Innholdsfortegnelse for March 2023 i Profi

With LAMMA taking place in the second week of January, 2023 has been 'all go' so far. Yet it was a welcome return to crank things back up into high gear after a good break and getting some jobs done around the place. As is often said, “a change is as good as a rest”. Work is an important topic in this issue, from farmers looking to increase efficiency by doing more, or in some cases less in one pass when it comes to crop establishment. We all know of the challenges of finding labour, and this is not something that stops at the farm gate. Just looking at the world of agricultural machinery we seem to struggle to recruit enough new faces — from machine operators, to engineers ……

In our last profi Twitter poll, we asked: ‘If fitted, how often do you take the front loader off your tractor(s)?’ 41.7% of you told us that you take the front loader off at least once a month, while 41.7% never do. That leaves 16.7% who take the front loader off once or twice a year. We will be sharing another poll on our Twitter page in the coming weeks, so make sure you head over to @profitractors (or scan the QR code) for where we’ll ask: If fitted, do you use the headland management function on your tractor(s)? We’ll give you the options below but as always, feel free to DM us with any other answer… • All the time • Just for specific jobs • Never Our polls…

North Yorkshire based Wise Agriculture has added the Arrowquip 748 and 7416 to the Q-Catch 74 series mobile cattle handling range. The new mid-range manual squeeze models (748 has a single 2.43m adjustable race, 7416 comprises two adjustable races for a maximum length of 4.87m) provide more options to improve safety and efficiency. Supplied with the easy flow adjustable cattle race in one towable unit, the vertical bar design of the head gate allows light to enter the front of the crush when closed to draw cattle forward. The infinite lock headgate and parallel squeeze secures in any position, which says the company, allows a small calf or a large bull to be worked on without the need for adjustments. Other features include multiple access points with full-side horizontal opening…

Developed in collaboration with Devon farmer James Lee, Grange now has a strip-till cultivator in its line-up. Designed for use in establishing maize, sugar-beet and vegetable row-crops, the Strip-Till Preparator has an opening disc up front to cut through the surface and minimise disturbance from the following legs. Set in a staggered formation, these typically run 200-300mm deep, providing a lifting and boiling effect. Mounted on a separate toolbar, pairs of wavy discs flank each leg limiting soil throw. Intriguingly these slide hydraulically forwards and backwards to vary the amount of soil retained in the cultivated strip. Following close behind are further pairs of wavy discs tasked with creating a decent tilth. Finally, Güttler Prisma packer rings firm the strip of soil to leave a weather-proof finish. A 3.0m version…

PLUS AND MINUS Clear layout Uncomplicated operation Very good control of clutch and front loader All-wheel drive is difficult to shift High pedal position with little legroom Weight…

As both Weidemann and Kramer are part of Wacker Neuson Group, we assumed Weidemann would simply rebadge a Kramer handler to get an initial foothold in the 7.0m market. But that is actually not the case. The new T7042 is an in-house development, and only the two-stage boom comes from Kramer. Attachment-wise, you can choose from JCB, Manitou, Kramer and even the Matbro pin and cone mechanical carriages. Our test machine, which to say it was really well specced is putting it mildly, had the optional hydraulic quick attach. Pre-series machine on test… Weidemann was brave enough to provide us with an early machine; in fact it was one of the pre-series models. So some components and details have already been improved since the 4.2t, 7.0m lift handler entered production.…

Breaking up stubble, encouraging as many volunteer seeds to germinate as possible, redistributing straw and being capable of high-output seedbed preparation: these are all things Amazone is looking to achieve with the TopCut 12000, a concept tool carrier that can be tooled up in many different configurations depending on the end goal. We tucked the first functional example of the TopCut into rape stubble last summer to get an idea of what the 12m wide bit of kit brings to the ultra-shallow tillage party. Don’t all go rushing off to your local Amazone dealer at once, though, as it’s not going to be available any time soon. Instead Amazone is gathering feedback in order to determine the specific requirements for such a machine before the final concept is nailed down,…

