•
EIMA SHOW REVIEW
•
THE
VEGETABLE
FARMER •
JANUARY 2017
gearbox, heavier duty
bearings, welded
supports for the
blades and the use
of 16mm-thick tines.
Alpego reckons to
havemade the first
8m power harrow in
2001, and to
celebrate 15 years,
duringwhich time
the Italian company
reckons to have sold
150 to 175 units, the
company used EIMA to show a limited spec edition of the
DmaX 800, which has a 550hp rated gearbox.
Everything on themechanical front is the same, but the
metallic paint is new. So too is hydraulic unlocking of the
folding process and the company says
there are a few other subtle changes
including side plates that extend
further forward to contain the soil
‘boil’ ahead of the rotors.
Crop residue shredders
The RollerCut is designed as a one-
pass machine to cut up trashy
stubbles at speeds of up to 25kph.
For the best results, themachine
needs a light surface to allow the
blades to chop andmix thematerial.
Manufacturer Bondi offers the
machine inworkingwidths of 2m,
3m, 4m and 6m. The 6m RT600 on
show, weighs 4.6 tonnes, and the
rollers can be filledwithwater to
increase the weight to 6.4 tonnes for
better penetration. Requiring a
minimum of 160hp, the RT600
model at EIMA costs around
£23,250.
Made in Spain by Sacho Land
Solutions, the Geacut-600 (6m) is
also designed to knock down tall
crop residues at speeds of 20-
25km/hr. The cutting blades slice
through crop residue andmix it with
the soil.
Proving a one-pass solution ahead
of amin-till drill, for the best results
the company recommends a 200-
250hp tractor. Operating at such
speeds on hard ground subjects the
implement to a great deal of
vibration. This explains why the
machine is made from high tensile
steel, and to reduce the vibration the
company has developed a series of
patented rubber shock absorbers to
isolate the rollers from themain
frame.
Filling the rollers withwater
increases the weight from just over 5t
to nearly 7t for increased penetration,
andwhile the tubular frame is purely
a design feature, the company says it
may be possible to fill it withwater
for evenmore ballast.
Ortomec’s main novelty was a self-
propelled harvester for liftingwhole
head lettuces, a job that is
normally done by hand.
Called the 9700, the
company has had
prototypes out in
the field for the past
two years. Powered
by a four-cylinder
70hp Kohler engine,
and standing on
3.65m-long rubber
tracks, the
harvesting head can
be set up towork
from 1.3 to 1.8m.
Once cut, the heads
travel up the
conveyor and at the
top are picked off manually
after which the belt is
cleaned by a rotary brush.
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The Spanish-made Geacut is designed to knock
down tall crop residues at speeds of 20-25km/hr.
Designed to harvest whole head lettuce, power
for Ortomec’s 9700 comes from a four-cylinder
70hp Kohler engine.
