Seed drill requires less power
Unveiled at the recent Sima trade fair in Paris, this trailed, pneumatic min-till seed drill immediately won the seeding category of the 2015 ‘machine of the year’ awards.
Pulling the drill requires as little as 35 horse-power per metre, or 200hp for a six-metre machine.
The low power requirement is attributed to the offset configuration and narrow width of the press wheels, which prevent soil being bulldozed ahead of the wheels, and their 900mm diameter reduces rolling resistance.
At the front of the drill, two rows of working discs open and mix the soil, and incorporate residue well into the surface soil layers.
Behind them, the offset press wheels reconsolidate the soil on the seeding line, for a firm seed bed and excellent seed-to-soil contact, and a consistent seeding depth.
The seed bar, exclusively designed for the Espro, has coulter arms mounted on polyurethane blocks on a tubular section.
As the coulter deflects up and down to adapt to the soil surface, the blocks act like four little springs, and the double-disc coulters return quickly and precisely to their former position, for precise seed-depth placement, even at faster working speeds.
The Espro is Isobus-compatible, with a joystick option for fingertip control. It has a touch-button, headland-management mode to lift the working elements in sequence, allowing drilling to continue right up to the field edge.
The Expro drill series will be launched early in 2016.
The ‘machine of the year’ selections are made by independent agricultural journalists representing European trade magazines.
