Three new seeding systems were introduced to farmers at this year’s Farm Progress Show in Regina. Production/Farming section editor Bill Strautman prepared these reviews. Watch for more reports in future issues.
Narrow-fold wing-back air drill
Agri-Tech Manufacturing Ltd.
Nobleford, Alta.
Agri-Tech Manufacturing in Nobleford, Alta., built its first narrow-fold wing-back air drill in August 2004. Jason Thomsen, vice-president of the company, said the design is based on older technology, when farmers used to run a series of hoe drills.
“They did a really good job of following the ground and flexibility was great. As air drills have gotten bigger, they’ve lost that flexibility. That’s why we did it. This system is like having a series of seven-foot drills attached to one long bar that you can pull through the fields and still have that flexibility,” said Thomsen.
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“It’s a fairly simple machine, built similar to a heavy harrow drawbar. We took our land roller frame and adapted it for this drill. It wings back off a main frame and pulls in a wing-back position down the road to keep the transport width narrow.”
Transport width for the drill is 14 feet. Openers are set up on 12 inch spacing. Thomsen said customers can use C shanks, hoe shanks or whatever they choose. Depth is mechanically adjusted off the packers. The standard packer is 18-inch steel, 2.5 inches wide.
“Each section floats independently. The weight of the section pulls it into the ground. We haven’t had any trouble with penetration yet. If we need to add weight to it, we’ll set up an accumulator on the floating cylinders. There’s two small cylinders on each section and we can use the accumulators to take the weight of the larger frame and put it back onto the section,” he said.
Agri-Tech has three different opener tips available, but tips from any other company will fit on the shank, too. When seeding, Thomsen said the weight of the machine is almost completely on the packers.
“The front wheels on the hitch actually come off the ground in work position. There’s a couple of guide wheels at the back that run just in front of the shanks that are on the ground, but there’s not a lot of weight on those.”
The wing-back idea for transport mode came from a customer who had an accident pulling an air drill down the highway. He wanted a narrow drill so he could pull it safely.
Working width on the three-row machine is 42 to 70 feet.
“The two-row machine that we did for a customer in Washington goes up to 75 feet, but it would be tough with a hoe shank opener to do a two-row machine. With a disc opener we could still do two row,” said Thomsen.
“The reason we did the two row for one customer (is) he’s in really hilly terrain and he wanted the distance from front shank to back shank to be as small as possible. In the two-row machine, it’s only two feet from the front shank to the back shank. And in his situation, he’s running an 18-inch spacing, so there’s lots of room for the trash to clear. With a 12-inch spacing, the trash clearance requires the third row. With a disc opener, that becomes less of an issue.”
The narrow-fold wing-back drill can be used with any pull-between air cart on the market. Agri-Tech owns the rights to two different air carts. They’re in the development phase that combines the best designs from New Noble and the Cereal Implements units. The company plans to have a 350-bushel air cart available soon.
The drill retails for about $1,100 a foot. The cart is extra.
Salford air seeder system
Salford Farm Machinery Ltd.
Salford, Ont.
The Salford air seeder system is a new product for a 27-year-old tillage equipment company from southern Ontario. The drill was introduced in 2004.
“This was our first entry into the western Canadian market. We have not sold any into Western Canada yet. We’re certainly testing the waters. It’s hard to say whether it will take off. On the tillage side of the business, I’m so busy trying to keep up with the growth in the U.S. corn belt,” said Phil O’Grady, national sales and marketing manager for Salford Farm Machinery Ltd.
The air seeder comes in 30-foot and 40-foot units, with a 9.4-inch shank spacing. Three-inch rubber packer wheels provide up to 100 pounds of packing pressure.
“Our best description is it has a simple, strong durable design. Ours are probably the least complicated air seeders on the market. The shank will accept a variety of shovel options and we plan to introduce disc opening drills for this fall. Those are under development right now,” said O’Grady.
The drill is capable of seeding a wide range of crops, including cereals, pulse crops and oilseeds. The cart is a 200-bushel model, split 60:40. Other carts may follow.
Salford sells to Ontario, Quebec and the Maritime provinces. But it is also going into American states in the corn belt plus Minnesota and the Dakotas.
“Price wise, we’re not high technology, so therefore we have to be significantly lower (than competitor’s air drills) and we are.
“We continue to grow because our machines perform and stand up for the long term. That’s the design philosophy we’ve brought to the air seeder market. We feel the machine will run for years and not be a technology headache.”