Some additional illumination can be a brighter-light blessing, especially in a busy spring when daylight hours are still relatively short yet the list of tasks is starting to lengthen. Even on new machines bristling with a full LED package, users find areas that need some extra light and even more so on older tractors and equipment that may have left the factory with just a limited number of halogens. Here we see how several users have added extra lower-demanding LEDs, to make their life that much easier. BUMPERS WITH LIGHTS CORNERING LIGHTS FIND THE ALLEY HE WHO SOWS WITH LIGHT… PARKING LIGHTS CONVERTED TO LED OUT WITH THE OLD AGAINST THE NOISE LIGHT BAR FOR LONG-DISTANCE VISION IN THE BEST COMPANY LIGHT ON THE PRESS MOWING EVEN IN THE DARK…

The electronics and precision farming technology integrated into Will Mumford’s custom-made, low-disturbance oilseed rape drill allow seed, liquid fertiliser, solid fertiliser and slug pellets to be applied in one pass with all four products metered according to individual bespoke variable rate maps. Effectively the mark two version, summer 2022 was the second season it was used to successfully establish the oilseed rape crop on Will’s farm near St Neots in Cambridgeshire. As founder and CEO of AS Communications and Vantage ASC, Will has considerable experience with precision farming systems. The drill was developed jointly over two years with Tom Carnell, who carried out the majority of the build and whose company, Tramline TEC, specialises in fitting and upgrading precision farming electronics systems on agricultural machinery. With so many elements to…

Iwan Ellis, 28, was brought up on a dairy farm, and after studying herd management at Reaseheath College worked on a mixed farm for three years. “I enjoyed driving tractors and when I met Richard Hughes of dealers Hughes Bros Machinery, began to think about the opportunities in engineering,” he explains. “Kubota had recently started an apprenticeship scheme, and as I had just bought a house, I knew I’d need an income if I was to go back to college. I liked the idea of working in a sector where there was high demand for skilled labour.” Iwan comments that while he was older than many apprentices, it was never an issue. “Plus I had the advantage that I’d already got experience operating machinery.” Working with the team at Hughes…

Usually, seeing as I roll around in oil and muck for a living, chances to smarten up and don a tie often involve a visit to church. Well, church has a new rival for my spick and span self, as I was asked to help on a stand again at this year’s LAMMA show. Thanks to the move back to January and the appalling weather outside, visitor numbers appeared high. This, in part, gave rise to a busier stand than last year, but I believe there were also other factors at play. Gone was the carpeted floor from last year, and with it the subconscious barrier between punter and product. It was uncanny how showgoers would languish along the carpet’s edge, almost as though either needing to be invited 'in',…

ORDER FORM LETTER FROM THE EDITOR Did you know over 9,000 farmers currently benefit from our unrivalled advice? If you want to know what they know, take a look at some of our subscription offers where you’ll get the latest news, updates and guidance, as well as our unique DLG tractor tests delivered to your door, every single month. Subscribers can also enjoy free access to our 27-year in-depth test archive, PLUS receive a complimentary copy of Agricultural Trader every month. Guarantee you make the right choice when purchasing machinery by subscribing to profi today. Editor, Profi International WHAT OUR SUBSCRIBERS SAY “I’ve been subscribing to profi for the last 15 years because it keeps me up to date with modern technology and we refer to it when buying machinery”…

NEW SILAGE HANDLERS The three new ranges of Quicke Silocut implements (M+, L+ and XL+) are designed to increase efficiency and safety when handling silage. The width and capacity of the M+ is said to make it an ideal match for front end loaders, compact wheel loaders and mid-sized telehandlers. Available with forged or profiled cut ‘tuff tines’ but also a bucket, the L+ is at suited to cutting clamp silage and splitting bales. So too is the XL+, a high-capacity shear grab. The Silocut L+ and XL+ are available with a bale wrap handler, which makes it possible, once the bale is split, to grab the wrap and net and retain it, eliminating the need to remove it by hand. Profile cut ‘tufftine’ versions can also be equipped with…

