Direct drills revisited: New 6m Amazone Cayena replaces old

One Yorkshire business has been so content with the performance of its 2013 Amazone Cayena that it plumped for a like-for-like replacement when trading it in three seasons ago.

The primary motivation in originally shifting from a 3m power harrow combination to the German-made 6m strip-till drill was its high output and relatively low horsepower requirement.

Having a machine that could deal with the farm’s stony Wold soils was also attractive, and farmer James Grandy says the Cayena fitted the bill perfectly, pushing output up to 40ha per day.

See also: Driver’s view: James Grandy’s Amazone drill

His first 2013 machine was not causing any problems, but generally the business likes to keep its implements fresh and within warranty if the figures stack up.

One of the old model’s gremlins was a straight cut seed outlet pipe on the back of the tine coulter that, in sticky soil conditions, could block and prevent seed getting to the ground.

The farm rectified this by cutting a small piece out the back of the pipe to prevent it completely bunging up.

James says this on-farm modification has been incorporated into the design of his new machine by the manufacturer, and the operator needs to be very unlucky to block it now.

The only other issue with the old drill was the scrapers on the carrying wheels, which could block or break on the farm’s stony ground.

This has been solved by completely removing the scrapers on the replacement, and it runs fine without them.

James Grandy © Adam Clarke

Pre-drilling cultivations

Getting ground preparation done early with a Horsch Terrano, followed by a Great Plains Cultipress, helps with this, ensuring work isn’t pushed late into the autumn when conditions deteriorate.

James points out that the drill likes the ground to be ready for it, so the cultivators need to do 80-90% of the breaking down and levelling work, along with residue incorporation, before drilling.

“It does a great job on that last 10-20%, but you can’t expect it to do much more than that,” he says.

“It can also cope reasonably well with residue. Even when you do get a build-up of weeds or potato haulm, it generally carries it to the headland OK and it’ll drop off there. You just need to keep an eye on it.”

The drill has track eradicators fitted to the front, and these have been found to wear faster than James would like.

He has welded some 6mm tungsten carbide block to the front of the tines to get a more life out of them before replacements are needed.