Kverneland Optima TF Profi SX precision drill: Seed at speed

The SX seeder unit is Kverneland’s answer to high-speed precision planting. Last spring we had the opportunity to do a season-long test with the new eight-row model on the trailed fourwheel TF Profi II frame … to find out just how accurately it can place seed at up to 18km/hr Kverneland is constantly adapting the Optima […]

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The SX seeder unit is Kverneland’s answer to high-speed precision planting. Last spring we had the opportunity to do a season-long test with the new eight-row model on the trailed fourwheel TF Profi II frame … to find out just how accurately it can place seed at up to 18km/hr

Kverneland is constantly adapting the Optima range of precision drills, updating the frames and expanding the selection of seeder units. For instance, back in 2015 it introduced the TF Profi II frame, complete with four-wheel running gear, which we used with Optima HD seeder units that could work at speeds of up to 12km/hr, in the 5/2016 issue. With the need for more speed, Kverneland then unveiled its faster pace SX seeder units at Agritechnica 2017. These could make use of the same TF Profi frame, and it’s this combination that we got hold of for our practical test.

Kverneland Optima TFprofi

The Kverneland Optima is the universal pneumatic precision drill for maize, sunflowers, field beans, unpelleted beet, pelleted beet, dwarf beans, soya beans, peas, and many other types of seeds, ready for mulch or conventional sowing. Within this product group, the Optima TFprofi is featuring a trailed hydraulic folding frame in working width of 6m, presenting the perfect combination of most precise seed placement, high performance and reduced tractor power requirement of 90hp only.

The Optima TFprofi can be fitted with HD-II or the high speed SX sowing units, further details below. With the Optima TFprofi SX, the new optional central seed hopper of 870 litres capacity increases efficiency by additional volume and further minimizing the set-up time of the machine.

The fertiliser hopper of 2000l can easily be filled with a front loader, big bags or as an option by filling auger. Different fertiliser coulters are available. As an option the fertiliser application can be driven electro-hydraulically.

The combination of the Optima with iXtra LiFe allows the application of liquid fertiliser during seeding. For more information, please see iXtra LiFe.

Features

The Optima TFprofi offers constant seeding depth control and high frame stability.

Convenient coupling and great manoeuvrability

As standard the TFprofi is equipped with a CAT3N cross shaft. Thus the pivot point lies substantially behind the tractor tyres. This brings two advantages for the driver. Firstly turning at angles of up to 90° are possible, secondly the Optima TFprofi follows the tractor tracks in curves. The fan is assembled on the cross shaft. Thus the pto shaft is always straight and the wearing of the universal joints is minimized.

Four wheel chassis for maximum stability

The Optima TFprofi can be equipped with four landwheels as an option. They carry the machine during work and half the ground pressure both in work and on the headlands.

The landwheels are fully floating; thanks to an intelligent hydraulic system that allows the wheels to follow the ground contours individually. All four hydraulic cylinders are of dual chamber design. The upper part of the machine cylinder is for the lifting and lowering of the machine. The lower chamber is connected to the adjacent cylinder, to enable the cylinders to counterbalance each other. This allows the landwheels to follow the ground contours individually (by as much as 15cm in either direction) which guarantees the same constant pressure on all wheels. At the same time when working in rough conditions frame movements are reduced by 50%. This results in improved smoothness of ride, even at higher working speeds of up to 12km/h.

Comfort on the road

To prepare the TFprofi for road transport, the driver simply starts the folding process directly from the tractor cab. The wing sections are hydraulically swung to the front of the machine next to the drawbar. The transport width is 2.98m only (3.40m at 80cm row width). A maximum transport speed of 40 km/h is possible even with a 3/4 filled hopper when equipped with the optional pneumatic or hydraulic brake system.

TEST: KVERNELAND OPTIMA TFPROFI SX

Cultivating only the area that needs to be cultivated saves time and diesel – a winning situation for the contractor and farmer, Farm Trader finds with plenty of grass around, production and cow condition look promising for an excellent season. Farmers and contractors are busy making excess feed into supplement, planting crops for drier summer months and getting maize in the ground.

Maize planting season always involves a burst of intense labour, needing to happen in a relatively small window of time, ideally as soil temperatures start consistently hitting 10 degrees plus for best establishment.

With an eight-hectare block in Matamata cultivated and ready for maize planting, the early season timing presented a good opportunity for Power Farming Morrinsville to deliver the new demo Kverneland Optima TFprofi SX 8-row maize planter, and for us at Farm Trader to assess its latest features and design enhancements, sussing out whether the machine will make the busy period of maize planting a bit easier for contractors and farmers.

As with any new machine, choosing the right machine for the job is key, as is ensuring it has all the features and capability required to achieve maximum performance.

Proper set up of what can be a complex machine is also important, and it’s crucial to get things such as depth, spacing/seeds per hectare, and calibration of both seed and fertiliser right. With a maize planter, there are many different settings, which can be altered and which ultimately affect the outcome of your desired finish and yield.

For this reason, Charlie Matthews, North Island tractor specialist for Deutz-Fahr, was in charge of the tractor operation while John (JP) Chapman, Cultivation, and Seeding product specialist in the North Island, concentrated on making sure the planter was doing everything it was supposed to, making a few small adjustments specific to this particular job.

