relieving compaction and improving drainage, aeration and nitrogen uptake to encourage strong crop rooting. 

The Stealth carries straight front discs to scythe through trash and topsoil, to reduce the bursting effect of the following leg. This should also minimise grassweed germination.

Legs are staggered across two rows, with spacing set at 500mm as standard. However, it can be adjusted by 50mm either way to suit different soil types and conditions.

Tungsten-tipped points are 120mm wide and the 15mm Hardox 500 legs are thinner – but apparently more durable – than standard subsoiler assemblies. Maximum working depth is 300mm and machines can be specced with shear-bolt or auto-reset protection.

A V-profile roller is mounted at the back.

The Stealth is available in 3m, 3.5m, 4m or 5m mounted form, or 5m, 6m and 7m trailed.

Prices start at £12,974 for a 3m, five-leg model. The version shown on the stand (5m, 10-leg with optional LED lights) costs £28,767.

Sumo Vaxio

© Jonathan Page

Sumo chose Lamma to reveal a production version of its 6m Vaxio high-speed cultivator.

It claims the new machine is one of the most versatile cultivators on the market, with a leading twin row of concave discs for shallow tillage, followed by two staggered rows of spring-loaded tines that work to roughly 250mm deep.

This helps loosen topsoil and mix trash before hydraulic levelling paddles even out humps, and a multipack roller weatherproofs the surface.