12 minute read
The No-Tillage Soilution
With an increasing emphasis globally on healthy soils, modern no-tillage seed drills are becoming of increasing interest to farmers and contractors. Farm Trader NZ’s Jaiden Drought had a look at the Novag T-Force
Plus
Images by Jaiden Drought
The French-made Novag T-Force Plus champions the zero-soil movement, which aims to protect soil biology and prevent soil erosion and weed problems. Carrfields Machinery is the exclusive distributor for Novag in New Zealand and Australia, and believes low-disturbance notillage is the future for livestock and arable farming globally. I won’t get into the ins and outs of regenerative ag, as there are a lot of opinions on this – and I say, each to their own. I will, however, concede that some elements of the argument do stack up. Building carbon in the soil is important. The three things for me that make sense are: • We over cultivate. A lot of the time we cultivate for the sake of it. If you’re not developing land, growing fine root and seed crops such as beetroot or onions, then bashing the soil to a pulp is pointless. • Keep the ground covered. Cover crops help retain nutrients, increase soil water capacity, stop erosion and aid aeration.
The general rule of thumb is to always have your land growing something and not fallow for more than a month. • Plant multiple species. This will give the soil the ability to uptake or utilise nutrient from the atmosphere or lock in the soil through different plant root depths and leaf design in the process of photosynthesis. Clover and multiple grass species with different heading dates are perfect examples of this
THE INVERTED T BOOT
How the inverted T boot works is that, firstly, a large diameter notched disc in the middle creates the slot. An L-shaped blade with a carbide wing on each side of the disc creates a slot: one side for fertiliser, the other for seed (or two separate types of seed if you want). The disc itself can be either 20 or 23 inches (51 or 58cm), with seeding depth of the disc adjusted separately on winders above the press wheels. While adjusting individually is niggly if you want to do all of the coulters, it’s beneficial if you want to seed deeper in the wheel tracks of the tractor or sow maize deep and a clover cover crop (shallow) at the same time. The whole opener assembly itself weighs 100kg but ground pressure can be infinitely varied individually, thanks to hydraulic rams with max pressure of 500kg per coulter. All the rams are plumbed into a large hydraulic block where accumulators act as a suspension to allow the openers to follow the ground undulations without varying the downward pressure. Thanks to the parallelogram design, coulter travel is 450mm, which will take the most undulating terrain in its stride. Where this machine gets particularly high tech is the IntelliForcePlus system, which automatically adjusts the downforce on the move. Most of the time they work in
Looking for a
seed drill?
Search for ‘seed drill’ on
TradeFarmMachinery.com.au
or type the TA or DIY code shown here into the keyword search field
unison, however, the electronic system gets the soil hardness information using sensors mounted on a minimum of two openers, usually one front and one rear. The sensors measure the slot closing force. The desired press wheel closing force is set by the operator and the system will automatically increase pressure in hard soils and decrease in soft soil, but the closure force under the press wheels will always be the pre-selected amount, perfectly regulating seeding depth. In terms of hydraulic requirements, the drill runs off the tractor’s power beyond, which is how the coulter rams constantly maintain ground pressure. Two other spools are needed, one for the hydraulic drawbar and the second for the fan that has its own radiator to help cool down the tractor’s backend oil while also warming up the air around the fertiliser – particularly useful if it’s damp.
SECRET TO INVERTED T
Bill Ritchie is the go-to man at Carrfields (the New Zealand/ Australia distributor of the Novag T-Force Plus). It would be hard to find a more qualified individual for the job given that he has been involved with no-till technology for more than 40 years, starting at Massey University. Ritchie probably knows more about the inverted T than the company making these drills, although they’re pretty clued up too. The basic principles behind it are to create a slot under the surface that traps humidity, creating a microclimate for the seed. Having a layer of soil above the seed ensures perfect seed to soil contact when closing the slot. Direct drilling can be fickle to get perfect results and the inverted T system does sidestep some issues often found on standard disc drills. Hair pinning is the most common. This happens in disc drills under the cutting disc where straw trash lies lengthways in the slot under the seed, stopping ideal seedto-soil contact. Along with the decay of the straw in the slot, this doesn’t create an ideal environment for perfect germination. The seed placement with the inverted T is not affected by heavy residues at all. Hair pinning still occurs, as with any disc drill, but the straw gets trapped in the furrow below the disc and is therefore not in contact with the seed. This is because the seed does not fall directly into the disc furrow but rather there’s seed on one side and the fertiliser (or second seed type) does the same on the opposite side. As the seed germinates, it picks up the fertiliser and grows through the slot cut by the disc opener. Two rubber press wheels mounted in a V-shape then close the slot. Either three-inch or four-inch (7.6 or 10cm) rubber press wheels can be spec’d. During our test, the three-inch would have suited the tacky wet conditions to reduce the amount of soil sticking to the wheels, but then the four-inch were perfect in the sprayed-out ex-pasture paddock where the drilling job was superb. The sheer weight of the frame means natural downforce is up to 400kg. To get to the max of 500kg downforce, first (due to the laws of physics), you need 500kg per coulter of weight to push against. That is where wafer weights on either wing can be added to achieve that max pressure. The beauty with these is that it puts less stress on the main chassis, as this weight is not just added to the drill, and then large hydraulic rams push the wings down. This keeps that weight on the outside of the wings. This weight arrangement on the outer wings is also why Novag can have eight- and nine-metre drills with this level of downforce. The nine-metre is a particularly impressive piece of engineering. 3.5 tonnes of wafer weights can be added to the wings with a max machine weight of 26 tonnes over 48 coulters, which is 540kg per disc.
