| Cereals
New 10 Series MaxiDrill offers
precision drilling
The new Sky Maxidrill 10 Series will be launched in the UK on the OPICO stand [no. 840] at the Cereals event.
irst seen at Agritechnica in
2017, the overhauled drill has
new and improved features
including the ability to seed
three different products from
separate hoppers (eg seed,
fertilizer and slug pellets), with individual
metering systems, feeding into two distribution
circuits, which can place product at two
different depths. This means fertilizer
application can be targeted, reducing the total
amount applied and minimising waste. This is
particularly useful in cooler, northern areas or
where crops have a shorter growing window
and need to get off to the best possible start.
Commenting James Woolway, OPICO
Managing Director said, ‘Originally launched in
2002 and with over 1,500 trailed drills at work
across Europe, Sky’s MaxiDrill already has a
proven track record. It is a high speed,
versatile, machine with a large hopper capacity
and can be used as a min-till drill into crop
residues, as well as into ploughed and
prepared seedbeds. It can also be used as a
direct drill under certain conditions. The new
features will improve its versatility across the
UK market, offering precision seeding and
application of fertiliser.’
F
36 | Farming Monthly | May 2018
The new Series 10 Maxi Drill improvements
include:
• A new and improved “Fertisem” version,
with separate distribution circuits meaning that
seed and fertilizer are not mixed. The two
different circuits allow seed and fertilizer to be
placed at different depths, as well as reducing
blockages caused by mixing them in damp
conditions. Where three or more products are
sown, the third product can be introduced to
either distribution circuit and sown at the same
depth as the first or second product. The three
hoppers each have their own electronic
metering units and are operated by a single
control unit in the tractor´s cab.
• The coulter has been re-designed to enable
it to drill through large volumes of crop
residues. The streamlined coulter incorporates
smoothed and rounded components to slice
through clinging straws and residues. The
pressure on each coulter is adjustable from 0 to
120 kg, whilst the depth is adjustable through
the parallelogram frame.
• Designed with a long chassis, the MaxiDrill
has the largest coulter stagger on the market.
This gives it maximum clearance ensuring
unrivalled residue flow and allowing it to work in
wet, sticky and trashy conditions, late into the
season, when most other min-till drills have
been put away in the shed.
• Redesigned cultivation discs. The new
sealed hubs are maintenance-free and each
disc is equipped with a rubber shock absorber
to provide stone and shock protection.
The new Series 10 MaxiDrill is available in
3m, 4m or 6m models with or without fertilizer,
and with or without the third micro-hopper. The
4m and 6m models can be folded in two parts,
allowing easy access to the discs and making
emptying the hopper straight-forward.
The separate transport axle allows for
comfortable and safe road transport, but can
also be used effectively in wet ground, when
the transport wheels can lift the pressure off the
cultivation and seeding elements, preventing
blockages and ensuring the drill keeps
working. When the weather catches the
operator out, in extreme conditions, they can
also be used to lift the drill out of work.
Since the press wheels are not used for
transport, and are dedicated to consolidating
the seedbed, they run with low tyre pressure
ensuring flex and an ability to shed excess soil
and residue.
www.farmingmonthly.co.uk