There’s no reason prairie farmers can’t pair two moderately sized drills to make one super-sized drill, said Jim Halford, inventor of the Conserva Pak drill.
“I don’t see any engineering problem if a Canadian farmer or manufacturer wants to hook up two drills side by side and put a pair of air carts either in front or behind,” he said.
“It’s not that difficult. In fact, I can see two things developing to make this a common method of seeding here in Western Canada before too long.”
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Halford has spent considerable time in Australia, where some farmers seed with his Conserva Pak drills. Although he doesn’t know of any who have doubled up their drills, he said the twin drill concept is well established there because of the large fields.
“We know guys over there who seed 15,000 acres without having to fold up their machine once. We’ll never see that in Canada, but there are other good reasons for twin drills.
“When we look at these really large drills here on the Prairies, it’s obvious the air delivery systems haven’t evolved to go along with the drill size.
“When you watch these big drills in the field, they nearly always have anhydrous tanks or liquid tanks. It’s because the tractor hydraulics cannot deliver seed and granular over that wide span.”
He said the super-sized drills require 50 to 60 gallons per minute. Even the best 500-plus horsepower tractors can have trouble keeping up with that demand.
Halford said splitting the operation into two linked drills does not directly solve the hydraulic problem, but if each cart carries its own auxiliary engine, the picture changes.
Each of the two carts then becomes less dependent on the hydraulic power generated by the tractor.
“It should work very well. It’s certainly a logical way to answer the demand for bigger drills.”
Halford said there’s another factor independent of field operations that could someday force farmers and manufacturers to consider twin drills.
“Before too long, I expect the provincial governments will address the transport width of these big drills on public roads.
“Eventually there’s going to be a serious accident involving one of these big drills, and then the laws will tighten up. It will probably start in Manitoba because they’ve always been tougher with safety, starting with lights on farm implements.
“Can you imagine pulling a drill down the highway and the wing drops just as you’re meeting a school bus? We can’t ignore these kinds of questions.”
Halford said he thinks legislation will eventually limit transport widths to 20 feet or narrower. The big drills with a 26-foot-wide centre frame may go the way of the dinosaurs.
“Flexi-Coil has already addressed the issue with their narrow fold design. It’s about 16 feet wide in transport. I think that’s the sort of thing governments will legislate.”
Producers who require big drills to be efficient in the field will seriously consider twin drills with the special hitch assembly.
“But I think it’s essential that you can take them apart and put them back together quickly.”
Halford said he had considered a twin drill setup for his Conserva Pak units, but they never grew to the giant size that merited it.
“It’s not a new concept. We used to do it with the old Morris Seed Rite drills. It didn’t look real pretty, but it sure worked.
“So, the next step is to hook two air drills together.”