One of these was adding extra down pressure to the seeding units, which already have 129kg of down pressure due to the weight of each planter unit. On the demo machine, JP was able to provide extra down pressure through the hydraulic system used in the cast iron parallelogram seeding arms to ensure accurate seeding depth. This offers greater accuracy over a spring adjustable pressure system, which is important if you start pushing operating speeds out to the maximum of 18km/hr.

The other area of improvement in terms of ground following is in the twin spear hydraulic rams of the land wheels. This allows flotation across the machine while still maintaining ground pressure, which comes in handy for ridges or uneven ground.

This feature may still work with the two standard land wheels but functions better on the four-wheel optioned machine. If you’re operating at higher speed, it would definitely be something you should tick on the spec sheet.

Planter units

One of the most important new features of the Kverneland Optima planter unit is its cast iron parallelogram mounting system. This offers impressive strength and rigidity as well as contributing toward the overall 129kg weight of each planter unit, making for excellent ground penetration. And with the extra hydraulic down pressure system, you can add up to another 125kg of downforce.

New 410mm spoke press wheels minimise soil build up on the double planting discs in challenging conditions while 50mm (or 25mm) V press wheels offer 0–45kg of ground pressure depending on soil conditions.

Seeding depth is easily adjusted with a simple wind adjustable depth handle. The new fully pressurised planting system offers greater accuracy, with two points where seed is blown onto singulation discs to ensure no misses. Seeds are kept in airflow almost to the bottom of the planting unit where they are firmed into position.

Mounting options

Several options are available for mounting the Kverneland Optima TFprofi SX to the tractor, from basic ring eye or K80 ball to the linkage mounted Cat 3 cross shaft. On our demo machine, this proved the best option, allowing turns of 90 degrees on headlands. Standard with a PTO-driven fan to provide consistent airflow, this mounted directly on the crossbar, with the pivot point for the drill behind this. You can also have hydraulic fan drive as an option.

Folding out from its working width of less than three metres takes next to no time (well maybe two minutes, but that’s nothing over the course of the day). One small niggle for me is around the weight and balance of the machine with the two outside seed units and wheels folded for transport.

It doesn’t look overly stable, however, the design team have done the calculations and assure me that it can handle transporting half a bin of fertiliser like this at a recommended speed of 40km/hr, (although in reality this is more likely 50km/hr).

Fertiliser Facts

Often an easy way to increase the productivity of a machine is to increase the capacity. In this case, the Kverneland Optima features a 20% larger fert hopper than the old model, taking it to 2000 litres.

The key here is that you don’t need to stop and fill up so often. Fold-down galvanised steps allow access to the front of the fert bin for filling with 500kg bags. The bin height of 1.9 metres is quite manageable and within reach of your average 100hp farm tractor and front-end loader. An optional auger is available for loading if you’re tipping bulk fertiliser out of a truck.

The other nifty feature in the fertiliser area is the four weigh cell system, which tells you how much you have put in for a set area initially, and how much you have left as you go. This monitor can be mounted on the drill or in the tractor cab.

Fertiliser distribution is controlled by an electro-hydraulic drive, which uses a low 18 litres per minute oil flow rate.

Features of this system are its easy calibration and ability to adjust from the cab. ISOBUS compatible with variable rate is possible either manually or via GEOCONTROL, which may be of use to farmers using yield mapping data from the forager at harvest time.

Capable of being run through the tractor’s ISOBUS screen, this demo Kverneland Optima was running through its own monitor. Being touch screen, the monitor is pretty straightforward to navigate, allowing you to easily toggle between the fertiliser and seed planting display.

The seed display gives you a speed per hour, hectares covered and seed rates, etc. The rest gets rather technical, operating the electric drive motors to the eight seeding units, starting and stopping at the correct time: the magic that computer technology can provide.

For the Kverneland Optima TFprofi, this magic is called GEOCONTROL. When operated with GPS, it shuts one row off after the other at headlands. Benefits include savings on seed with no double or triple ups and also no spots missed leaving space for weeds to grow and contaminate the crop.

This technology also leaves the driver with fewer things to manage, so they are able to stay focused on operating the tractor in the field conditions.

On the demo machine, the large iMonitor of the Deutz-Fahr tractor was used for tractor function display along with the GPS auto steer mapping. If you’re not running GPS or want a fail-safe back-up, hydraulic folding marker arms are available (which our machine also had).

Optional features

There are a number of options and extras that can be added to the base Kverneland Optima TFprofi SX planter. For a contractor, I think I would spec this machine exactly as this demo model was.

For example, saving initial spend on two versus four land transport wheels will slow you down in the paddock, meaning you’re not able to maximise efficiency by operating at the speed it’s capable of.

I think you’d also end up with less accuracy in terms of depth control on the outer seed units, plus it would be a lot rougher on the drill and tractor in the process.

As is the case with this latest model Optima TFprofi SX planter, construction and build quality have always been the main selling features of Kverneland equipment. A good example of this is the weight in each seeder unit of 129kg.

New features improving accuracy and operating speeds will help increase the overall efficiency. Not requiring a 300hp tractor to run this machine is a bonus, and making use of technology available through GPS and the likes of the Kverneland Culti-Strip means further efficiencies maybe gained.

Cultivating only the area that needs to be cultivated saves time and diesel – a winning situation for the contractor and farmer. As technology and innovation continue evolving, it’s always worth checking out the latest machinery releases and assessing the cost savings that can be made through effective performance.

Written by Mark Foughy – Farm Trader