FEWER NEW TRACTOR IN THE UK 11,580 new 50hp+ agricultural tractors were registered in the UK last year, reports the AEA. This figure is a drop of nearly 4.0% on the 12,017 new tractors registered in 2021. Last year’s figure was in line with the average for the previous five years, but overall, 2022 was a bit of a mixed bag when compared to the same months in 2021. 10,000 TRACTORS FOR ST. VALENTIN Tractor production at the CNH Industrial plant at St. Valentin in Austria (Steyr home) exceeded 10,000 units for the first time in a decade last year. It was fitting that the 10,000th tractor, a 300hp 6300, the largest in the Terrus CVT range, was a Steyr. The plant producing tractors from 100-300hp. It takes around 40…

CNH Industrial has secured a minority stake in EarthOptics, a US-based ag tech business that develops soil data measurement and mapping technology to help boost yields and reduce fertiliser application. Using a combination of ground-based sensors, satellites, soil samples and machine learning models, the company has developed soil mapping platforms and a system that precisely identifies the areas and depths where fields are compacted. A pilot testing phase of the soil sensing technology will be conducted by Case IH this year, the goal being to accelerate levels of tillage automation and provide greater agronomic insights for customers.…

CONCEPT STRIP ROTOVATOR Prompted by demand from UK row-crop growers, Italian firm Concept has developed a strip-till rotovator. Pairs of blades cultivate 300mm wide bands of soil to produce a tilth down to seeding depth while loosening legs with 50mm wide points work down to 25cm to break up any compaction. These also serve to pull the machine into work and keep it anchored at the required depth. Circular baffles either side of each set of blades cut into the ground to separate the cultivated strips from the undisturbed surface and limit soil throw. At the rear a hydraulically-controlled hedgehog packer firms things up and limits how far the machine will sink in. Because only half the ground is being worked Concept says the power requirement is relatively low although…

Just when you thought there were more than enough options for cultivation equipment, along comes another one. Turkish firm Ozdoken apparently has a widespread reach across Europe but is yet to have reached UK shores. However they’re hoping that’s all about to change having exhibited a selection of the machines they make at LAMMA in the hope of finding a distributor. The line-up includes discs, rolls, power-harrows, seed drills and inter-row cultivators all priced pretty competitively. For example, a 3.0m power-harrow comes in at £11,520 while a 3.0m mounted (Carrier-like) disc-press combination is £8,417.…

PLUS AND MINUS Three pto speeds Powerful engine Rear working lights Little legroom Hydrostatic control…

Zocon is an acronym for Zonderland Constructie, named after founder and boss Jochem Zonderland. Initially in 2006, he started importing machines from Eastern Europe and selling these simple pasture harrows throughout the Benelux. However, the young Dutchman wasn't happy with the build quality, so in 2012 Zocon began making its own products such as the featured Greenkeeper, which comes in 3.0, 6.0m and 8.0m widths. Gauge wheels and runners The G-06 Greenkeeper has a working width of 6.0m and folds hydraulically for transport. The headstock gets a Cat II spacing for the lower links, while our ‘Plus’ was equipped with optional gauge wheels and Zocon’s seeder unit, which pushed the overall weight up to 1,060kg with an empty hopper. Solid, simple construction The Greenkeeper is a pretty simple set-up. Three…

When it comes to tine cultivators for primary cultivations, Horsch already has a pretty extensive line-up with the Cruiser, Terrano and Tiger ranges. But it appears there was a gap that has now been filled by the Fortis 6AS and 7AS with respective working widths of 5.60m and 6.70m. We caught up with the wider model on the loamy sandy soil of a 3,500ha arable unit in Mecklenburg, West Pomerania, Germany. Set to a working depth of 18cm, the John Deere 9630 wheeled artic tractor was able to work away at 12km/hr in the same field as the farm’s Tiger. Fortis = Terrano for 400hp+ While the Tiger has a tine hitting the ground every 23cm at depths of down to 40cm, the Cruiser is designed for lighter, shallow passes…

