HORSCH Sprinter NT seed drill review

HORSCH's Australian distributor, Echuca (VIC) based Muddy River Agricultural, has worked alongside the German based manufacturer to modify the Sprinter for Australian conditions.

The company worked closely with Victorian no-till grower Craig Jordan, of Murtoa (VIC), to modify the bar for inter-row sowing and controlled traffic. It’s one of a number of similar units working in the low rainfall Mallee soils, across to the heavier clay soils of the eastern Riverina.

A Sprinter 12 NT, pulled by a 380hp Case IH Magnum Rowtrac, was recently demonstrated to growers in northern Victoria and southern NSW by Muddy River Ag and O’Connors, of Corowa (NSW).

Low maintenance

Muddy River Agricultural territory manager for Victoria, Southern NSW and Tasmania, Jason Lummis, says growers are giving the Sprinter a big tick for low maintenance.

There are no grease nipples except at the wingfolds and the press wheels are designed with oil-bath bearings with duo cone ceramic seals.

"People are getting well over the fact they are spending lots of money year after year on maintenance," Lummis says.

"Our coulter systems are oil-bath bearing – at the end of the day, there are 12 grease nipples for greasing every couple of days.

"One of our customers was doing an extra 150 grease nipples every day on one bar compared to 12 on the Horsch bar every few days.

"That’s got to be a week’s worth of wages somewhere, and when these guys are going as much as they are, it’s a huge expense.

"We’ve been able to follow the ground contours with beautiful seed placement, and take the maintenance away. HORSCH always had this bar but we have modified it for Australian conditions and inter row sowing, so we can keep all the wheels on controlled traffic from one year to the next."

Highly versatile

The Sprinter 12 NT has been designed for direct seeding in low rainfall areas and adjusts easily to either no-till farming or cultivated ground.

"If you want to seek that moisture, it will dig beside anything else on the market," Lummis says. "And, if you have high rainfall with soft going, it can be easily adjusted."

He says the benefits of the Sprinter include a tyne system with exact depth control which results in a straw and lump free seed horizon and a high ratio of fine soil in the seed row.

"We have the cutting coulters out the front – they have been the key to cutting through the trash to get the tyne through the soil.

"Some of our customers are saying the bars are worth an extra 2km/h as they can up the speed a little and not get that soil throw."

The tynes operate independently of the rigid main frame and are connected to a torsion flex, rubber mounted rockshaft.

Precise seed placement

The down-pressure is hydraulically controlled from the tractor cab, allowing for exact seed depth and placement in variable soil types across a paddock.

The Sprinter sows according to the principal of open furrow – the seed is dropped deeper into the wet soil layers, then covered with 2-3cm of soil and pressed.

"The open furrow goes back to the cutting coulter, stopping that soil throw, and being able to close it over without having a massive amount of soil throw into the next row, and that is the key.

"With the down pressure control and the system the way it is set up, we keep that nice and tight, and in the ground, that’s where our seed placement comes from in keeping that level all the way through.

"If there is no reason to run the cutting coulters, they can be lifted up, a tap turned off and the machine just run with the tynes.

"You adjust your press wheel for depth but the actual whole frame of the machine is on a phasing cylinder system and that is all controlled from the cab of how much you want to do.

"We have got customers who have found really hard soils at one end of the paddock and sometimes sand up the other end.

"With this ability to change the down pressure control from the cab, if soil types change three times, our customers can change it three times as they are driving along. The key is keeping that depth control all the way through."

The coulters are mounted on durable tynes with a trip release system, which requires more than 200kg of force to set it off. This ensures consistent seeding depth in problematic soil types.

Coulter pressure adjustment is made hydraulically by a rubber element overload protection.

"The rubber requires a certain amount of pressure before it will lift – by setting the down pressure control we can release that a little earlier. We can make it softer if needed."

Designed for Australia

"We have asked a lot of things of HORSCH and they have been able to help us get where we are today," Lummis says.

"The first few years have been a learning curve for us and we have changed things as we have gone. We have got to a point now where we are really happy with it and will leave it as is.

"Everywhere we go in a new area, if someone hasn’t seen it, they cannot believe the low maintenance.

"We worked hard with Victorian no-till farmers who harvest their crops at a certain height, and inter-row sow without going off the tram lines."

The seed coulters are arranged in three bars with tyne spacing from 25 to 37.5cm.

"We can do a 10, 12 or 15 inch system or 25, 30 or 37.5cm over three ranks with the cutting coulters out the front," he says.

Each press wheel follows behind the coulter, consolidating each seed band evenly, resulting in optimum soil contact.

"There is no row of press wheels right across the machine itself – there is one on every tyne to squeeze the air from around that seed for good seed placement.”

There are no wheels inside the frame for trash flow benefits either.

"We set the whole frame on a controlled traffic set up and the more you put wheels inside a frame, the more trash problems you have," Lummis explains.

"We have allowed those wheels to be outside of those tyne systems.

"There are 41 tynes on the machine in total - a side shift option enables the bar to shift sideways six inches while keeping all the implement’s wheels running on the controlled traffic wheel tracks.

"It has tram lining doors in the air system so it will shut itself off and turn it back on as needed."

The Sprinter’s working width is 12 to 24m while the air carts range from 12,000 to 21,000 litres, with power demand starting at 320hp.

The metering system can handle rates from 0.5kg/h up to 600kg/ha.

"Most of our operators on a 12m bar are running around at 320hp – they are not too hard to pull," he says.

"The metering system is consistent across the range from a 1000-litre hopper to a 21,000-litre bin – all we do is change the rollers to suit the seed.

"It’s electric drive so calibration is simply put the bag under it, hit the switch and fill it up and weigh it off.

"They all come standard with bridging sensors."

The air seeder is designed on a 3m centre to cater for tram lining, and is available as either a tow-between or tow-behind configuration.

A liquid hose kit is available as an option to introduce nutrients or liquid lime at depth.

Muddy River Ag's warehouse at Echuca is complemented by a new warehouse at Toowoomba (QLD), and a service centre in Western Australia.

The Horsch Sprinter NT will be on display at Muddy River Ag’s site at the Henty and Elmore field days in September and October respectively, and on the O’Connor site at the Speed field days in early August.

"We are always open to feedback and suggestions and work closely with all our farmers at the end of the day," Lummis concludes.