Machine spotlight: Taege Series 300 Direct Drill
Hailing from New Zealand, the Taege 3m drill is simple to use, reliable, and now comes with several new features for improved efficiency. Kim Woods takes a closer look…Farmers wanting a versatile, low maintenance drill with simple and fast calibration should take a look at the Taege range.
The Taege Series 300 Direct Drill was demonstrated to growers at a recent field day hosted by Wieseners Wodonga at Dederang, in Victoria’s north east.
The 3m, 23 run demo drill had a tyne spacing of 121mm – it is also available in a 3.6m, 29 run version on 121mm tyne spacings.
Now sporting an updated touch screen rate controller and stainless steel fertiliser bin on the front, the drill comes standard with seed agitator and tyne cover-harrows.
The Series 300’s horsepower requirement is as low as 85hp, making it a popular choice with dairy farmers.
An ‘S’ tyne coupled with the Taege designed three-piece cast boot all mounted to the frame at a patented angle, has two outlets for seed and fertiliser.
It has a fine tungsten point to enhance penetration in hard, unworked ground.
The vibration of the S tynes give better trash clearance and contour following, with a real advantage in stoney conditions.
The Taege story
The Taege drills have been on the Australian market for the past 18 years with growers embracing them for the simplicity, fast calibration, accuracy, reliability, low maintenance and ability to have seeding rates down to sub 1kg.
Taege is a family owned business in New Zealand specialising in pasture drills.
Giltrap Ag Equipment sales representative, Hugh Moll, said Taege is a company passionate about building simple, robust and cost effective machinery.
Moll said the range starts with an entry level 3m drill on a 150mm spacing, followed by a trailed unit with a single box, and stepping up to a double box of fertiliser on the front and seed at the rear.
The range finishes with a 6m air drill that folds down to a 3m transport width.
“All the chassis are heavily built on the Taege product – they are a robust frame that is hot dipped galvanised so they last well,” Moll said.
“Handling corrosive products like fertiliser, the stainless steel bins really compliment the package.”
He said the drills are equally suited to uneven contoured country or ground which has not been worked on for a long time.
“The tynes are tortionally flexible so they can deviate around heavy rocks while still seeding,” Moll said.
“They have an easy to read and adjust in-cab controller with rates able to be changed on the go.”
Moll said the Taege sowing system is well proven.
“There are four fundamental things needed for the effective sowing of grass seed – something to penetrate hard ground, good ground contour following ability, trash flow and most importantly, good tilth for a quick seed germination," he said.
“If there isn’t tilth, there is little seed to soil contact, impacting on germination.
“Ideally, to give the seed the best possible result, a roller is best used for coverage.”
Tyne harrows are normally fitted to the drill in two pieces – they can articulate, pivot and rotate, and when not required, lifted out of the way.
Simple calibration
The calibration process is the same from the 3m entry level units to the 6m air drills.
Operators simply hit the prime button to load the rollers and metering system, then the calibrate button to activate the rollers for 20 seconds to allow enough seed to be gathered for a decent weighing of around 500 plus grams.
Once the product has been weighed, that value needs to be entered into the controller, then the operator will need to push the OK button and enter the desired seed rate per hectare.
The drill is then ready to go. “The whole process takes about a minute or two. There is no cranking of wheels or changing sprockets or gears,” Moll said.
“It gives the operator the ability to change rates on-the-go – calibration can be a minefield, frustrating and time consuming, so Taege have put in a huge amount of effort to come up with simple, quick and super accurate calibration.”
Versatile unit
Operators can have fertiliser at the front, seed at the back, and a mini hopper (200 or 400-litre) on the back for broadcasting clover.
“There are three metering systems which can be all run off the one controller – they can be set independently of each other, and adjusted independently while drilling,” Moll added.
The controller has settings for one to three hoppers, can store up to 25 crop settings per hopper, and gives operators the ability to increase or decrease seeding rate from the cab.
Up to three hoppers at any one time can be fitted to the Taege drill, with the 3.6m machine having a hopper capacity of 628 litres.
“It’s a ripper of a drill – a basic, simple to use, accurate machine with great penetration in hard ground and it will cover a wide range of seeding conditions with extremely low running costs,” Moll said.
The Taege Series 300 Direct Drills are priced from $22,000, excluding GST. For further information contact Hugh Moll on 0400 251 580.
Taege Series 300 Direct Drill specifications
Row spacing: 121mm
Sowing width: 2783mm
Overall width: 3100mm
Overall height: 2000mm
Number of drops: 23
Number of tyne rows: 3.5
Tyne row stagger: 590mm
Seed box capacity: 504 litres
Working speed: 2-14 kph
Tractor horsepower required: 85
Approx weight: 1520-1730kg
SEE ALSO:
Please see our Editorial Guidelines & Code of Ethics (including for more information about sponsored content and paid events). The information published on this website is of a general nature only and doesn’t consider your particular circumstances or needs.