Farming smarter with technology
The National Fieldays is an annual fixture in the farming calendar: it draws in thousands of farmers, contractors, and industry professionals from across the country.
With a working width of 12 metres and a choice of front implements, it ensures high efficacy by combining several operations in a single pass and the ability to apply different seeds or treatments, in conventional ploughed or mulch tillage regimes.
Depending on conditions, the forward gang of the Solitair ST can be fitted with a range of implements to provide an optimum seedbed ahead of the double disc coulters. Where a defined row pre-consolidation is required, a plastic trapezoidal roller can be fitted, while if the seedbed needs to be levelled and further crumbled, a levelling tine section is an option.
For targeted soil loosening, corrugated discs can be used in front of the OptiDisc seeding coulter to create a finer seedbed for optimum seed placement. At the same time, targeted loosening of the soil only in front of the seed coulters ensures water-saving seedbed preparation.
The machine features a pressure-resistant double hopper in either a 6000-litre version divided into two 3000-litre hopper sections, or a 7000- litre version divided into 3000 and 4000-litre sections.
The combination of plastic hopper and modular metering system has the advantage of making the whole system fertiliser resistant, while the 600mm openings utilise a screw lid and container filter for easy and safe filling.
The basic version of the Solitair ST comes with four metering units per hopper section, each supplying one distributor with seed, allowing manual width section control to be implemented. At the same time, the four modular metering units also provide the basis for the single-shot process with two different components.
Distributor heads are positioned directly above the OptiDisc coulter bar to ensure optimum transverse seed distribution, while the coulter bar features parallelogram-guided double disc coulters and trailing depth control rollers, which place seed or fertiliser at a 12.5cm or optionally 16.7cm spacing.
The coulter system is available in the hydraulic (H) version, offering up to 70kg coulter pressure, or the mechanical (M) version that allows up to 45kg coulter downforce. Both coulter pressure and seed depth can be adjusted independently of each other, ensuring seed is always placed at the same depth, particularly at high forward speeds or in changing soils. A rearward, trailing depth control roller presses the seed into the soil for fast, even emergence.
Given the working width, contour following is an important consideration, so the coulter bar is divided into two sections supported by a central section.
At the headlands, the coulter bar is raised and runs on side support wheels, allowing quick and gentle turning.
