New Amazone seed drills go on show

A new range of D9 linkage mounted mechanical seed drills and AD Pack Top seed drills is being launched by Amazone at Cereals under the banner of Generation 2011.

These machines will be available for immediate delivery and are characterised by their modern design. They have a new model designation, where the X000 abbreviation stands for the relevant working width.

Both series include models in working widths of 2.5m, 3m, 3.5m and 4m, with the “Special” execution having the smaller capacity whereas the “Super” version offers the larger hopper volume.

The most important innovation of the 000 series is the RDS Roller Drill System with the new RoTeC Control coulters and the new Roller harrow. RDS ensures a precise seed placement, even at higher forward speeds. Also new is the possibility to specify the machine with a coulter spacing of 16.6 cm.

The focus of the new RDS Roller Drill System is the philosophy “Precise rolling, precise sowing, flexible embedding”. In this way, Amazone has perfectly matched the functionality of the wedge ring roller with the RoTeC Control disc coulters and then either the Exact following or Roller harrow.

Initially, the rings of the wedge ring roller reconsolidate the soil in strips where the seed furrow will be and into this smooth groove, the following RoTeC Control disc coulters travel extremely smoothly, creating a very precise furrow prior to embed the seed into that reconsolidated furrow bottom. The coulters are followed by either the Roller harrow or the Exact following harrow which then cover the seed with loose soil or in addition, where the Roller harrow is used, to press the soil over the top. The pressure on the roller harrow can be adjusted independently of the coulter pressure or, if necessary, the roller harrow can even be raised out of the way completely.

The special advantage of the RoTeC Control sowing coulters is the Control 10 depth guidance disc with a 10 mm or Control 25 with its 25 mm contact areas, fitted on the side of each sowing coulter.

These discs, running directly next to the sowing coulters, ensure a more noticeably precise depth guidance compared with other coulter systems which are fitted with a firmly fixed depth guidance roller. With a coulter pressure of up to 35 kg, the actual effective coulter pressure is higher in comparison because the pressure is not split between the depth guidance roller and coulter but is applied exclusively to the coulter. For oilseed rape sowing, or drilling cereals early in dry conditions, operating with less coulter pressure is possible without any problems.

In addition, all the models have been equipped with larger, more comfortable steps, wider loading boards and an optimised harrow retainer and adjustment system. With this system, ease of operation has once again been noticeably improved.

As is already possible with the current series, the new seed drills can be combined with different soil tillage implements, following rollers and coulter systems to optimise the specification that suits the individual demands of different farming situations.

So, for instance, the rotary harrow and the tooth packer roller with WS suffolk coulters form a superb combination for sowing after the plough. For mulch sowing, however, the combination of rotary cultivator, wedge ring roller, together with the newly designed Roller Drill System is recommended.

Cereals 2011 exhibitor information as supplied by Amazone.