UPDATING A CLASSIC › Part 1 Meet and greet (profi 5/2022) › Part 2 Tractor rebuild and paint (profi 6/2022) › Part 3 Front linkage and pto (profi 9/2022) › Part 4 Getting it back together (profi 3/2023) › Part 5 Reversible fan and pick up hitch (profi 4/2023) Difficulties sourcing certain parts, matching the original paint finish, deciding what to repair, replace or update plus fitting the project work into a normal working day are part of the reason why this Lynx Engineering project took a lot longer than initially expected. There was also the need to focus upon the key aim of demonstrating how a tractor made 30 years ago could still be fitted with a new loader and other modern-day equipment to make it a viable working…

High fuel costs and a desire to avoid ‘recreational cultivations’ is leading operators to be more selective about subsoiling or soil loosening, choosing to target areas and crops where it will be of most benefit. There’s also been a move away from power hungry, one-job implements in recent years to incorporating the operation with other tasks and tools. For oilseed rape establishment in particular, one constant remains – unless compaction is tackled to allow roots to get down it has little chance of facing the other challenges that beset this crop. Whatever the establishment method chosen, at some point in the process a deep loosening leg will be required, and Yorkshire manufacturer Ryetec’s approach is to put it up front, ahead of the drill. Hence the development of the front-mounted…

A father and son chat about how the soils on their farm were changing, and not for the better, led the Deane family to a deeper conversation on their farming future. But it was the desire to become more efficient that ultimately led them to purchasing a Claydon Hybrid drill in 2013 for their 40ha farm in County Cork as well as their extra contracting workload. “We were only six miles from the sugar beet factory in Mallow,” explains Jim. “We were growing spring barley for two years and then a crop of sugar beet. When the factory closed in 2005 we kept on growing beet for fodder, but by 2013 beet had had its day.” At this time Sam was studying agronomy at UCD and, when someone gave him…

In last month’s profi we looked at Greentec’s Scorpion 630-6 Plus hedger. For many the Danish manufacturer will be a bit of an unknown, so to do our job properly we sat down with John Christensen to learn a little more about where the business has come from and its plans for the future. Greentec is a relatively young company with expertise in the amenity care sector, which is its core business. So how did this come about? To answer that and other questions, we need a history lesson from CEO and founder John Christensen. After the trained farmer attended a commercial college, he took a job in 1983 as an agricultural machinery salesman at Spedtsberg, now Greentec. He was selling Claas harvesters and Fendt tractors. Growing with Spearhead His…

When the compact or short disc harrow craze started to take off over 20 years ago, Lemken was one of the front runners with the Rubin. The machine has enjoyed a number of design tweaks along the way, so it should come as no surprise that there are now a number of variations within the 3.0-7.0m family, which relies on a 645mm disc in a symmetrical arrangement to achieve a working depth down to 14cm. Other notable Rubin 10 statistics appear in the data sheet 'Lemken Rubin 10/400'. Three variants Semi-mounted machines start to make sense for widths of 4.0m or more, as axle loads need to be considered, especially when you have a substantial packer at the rear of the implement — such as the DPW540 (two rows of…

Out March 10th USED MACHINERY AGCO fixed-chamber baler So what exactly has altered on the Lely Welger RP fixed-chamber baler models since they donned their Fendt and Massey branding? And should you buy one? Don’t miss our used machinery guide. PRACTICAL TEST Pöttinger Jumbo 7400 wagon The 7400 builds on the Jumbo name with a huge appetite. We've been busy testing the 42m³ version in light and heavy Irish grass crops to find out just how good this wagon is. TRACTOR TEST John Deere 6R150 AutoPowr With a maximum output of 177hp when the engine’s boost facility is engaged, the 6R150 is the most powerful Deere four-cylinder tractor manufactured to date. See how this punchy and compact package performs in our exclusive Powermix test next month. DRIVING IMPRESSION JCB 457S…

KUBOTA ONLINE PLATFORM Kubota Group Solutions Hub is a new online platform that brings together innovative customer solutions from companies under the Kubota Group umbrella. Visitors to the site can discover stories shared by the company’s tractor, construction and engine divisions, as well as from Kverneland Group (Kverneland, Vicon and ROC), Great Plains Manufacturing and Fede, along with videos and customer testimonials. Access to the new platform is free. WISE TAKES ON SHEEP HANDLING KIT Wise Agriculture has been appointed sole UK distributor for Landquip NZ’s sheep handling equipment portfolio. This currently consists of the Porta-Yards mobile handling range which includes versions that can be moved with a telehandler or tractor loader. “We are already working closely with Landquip NZ’s R&D team for innovations to enhance the existing product range…

