U-Drill Smart from Kverneland: agile and technological

Two new seed drill combination models are arriving with working widths of 3 meters and 4 meters to flank the 6 meter Kverneland flagship machine. Constant uniform depth, excellent preparation of the seed bed and the electronic distribution of seeds are the principal strong points of this new range of seed drills

For the Sima Agribusiness Show in Paris Kverneland brought in the new seed drill combination U-Drill Smart with working widths from 3 to 4 meters to join the six meter folding U-Drill already on the market.

 

Seedbed preparation, levelling, seeding

and pressing in one pass

The rigid U-Drill   is available either as standard drill combination (U-Drill) or as grain and fertiliser version, the U-Drill plus and the Smart now on the market features a configuration more suitable for the size and production of Italian farms providing top-flight performance for seeding cereals and small seeds along with the benefits of a combination seeder, preparation of the seedbed, levelling, seeding and pressing in one single pass. These operations are performed with five steps. A front tire packer with a diameter of 800 mm levels the soil and crushes large clods. Then the seedbed is prepared by two rows of short conical disc harrows with individual suspension and completed with large tire packers 900 mm in diameter for re-compacting the loosened soil to ensure consistently good work results.

 

Stable depth control

CD double disc steel coulters enabling 12.5 cm row spacing ensure perfect depth control. The manufacturer explained that this innovative design is used to provide greater penetration on difficult soil by applying maximum pressure per coulter which can be limited initially with the integrated press wheels. Uniform seeding depth can be maintained even at high working speeds of up to 18 km/h. To complete seeding the soil is harrowed with S-shaped harrow tines  excellent covering of the seeds, with the application of intensity set by stepless pressure adjustment at three different angles. For fertilization, fertilizer can be placed in the second row of the disc harrow unit for distributing the product every 25 cm or for distribution in each seed row, the CD coulter unit with a second tube can be used.

 

A headland system which reduces time

to make the maneuver

The new U-Drill is available with a programmable headland management system which saves time and facilitates the operation for the driver. Using just one button, the U-Drill driver can initiate a headland sequence with wheels, discs and the coulter bar, all capable of automatic operation in timed stages. The result is that the drill needs only one double-acting spool to operate. Kverneland explained that when the system is triggered the seed metering device is stopped automatically to ensure that no seed or fertilizer granules are lost by double seeding. The U-Drill is Isobus compatible which means that all the machine functions can be controlled with the use of the IsoMatch Tellus terminal or other ISO 11783 protocol terminals.

 

Electric metering device

According to the version, one or two electrically driven metering devices are located centrally or laterally to provide perfect dosages of seeds or fertilizer. The devices allow small to large seeds and fertiliser at rates of 2 to 400 kg/hectare using only 4 standard rotors for either seeds or fertilizer. The rotors can be changed without the  use of tools. The new metering device is always electric driven by e-com, fully ISOBUS compatible for GEOcontrol by GPS signal.