Just as the spectre of escalating diesel prices increases interest in one-pass seeding trains, the supply of money for new seeding equipment is drying up.
Direct seeding and zero till have gradually become more widespread over the years, but the availability of money to invest in new equipment has often been in short supply, especially this year as producers contemplate record fuel costs.
“There are a lot of producers today who want to get into a one-pass system, strictly for economic reasons,” said Jason Kirsch, product specialist at Bourgault.
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“But let’s face it, the money isn’t there for each and every person who wants to make the big move to a new air seeder. You have to understand that if you’re committed to one-pass seeding, you don’t necessarily need to spend a lot of money on equipment. This is something you can accomplish for relatively little investment, if you really want to do it.”
Kirsch said Bourgault has developed a retrofit mid-row kit for Bourgault Floating Hitch (FH) and 8800 cultivators sold before 1996, when the company’s newer style 5710 and 8810 were introduced. The newer frame designs were engineered on the drawing board for mid-row applications.
The FH series came out in 1984. These 20-year-old machines can accept the mid-row shank kit, but not the banding kit.
“For a guy thinking about moving into some sort of affordable direct seeding, a retrofit mid-row shank kit on a floating hitch is a very inexpensive way to do it,” he said.
“Your major expense will be the openers, not the kit itself.”
The kit, which costs $1,500, converts the unit to 12 inch from eight inch spacing. When the seeder shanks are moved farther apart, the remaining 50 percent becomes available to use for the mid-row fertilizer shanks. The kit comes with all the extra mounts, brackets and shims needed to complete the conversion.
“For every retrofit, we go back to the original blueprints and work out all the possible combinations and options for the customer,” Kirsch said.
Both the FH and 8800 models were built with a 3.5 inch square tube, which simplifies the kits. Once Bourgault has the serial number of the cultivator, it looks up that particular unit in its archives and determines exactly what it needs. Some specific cultivator frames may require a hitch upgrade, hydraulic cylinder upgrade or offset parts.
In a few situations, the frame may need an upgrade to take the extra load. Most of the modifications are bolt-on, but a few require welding.
“There are so many different combinations a farmer can order,” Kirsch said.
“We want to build exactly what each customer needs to suit his seeder. We custom fabricate everything for each specific machine, so in the case of the bander kit, with the coulters, it takes about three weeks to put it all together.”
The 8800 replaced the FH in 1991. It can accept the mid-row bander or the mid-row shank setup. For the more complex bander kit, the list price is $700 per in-ground unit, including all hardware.
“The retrofit components are structurally comparable to the components on a new 5710 or 8810 machine,” Kirsch said.
“We have about 75 retrofits in the field right now, and so far we’ve had no problems. The coulters are the same ones we put on the 5710 and 8810.”
The hub is a modified 411 hub, capable of a 2,000 pound load rating at 95 km-h.
“The bearings are not your typical water pump bearings you so often see in implements. It’s a Timken-style tapered roller bearing. This is not a high maintenance item. This whole unit should last a lifetime.”
The price of diesel fuel is no doubt behind much of the interest in one-pass farming. Each trip over the field becomes increasingly expensive as experts talk about oil someday reaching $400 a barrel.
Kirsch thinks many of his retrofit mid-row customers were already direct seeding before buying the kit because not everyone bought the mounted polypackers when they bought the retrofit kit.
“That tells me they’ve already removed their harrows and were doing some form of direct seeding with their FH or 8800. Now they want to take the next step and get into true one-pass seeding. They simply want to reduce hours on the tractor.”
Kirsch said Bourgault’s mounted polypackers do not turn an air seeder into an air drill. The original castor wheels in the front are still used, as is the walking axle.
“The mounted packers at the back are on a harrow arm or a spring loaded arm. On the regular eight inch spacing, we get 55 lb. down force on each packer. About half that weight comes from the packer assembly and the other half is weight from the cultivator transferred through the spring.”
While the packers take weight off the cultivator, they don’t lift it.
“It’s not a depth control device,” Kirsch said.
“When you lift at the end of the field, the packers come off the ground.”
Kirsch said Bourgault has also sold its mid-row retrofit to farmers who put them on other brands of air seeders, but this is not a market it pushes.
“Before we sell the parts, we ask that they sign a waiver form. There’s a lot of weight with a mid-row bander. We know how it performs on our own cultivator frames, but we can’t guarantee anything if it goes on somebody else’s frame.”