Brainchild of Devon farmer Fred Chugg, EcoCharger electric quads have come a long way since they first broke cover in 2006. The latest versions have lithium ion batteries capable of providing up to 110km of travel (most farm quads are estimated to average 12km a day). So far around 400 EcoChargers have been built, 70% of which are being used in agriculture and forestry applications. Running through a traditional driveline with a high-low-reverse gearbox, a 15kW electric motor provides the power – equivalent to a 700cc petrol-powered bike. With a 50km/hr top speed, Lithium Power models will tow an unbraked trailer of up to 400kg – that rises to 800kg when you add axle anchors. While a standard lead-acid version will set you back something like £15,000, lithium versions command…

Bucks-based K-Two Trailers has a new hydraulic suspension option on offer. The previous version was an incredibly sophisticated and complex self-levelling set-up which made it prohibitively expensive, according to the firm. While sensors and a computer controller made sure ride-height was maintained at all times, laden or empty, the new system does without any of the clever electric-trickery, relying instead on pre-charged diagonally-plumbed pipework to transfer load from one side of the chassis to the other. As the trailer encounters side slopes, the weight on the rams on the uphill side means oil is displaced into those on the downhill side. This set-up is said to provide inherent side-to-side rigidity and a decent anti-roll effect. It adds £2,000 to the price of the trailer.…

Our test candidates from Iseki, John Deere, Kioti, Kubota, New Holland and Solis were supplied with front loaders, and all of them had one key point in common: lifting power of the loader exceeded the ability of the tractor to raise much more than 600-800kg without some meaty rear ballast. To achieve our test lifting stats, we weighted up the rear linkages to obtain the results as detailed in the ‘Lift and break-out forces compared’ graph. To give you a little flavour of how much the loaders could lift, models fitted to the John Deere and Kioti could both hoist nearly 2 tonnes, with the caveat that the Taesung-built loader on the Kioti is not designed for these more extreme loads: we managed to damage the loader’s carriage pivot point…

PLUS AND MINUS Clutch control on the gear lever Most agile tractor on test Responsive engine Hydraulic control valves Low payload…

Three years ago, Pöttinger bought the crop care technology from CFS (Cross Farm Solution), thus giving the firm a ready-made start in mechanical weed control. Today there are three share hoes in the range, with working widths of 4.70, 6.20 and 9.20m. For asymmetrical systems there are also 30cm wide frame extensions for both sides of the machine. The manufacturer can match all common row widths to this basic frame, which has pros and cons. A disadvantage is that in some configurations, the frame protrudes out slightly on one side. On the plus side there are many, tool-free adjustment options such as the working width of each row, the row and camera position as well as the tine arrangement. The headstock (Cat II or III) has an integrated side-shifting frame…

KRM has been working with Spanish drill maker Sola for over 25 years, with the drills on offer having seen several developments. That said, early models can still make a great used buy, a key to securing the best deal being to know what was offered and when. A good starting point is the coulter tines. The original 799 models use the Elite coil spring tine coulter. These mount on the toolbar at a shallow angle to reduce the amount of movement of the spring with the aim of producing a consistent tip pressure. As the tips are also slightly swept back, the design of these Elite tines is less liable to pull material in the soil up and with it the claim stones and trash flow through the drill…

While milking robots are now much more commonplace, autonomous feeding systems are less popular, which seems somewhat irrational when little and often feeding is known to increase intakes, not to mention the time and fuel savings. One aspect that has hindered uptake is that all the automated feeding systems currently on the market use a bunker or feed kitchen for the forage. One notable exception was the Schuitemaker Innovado (see profi 4/2017), which has since been shelved. Enter Kuhn with its Aura robot feeder. The autonomous feeding system for up to 280 cows plus followers was first shown in 2021. It can travel to the silage clamp, where the 50cm wide milling head will start to load into the twin-auger, 3.0m³ capacity hopper. Once loaded and mixed (the latter is…