Farmers can till, seed and fertilize in one go with Kubota’s latest machine
Following the launch of a 3m and 4m version late last year, Kubota has unveiled its top of the range 6m SC1600CF seeding combination machine which allows farmers to do more in one pass.
The machine features six working zones and a 4200-litre hopper that can be filled with a 60:40 ratio of seed and fertilizer or just seed, depending on what farmers wish to sow.
The six working zones consist of front tyre packers, cultivation discs, clod boards, rear tyre packers, ridge harrows and sowing coulter bar.
The front packers first create a level surface by compacting the ground. The cultivation discs, which working depth can be adjusted from inside the cab via the ISOBUS terminal, then cultivate the ground and create a seedbed to sow in.
The clod boards serve to break up any soil clods that are formed following the cultivation process. The rear tyre packers then compress the soil to create a smooth surface for the coulters to sow into.
According to Kubota Australia Implements Product Manager, Mark Allott, the rear tyre packers are unique in that they feature an offset design to prevent soil build up.
“Some competitor machines run a straight row of packer wheels which means there is the possibility of bulldozing,” he said.
“In light soil conditions, the material will build up and the whole machine will bounce, leaving you with an uneven sowing depth. So by running the offset packer, the machine runs very smoothly.”
Behind the offset packers are ridge harrows that remove any ridges formed in the ground by the offset packer.
The final working zone features the key component of the seeding combination machine, which is the sowing coulter bar.
Depth adjustment of the coulter bar can also be done via the ISOBUS terminal in the cab.
“We’re running five-inch row spacings, on a double disc opener,” Allot said.
“In between the discs are the double shooters which give us the ability to place fertilizer down at a depth and the seed above the fertilizer, so when the seed germinates the roots will have access to the fertilizer underneath,” Allott explained.
Following the coulter bar is a set of press wheels that increase seed and soil contact for excellent germination.
The SC1600CF features a pressurized hopper that Kubota says allows operators to apply higher rates of fertilizer per hectare.
It runs two electrically driven metering devices named ELDOS which make calibration a breeze for operators. The calibration process is all done at the metering device. The operator simply enters the desired values into the terminal, fits the right rotor for the job, presses one button on the remote to start the metering device and the calibration will be done automatically.
A hydraulic fan installed on the machine delivers the products via two separate air flows which go into separate distributor heads in the centre.
“The seeds will go through one distributor head and fertilizer will go through another distributor head,” Allott said.
By doing so, the seeds and fertilizer are delivered at different fan speeds so they are sown into the ground effectively.
Another key feature of the SC1600CF, according to Allott, is the headland management system which allows all six working zones to be regulated using just one double acting remote.
“Once we set the depth of the working tools via the terminal, there’s one button that we activate at the headlands which is our headland management control,” he said.
“The use of one remote will lift all the sections of the machine in turn off each other at the headland, and when we turn at the headland, we activate the remote the other way and sequentially they all go back down to the working positions that have been preset.”
