WITH more than 450,000 visitors and kilometres of exhibits, Agritechnica is the world’s largest agricultural technology fair and offers an insight into the future of farm equipment - some of which may make its way to Australia.
Fairfax machinery writer Tom McKenny brings together a few highlights from his visit to the fair in Hanover, Germany.
In paddock pellet harvester
Producing pellets in the field has become reality with the release of the Krone Premos mobile pellet harvester.
The machine produces pellets as it picks up a hay swath that are ready for use as animal feed or biofuel feedstock.
The machine - which is not much grander in scale than a big square baler, has a hopper capacity of 5000 kg (up to nine cubic metres) and an output of up to 5000 kg/h.
A 2.35 m wide pick-up, feeds the swath to a 800 mm wide conveyor belt that feeds material through two 800 mm wide and 800 mm diameter rollers which act as ring dies with rows of teeth alternating with rows of holes.
The rollers press the material into the holes and the 16 mm diameter extrusion molds. The finished pellets are then fed by augers inside the rollers to a conveyor to a integrated hopper.
This system does away with any pre-treatment and is claimed to have half the energy demand of stationary pelleting systems.
Pelleting generates temperatures of 80°C and pressures of up to 2000 bar. In these conditions, the moisture content is 12-15 per cent which forms lasting pellets.
If the material has low moisture levels, operators can spray the material with small amounts of water or molasses to encourage bonding. They can also use an integral intelligent wetting system to maintain an optimum moisture level.
With a 600-700 kg/m³ bulk density (three to four times the density of straw bales), an amount of 2.5 kg pellets substitutes for about 1 kg of heating oil, a rate that translates into massive savings in comparison with oil and other fossil fuels.
Krone reckoned the advantage of pellets is they are rich in crude fibre and make good animal feed with the advantage of being easy to dose. Additionally, heating to 80°C means they are germ-free. Krone says that 250 g of straw pellets absorbs about one litre of water which means that manure volumes can be reduced by about 40 per cent.
The Premos 5000 can also be used outside the hay season by hooking the feed up with a bale splitter for stationary use all year round.
New self propelled hits market
A Kverneland self propelled sprayer line introduced at Agritechnica drew plenty of interest for the Kubota owned company.
To be marketed under the Vicon brand in Europe, the self propelled fills out the company’s sprayer line which includes linkage and trailed machines. There’s no word if the sprayer would be supplied to Australia.
The iXdrive 4240 (4500 litre) and 5240 (5300 litre) self-propelleds feature sharply presented lines, cab forward design and a refined finish which included a bolted segment aluminium boom.
Manufactured at the Kverneland group's Netherlands spraying and spreading manufacturing plant, the sprayers offer booms from 24 metres to 40 metres in two and three fold configuration with a parallelogram suspension mounted centre section.
The HSS three-part-folded spray boom aluminium profile is lightweight and offers nozzle protection with the nozzle bodies fitted within the bottom profile. The aluminium segments are joined with clever joiners rather than welding to reduce the cracking often caused by heating aluminium in the welding process.
The iXflow spray line recirculation system is standard, with pneumatic nozzles fitted for instant spraying control.
Powered by Perkins six cylinder, the hydrostatic drive machines feature variable track width adjustment from 1.8 - 2.25 m on the 4240, and 2.25 - 2.95 on the larger 5240 model. Hydro pneumatic suspension is fitted to both axles. Manoeuvrability is via selectable two-wheel, four-wheel or crab steering.
Deere sprayer tech on rise
John Deere attacked this year’s Agritechnica with gusto with a raft of entries in the innovations awards - from which they collected three gold medals - and also exhibited a range of concept and new technology machines and products.
In the spraying segment there was loads of interest in a 40 metre carbon fibre boom mounted 190 kW, RO4050i concept sprayer (pictured above).
The 5000 litre self propelled may be available in Australia as early as 2017 according to a Deere spokesman, and featured a 12.1 tonne empty or tare weight and two wheel, four wheel or crab steering and 187 to 285 cm adjustable wheel track widths.
Most interest though was in the South American sourced, AgroKing carbon fibre boom designed to withstand the high dynamic loads inherent at high application speeds of 20-30 km/h. Deere signed an agreement with the specialist Argentinian carbon fibre boom manufacturer earlier this year.
A Deere spokesman told Fairfax that the carbon fibre material is around 5.5 times stronger than steel, and considerably lighter than either steel or aluminium spray booms and allows the entire structure to flex relieving the boom from stress.
Also in the Deere spraying segment was the ExactApply multi-mode nozzle control. This knits the advantages of a fully automatic individual nozzle control with a newly developed 30Hz high-frequency pulse width modulation.
As a result, spray pressure, flow rate and droplet size can be kept constant over a wide speed range. New nozzle diagnostics and precise individual nozzle application rate compensation when operating on turns helps to maintain spraying quality.
Matrix of mechanical precision
Potato and beet equipment specialists, Grimme launched a new precision seeder for sugar and fodder beet, chicory and canola planting at Agritechnica.
The Matrix is available for 12 or 18 rows, either with 45, 48 or 50 cm row spacings.
The Matrix has a mulch seed unit with two front running cutter discs, two depth control wheels, and adjustable mechanical downforce of up to 90 kg per row. A 190 kg hydraulic adjustment is optional.
Seed can be deposited in triangular (delta or matrix seeding) or parallel seed patterns in adjoining rows to allow good germination and growth patterns. The Matrix also offers GPS enabled headland section control.
The seeder features Intuitive operation via an Isobus compatible colour touch-screen terminal. Two boxes allow room for carrying extra seed and a vacuum cleaner for remaining seed emptying. The seed plate has a tool-free and spring loaded emptying flap.
Cargos carries the weight
Claas launched a new silage transport wagon, the Cargos 700 at the Agritechnica trade fair, completing its forage harvesting product range.
Claas recognised a gap in the model line-up for a need for a silage transport wagon during development of the company’s combi-wagon range. The resultant Cargos 700 has the same frame and bolted body design of the combi-wagons.
The body has the same conical opening towards the rear and the front panel is inclined 30 degrees to the front for the increased loading volumes of up to 51 m³ and for improved unloading performance. The scraper floor is hot-dip galvanised and its drive is integrated into the C-profile for protection on both sides. A two-speed scraper floor drive is available as an option.
The wagon incorporates the modular running gear components and tyre variants from the combi-wagons. There’s also a range of equipment options, including tandem or tri axle running gear with mechanical or hydraulic suspension and tyres up to 710/50 R 30.5.
Claas is offering the tri-axle version with steered trailing axles for the first time. The hydraulic drawbar is standard equipment and can be optioned with a suspension system.
Two discharge rollers are available optionally for even more uniform unloading. The wagon is operated without a terminal by three double-acting spool valves and a single-acting control device on the tractor. An LED lighting package is available as an option to the standard work lamps.
The Cargos 700 will be available for the 2016 harvest in three models with loading volumes of 36.5 to 51 cubic metres.