A new name in the UK slurry equipment market, Moretto Officine Meccaniche, or MOM, has produced its first series-production 12m disc-type slurry injector to work on grass, with a custom 15m version also being built.

The Italian manufacturer, based in Villa Fontana, south-east of Verona in northern Italy, is one of several from the country being represented in Britain by the new VSM Grow Tech company set up earlier this year as an importer/distributor.

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VSM Grow Tech founder Richard Parish is looking to appoint service and sales dealers operating beyond the company’s base in Escrick, near York.

Moretto already builds the EcoInjectX grassland slurry and digestate injector in five sizes from 2.9m to 8.6m to mount on trailed or self-propelled tankers, or tractor-mounted as part of an umbilical system.

But the 12m is the widest yet, formed with a 3m centre section with double-fold wings on both sides; the toolbar can droop and rise by up to 15deg to follow surface contours, and each of the two-disc injector assemblies is allowed 5deg of swivel movement.

Pairs of discs are mounted on trailing arms attached to a toolbar, with either coil springs or inter-connected hydraulic cylinders – one per arm – providing adjustable downforce while allowing the discs to ride over large stones and other hidden impediments.

Skid plates flanking the 350mm diameter plain disc provide precise depth control and scrape the discs clean.

Behind each slot-cutting unit is a slot-opening rubber outlet fed by a short vertical rubber tube; the slurry flow is divided by a steel manifold, which is supplied in turn by a 150mm diameter transparent steel-reinforced plastic hose from a Vogelsang macerator.

Each 1m injector unit carries two discs and outlets © MOM

Accurate application

Top-spec models can have Trimble section control operated by an Isobus-compatible display in the cab, with half-width or as little as 1m cut-off prompting the flow of slurry or digestate to automatically be adjusted to maintain the correct application rate from the “open” units.

A clamping bar acting on the rubber drop tubes prevents excessive dripping when the machine is lifted out of work and during travel between application sites.

For road transfers, the toolbar outer wing sections fold one at a time to rest on the inner wings, before these are raised to the 2.9m wide vertical transport position.

Equipment also includes a centralised greasing system to save time lubing up each morning.