Sugar beet growers had an opportunity to see the latest development from harvester manufacturer Holmer at an open day near Littleport, Cambridgeshire, in mid January.
Organised by UK distributor Standen-Reflex, the machine on show was based on the new Terra-Dos T3 launched at this time last year, but modified by Holmer’s engineers to be even kinder to the soil it’s working on.
While the prototype T3 -fresh from the trials in Germany – demonstrated the same 2ha/hour capacity, 32 lit/ha fuel consumption, 32km/hr road speed and 8.1m turning circle, it also boasted a loaded ground pressure of only 2.0psi, 20 per cent less than the 2.5psi achieved by the standard Terra-Dos T3.
Holmer claims the T3-Plus offers 35 per cent more ground contact by virtue of the fact it has two 900mm tyres at the front and four 600mm tyres on a single axle at the rear (800mm rear tyres can also be fitted). The track width on the rear axle also extends by 200mm when the machine is in work to give an even spread of wheels across the field as the unit crab steers across the field.
Standen-Reflex’s Alex Mathias said he was very pleased with the response to the open day, which saw close to 70 farmers from Essex to Lincolnshire visit the field to see the machine at work.
Just five of the Holmer Terra-Dos T3-Plus harvesters – which have been developed in response to fears that the EU will introduce legislation covering soil compaction – are due to be built by the company this year. That compares to the 260 standard T3 units built and sold by the company during 2007.
For more information on Holmer beet harvesters visit: www.standen.co.uk.