3
HOPPER
Standard arrangements for the three-, four-, and 4.5-metre models is a large 4,200-litre hopper with a moving partition to adjust the capacity ratio to 33/67 per cent or 45/55 per cent
1. The smart-looking bin has a well guarded walkway 2. Internal distribution heads inside the main tank 3. This is a great view of the inverted T boot, which makes the Novag unique
Novag T-Force Plus
T-ForcePlus
450
Dimensions
Working width 4m
Total length with drawbar
6.5m
Height with standard equipment
3m
Empty weight 7.5T
Additional weight: Ballast
1,200kg
Max. technical weight 12T
Openers
Row spacing 17.5cm, 19cm, 25cm Numbers of rows 23, 21, 16 Rec power 200hp Hitch Tow eye or ball hitch
Hopper
Main double hopper 4,200L (2,200L/2,000L or 1,500L/2,700L) Auxiliary bin Up to two optional 120L bins, each with their own metering unit
Pseudo-singulation (maize)
6 or 8 rows
Std tyres/tracks sizes 800/45 R 26.5 Hyd flow requirement >50L/min
6
7
4. Access to the rear of the main bin and two additonal hoppers is safe and easy to use 5. The notched disc helps keep positive disc traction in marginal conditions 6. The wafer weights on the stock car-like wings 7. The individual seeding coulters lift well out of the ground for headland turning
Pluses
Inverted T slot drilling system 450mm individual coulter travel IntelliForcePlus system with downforce applied by a hydraulic cylinder on each opener, from 100 to 500kg Flow sensor on each hopper metering system, hydraulic drive with Variable Rate Control Can drill accurately through significant trash/ cover crops 7” monitor and intuitive joystick Wafer weights keep weight on the outside of the wings Heavy-duty braked axle with large 800/45R26.5 flotation tyres Load sensing system for coulters and metering with sperate fan spool c/w oil cooler/air warmer
Minuses
Power requirements high, particularly on hills More susceptible to perfect drilling conditions particularly in light and/or tacky soils Because wafer weights are on the outside of the wings, there’s a big gap between the outside of the drill and the first coulter for drilling along headlands
depending on drilling requirements. The option of two extra 120L small seed bins (which our test machine had) adds a huge amount of flexibility. The two main hoppers use the Accord metering system, with increased capacity to allow for larger fertiliser sowing rates. The two smaller hoppers get their own metering units and have removable seed cartridges (like on many air seeder hoppers) to sow a variety of seeds, including maize and fodder beet. All the hoppers are controlled by Novag’s own in-house designed seven-inch (17.8cm) control box. This gives an impressive four product delivery system with the small rear boxes having the ability to be connected to the main air flow, meaning you can customise how it’s applied in the slot: with the seed, with the fertiliser, on all rows, on some selected rows, or even broadcasted behind the machine (slug bait) while the seed counting and block sensors give peace of mind. There are, however, two downsides here. There’s little room under the drill to scurry around for bulk seed dumping, although calibration using an external CAL button on each hopper does somewhat mitigate this. The second downside is that while the monitor is functional and user-friendly, it doesn’t offer ISOBUS connectivity. All tractors that have the power to pull this will have ISOBUS capability and the addition of this would streamline an already smart and sleek looking machine. out that testing a drill in the conditions we did is not really a fair representation of its abilities and performance. In the first paddock, conditions were marginal. At our first test site, while the 230hp (172kW) tractor wasn’t struggling for power, it was battling for traction. On the second farm, 10 minutes down the road, we used the same winter barley seed and same fertiliser rate – everything was the same apart from the ground. This time we tested the Novag in ex-pasture sprayed for 10 days and the drill performed superbly. If the paddock hadn’t been sprayed at all, it probably would have been better again, as the alive root structure like that seen in high cover crops is a game-changer for this machine. Firstly, there’s more traction for the tractor, so there’s no scuffing for the drill to contend with. Secondly, the well-secured roots offer more resistance to turn the disc, which, in turn, makes it easier to pull. Trash clearance is no problem, so suddenly, this drill goes from performing in paddocks that were marginal for drilling to excelling in paddocks where others simply wouldn’t dare. I like this drill a lot. Ritchie is also extremely passionate about it, is full of knowledge, and was a part of the inverted T concept, which is a great piece of design. Novag has combined this with a sleek piece of European design for an impressive result. The price and power requirements will scare a few off, but for farmers and contractors who want to apply the no-till concept and want to be in the box seat ahead of regulations, the Novag is a must view.
LP Series
Introducing the LP8000, 8 meter or 6 meter width Land Plane, twin mast independent for lift precision, dragging capabilities of approximately 5 cubic meters.
DG Series
The DG Series is currently being manufactured in 3.6m or 4.2m width Drag Grader has independent lift for laser precision. Dragging capabilities of approximately 3.5-4.5 cubic meters
Bale Bull Round
The BBR maintains a strong robust design capable of handling the heaviest bales. This machine is capable of carrying two bales and feeds on both sides. It is one of the only machines in the market that is able to feed the toughest of silage bales
HDE Ejector
www.jnrengineering.com.au
Leopard Ejector
HDB Bucket
LB Bucket
Bale Bull Square
Features an adjustable moving arm for feed out control and on road transport, capable of carring two bales.
