Horsch has revealed its advanced coulter control system, AutoForce, that automatically adjusts coulter pressure on the move in response to varying soil conditions. Drill operators typically set coulter pressure to their heaviest soil conditions, but detailed research by Horsch has revealed this can lead to increased compaction when moving into lighter soils.
The 300kg/row coulter pressure on the Horsch Maestro maize drill is the highest in the industry. This is ideal for heavy land, but the research, conducted across Europe in the past three years, has shown a more even seed germination by reducing coulter pressure in lighter soils. Using hydraulic rams, AutoForce is the only system available to continuously adapt coulter pressure while drilling to prevent compaction on light land or reduced sowing depth on heavy land.
Buckinghamshire-based Robert Tuckwell Contractors were one of the first in Europe to have the system fitted when it took delivery of a new 12m Maestro 16 SW in 2016. Drilling more than 1,300ha acres of maize to feed two local anaerobic digester plants, the contractors were impressed with the Maestro drill and the large increase in capacity it offered over their existing eight-row 6m drill.
“AutoForce wasn’t a feature that we specified when choosing the Maestro and I was initially sceptical of its value,” Tuckwell’s main drill operator, Scott Hosking, said. “However, having worked with it for a season, I would certainly specify it on my next drill.”
Autoforce uses sensors to monitor two eight-row sections on the 16-row machine. Separate hydraulic arms provide down pressure for each section, enabling the dedicated software to adapt each section independently. The system, which can also be specified on one section for smaller machines, maintains accurate seed depth placement at higher speeds, and offers greater control compared to the standard system that provides uniform pressure across all rows.
“We have a wide range of soil types to consider, and often we would set the drill to a heavier soil only to find the coulters would become buried on the lighter land,” Mr Hosking added, noting that Horsch’s engineers enhanced the system response time during the season allowing it to react to change more rapidly.
“Now, with AutoForce in place, we can maintain our desired drilling depth of 6.25cm to 7.5cm far more easily, and it has also allowed us to increase our speed too. We run about 8km/hr in heavy clay, pushing up to 12km/hr when the seed-bed condition allows, and all with a seed placement accuracy of 98 per cent or more.”
Maize is renowned for its lazy root structure and ensuring accurate seed and fertiliser placement is essential for good yields.
Covering about 65ha/day with the Maestro, the drill has improved the contractor’s logistics operations too.
“We can get about 50ha of seed in the tank, which means we only need one top-up during the day,” Mr Hosking said. “We have also moved to big bag seed and big bag micro-granular fertiliser, which has further simplified operations.
“The presence of such a big drill on some of the smaller farms raised concerns to start with, but once they saw how even the planting was and how good the crop looked, we haven’t had any complaints. I think AutoForce has certainly enhanced the seed placement.”
For more information visit: www.horsch.com.
