Sola drills seemingly fit the bill

Dominic Kilburn speaks to KRM and a user of the 6m mounted tine drill which will be joined by trailed versions at the forthcoming LAMMA event.

THIS has been the first season that the Sola drill range from Spain has been offered by KRM in the UK following the re-positioning of Roger drills under the Sulky brand last year.

While KRM will continue to supply parts to existing Roger customers for a further 10 years, managing director Keith Rennie says the search for a new drill was made easier by the sheer scale of what Catalonia-based Sola had to offer.

“Their range of drills stretched from the smaller, three-point linkage machines through to precision drills, right up to large trailed and direct drilling equipment,” says Mr Rennie.

“We recognised that the market in the UK was going in two directions: either large min-till and trailed machines or lighter weight and lower cost tined drills suitable for both min-till and conventional operations. We felt that this range was ‘engineered' to suit UK conditions.''

Central to the design of the Sola 799 are the Elite tine coulters mounted in three rows on equal length arms. Pressure on each coulter is supplied by a heavy-duty spring positioned at a shallow angle.

This, says KRM, means that for each movement of the coulter tip in the ground, the corresponding deflection of the spring is small to ensure a more even pressure and depth control.

Two rows of adjustable angle spring tines used to level and firm prior to sowing are positioned ahead of the coulters while out in front are two rows of heavy-duty, auto-reset tines for initial soil loosening and mixing.

To the rear, directly behind the coulters, are two rows of following harrow tines to level off the seedbed.

John Orford of GJ Orford and Partners took delivery of his 799, 6m mounted machine at the beginning of October – it has since completed drilling 260 hectares of winter wheat and barley from his Fersfield base, near Diss, south Norfolk.

Mr Orford farms 500 acres of his own land – including a mix of heavy and light – while also being involved in whole farm contracting and share farming operations.

Arable foreman, Dick Barker who has operated the drill since its arrival says that, prior to buying the Sola, the business was looking for a drill that would replicate the best features of previously used similar drills.

“What we liked about this one though was the integrated cultivation section up front which paves the way for a good seedbed in which to place the seed,” he said.

“Some combination drills rely on the coulter tines to break up the soil but with this one the hard work is done initially by the cultivator tines.”

To emphasise their faith in the machine as both a cultivator and drill combined, all headlands are drilled prior to the main field.

“This may seem a strange thing to do in most people's minds but the headlands will never be in a better condition for drilling than when you first take the drill into the field,” said Mr Barker.

“We do them first and when the remainder of the field is done we switch off the seed metering unit on the drill and run it along the already drilled headland two or three times to remove any wheelings and level it off.

“If I need to keep the drill out of the soil a bit then it's just a case of minor adjustment of the depth wheels,” he added.

All stubble straw at GJ Orford and Partners is chopped and spread after the combine before one pass by a Quivogne Tinemaster followed by a ‘Triple Task' heavy chisel tine/subsoiler/roller for heavy land.

The Sola will go in and drill 10-14 days later although Mr Barker reckons that it ‘could go in immediately following the disc cultivator on easier ground'.

He says the angle of the coulter tines has proved beneficial; particularly in some of the heavier, cloddy land the drill has had to cope with.

“The tip of the tine is just an ordinary spring tine point but, unlike many other coulter tips, it doesn't bend forward at the bottom, in fact, if anything, it angles slightly backwards which works better in stones and trash and helps keep it in a straight line.”

In addition to this he believes the spacing between the coulters – side-to-side and front to back – allows plenty of scope for trash to pass through.

Since the drill's arrival Mr Barker has made a few minor adjustments such as replacing those spring tines in the pre-drill section that run behind the tractor wheels and the depth wheels, for heavier-duty versions. He has also removed the scrapers on the depth wheels, which tended to build up with trash, and says that it works smoothly without them.

With much of the winter cereals acreage already established on the farm, next year the drill will have the additional task of drilling the rape and beans (if any are planted).

“We can sum it up by saying that it's a well made drill with a relatively low running cost that can deal with the variety of soil types that we have to contend with on our land,” concluded Mr Orford.