Held on the farm Holfontein near Carletonville, Terratill Implements’ farmers’ day introduced some of the large range of implements manufactured by Horsch, claimed to be Europe’s largest seed drill manufacturer, and demonstrated the company’s ability to meet the specific needs of South Africa’s farmers. In addition to planters, the current SA Horsch range includes Joker compact disc tillers (both trailed and mounted) and Terrano FX series chisel ploughs.
The Focus Strip Till planter, meanwhile, removes residue from the row area, loosens the soil in strips, places fertiliser in the tilled zone and plants, all in one pass. The wagon holds 5 000l (30:70) of seed and fertiliser. Then there’s the Focus TD strip till precision maize planter combination. It was developed especially for the SA market, and can be adapted to plant canola, wheat, soya beans or sunflowers. The TerraGrip strip till tines work between two original plant rows, strip tilling up to 400mm deep and, at the same time, placing fertiliser at two different levels.
The Maestro SW planter
Horsch’s Maestro planters are available in 8-row, 12-row and 24-row configurations. Accurate planting is claimed at speeds of up to 15km/h. The wagon of the SW planter (below) holds 7 000l of fertiliser and 2 000l of seed. The Maestro features central distribution of seed (‘Seed on Demand’ system) and fertiliser. The extraordinary accuracy can be monitored from the driver’s seat.
Claas and Horsch set new world record
On 28 April, Claas and Horsch set a new world record for the precision planting of maize. In 24 hours, 448,29ha was planted and fertilised simultaneously using a Horsch Maestro 24.70 SW single-grain planter. All machine and sowing parameters were monitored and documented by Claas Telematics and the planter’s grain sensor.
The Claas Xerion 5000 tractor and Horsch Maestro 24.70 SW planter. Courtesy of CLAAS
The record was achieved with a 24-row planter working at an average speed of 14,7km/h. And this is the first time a record of this kind has been set by a machine planting seed and placing fertiliser underground at the same time. It was set in Russia because the market in Eastern Europe offers the greatest potential for this technique. The 16-man team was made up of Claas and Horsch employees and two independent experts. Some 10t of seed and 47t of fertiliser was used, requiring 10 pitstops in order to re-fill the planter and top-up the tractor’s fuel tank. Average fuel consumption was 3,17l/ha.
