Home » Issue 25-2022 » Practical experience » First-class work: Agroprogres Kateřinky s.r.o, CZ

First-class work

Agroprogres Kateřinky s.r.o is not only an arable farm, but also works as a contractor in the Moravia region in the Czech Republic. The range of their business activities is varied – with a special focus on sugar beet production.

A lot of their customers are regulars in the large area that ranges from Bohumín to Velké Heraltice. Agroprogres provides their customers with a complete range of services – from tillage and sowing to the application of mineral fertiliser, mulching, crop care and harvest.  

Traditionally, the company is specialised on the cultivation of sugar beet. This, of course, is reflected in the machinery. On their farm, too, sugar beet is an important crop. In addition, on 735 hectare of arable land they grow cereals, rape, maize, poppy and soya. A particularly large number of customers use their services in the crop care sector. In this respect, sugar beet is a very sensitive crop that has to be treated with utmost care when applying herbicides. This is where the experience comes in.

Only the best for the customers

“We cannot appear at our customers‘ premises with out-dated technology. This is why we constantly invest in state-of-the-art machinery“, the director of Agrogres, Ing. Hynek Valík, says. In March 2018 they purchased a trailed sprayer HORSCH Leeb 5 LT. It is perfectly in line with the requirements of the company – also due to the boom width of 27 m. So it can work without any problems in the tramlines of cereals but also in sugar beet.
For sowing sugar beet Agroproges uses a special 12 row single grain seed drill with 5.4 m working width. Winter wheat populations are sown with a 6 m wide pneumatic seed drill. But in this respect, too, the selected tramline rhythm of the Leeb 5 LT works excellently. To make sure that the plants are not damaged at the edges of the tramlines, the chassis of the sprayer is equipped with narrow tyres with the appropriate width and with a large diameter. Due to the steered axle, turning on the headlands can be carried out in a very plant-conserving way. The wheels are controlled in automatic mode without having to create an additional connection to the tractor. The automatic mode uses the information from the gyroscope that is mounted on the axle of the sprayer.
“And it was, of course, due to the unique boom control system that I decided in favour of the HORSCH Leeb 5 LT“, Hynek Valík names as another reason for the purchase.

At the right time and with utmost quality

Despite the very intensive use on Agroprogres’s own fields as well as in the contracting service sector, the HORSCH Leeb 5 LT worked without any problems. The orders could always be carried out on schedule and with top quality. The sprayer is equipped with an AutoSelect 4-2 nozzle control, and the nozzles are switched automatically depending on the application rate and the operational speed. In combination with a Fendt Vario 720, the Topcon terminal with SectionControl guarantees the automatic switching of the individual sections.
The driver as well as the management of Agroprogres were completely satisfied with the sprayer from the production site in Landau in Germany. But they still kept an eye on the current developments in Landau, also due to the close contact to their dealer Lukrom, spol. s.r.o. At the Agritechnica 2019, HORSCH presented another innovation: PrecisionSpray – a new nozzle control system which is based on pulse technology. And shortly after that in spring 2020 Lukrom informed Agroprogres in detail about this new technology. “We attach great importance to always work with state-of-the-art technology. This is why we replaced our existing HORSCH Leeb 5 LT sprayer with a new one which already was equipped with the PrecisionSpray system. The reason is quite simple: We traditionally use DAM fertiliser for a targeted, variable application. Due to the pulse width modulation system, we can regulate the fertiliser flow. We practice DAM fertilisation on our fields as well as a contracting service. Most frequently on farms for which we carry out all tasks from sowing to harvest”, the director explains his reasons for the new investment.
Application maps which are generated at an office computer are transferred to the mobile of the tractor driver who then uploads them to the terminal in the tractor. The driver creates a new order and selects that the application rate per hectare must not be applied uniformly but according to the data in the application map. While working, the electronic system records the actually applied fertiliser quantity. The resulting map can then be transferred back to the office computer.

 

Always up to date

The first HORSCH Leeb 5 LT had already done 25,000 hectare and some million litres in three seasons. And all that without any major problems. Thus, the question with regard to the successor model was quickly settled. The new HORSCH Leeb 5 LT was delivered in March 2021. Like its predecessor the sprayer has a tank capacity of 5,000 l for spraying mixture, a 500 l tank for fresh water, a pneumatically suspended axle and a 27 m wide boom. A closer look at the boom, however, shows a difference. While previously the nozzles were controlled pneumatically, it now happens electronically. The nozzles do not have to be switched while driving, the liquid flow is controlled by means of pulsing. Every nozzle can open and close 20 times per second. A big advantage of the pulse width modulation is that the exact drop size can be kept up over the whole width of the boom. Even if the tractor and the sprayer drive around an obstacle (e.g. a pole), the quantity can be adapted correspondingly. According to Agroprogres, the curve compensation system works excellently.

Also for extreme conditions

Compared to the normal work in the field the application of plant protection agents very much depends on the weather conditions. With the HORSCH Leeb 5 LT it is possible to work in the field even in case of strong wind. And this is an enormous advantage with regard to contracting tasks. “If the weather is windy, we can apply the spraying agent with a reduced pressure. And the drop spectrum still remains at the adjusted values – even with variable operational speeds. This is a big advantage, especially when applying herbicides in sugar beet“, Hynek Valík confirms. The drift is minimum as the boom can work at a height of 30 cm above the population without any problems. “And the adjusted height really is perfectly kept up during the whole pass. Despite the large working width, the boom always remains smooth“, Hynek Valík describes his experience. The nozzles are placed at the boom with a spacing of 25 cm and the SectionControl system controls sections with a width of 50 cm, so 2 nozzles respectively. If the driver wants to interfere manually, the whole working width is divided into twelve virtual sections.

Due to NightLight with automatic cleaning and a washing equipment the driver can control the spraying cones from the tractor cabin even if it is dark. This is important: for only one third of the spraying tasks are carried out during the day, the remaining two thirds in the night. In this respect it is an enormous advantage that the tractor is automatically controlled in the field by means of the Topcon steering system. At the terminal the driver can see the shape of the field he drives on, which areas have already been treated and for how many hectares he still has spraying mixture in the tank. The section control system automatically eliminates double treatments or gaps, and the driver can rely on a precise control of the boom. If, at night, water has to be refilled or plant protection agents have to be mixed, the useful LED light strips at the bottom side of the flap lid come in handy.

 

Simple handling

Especially if the sprayer is used intensively, its intuitive handling is an enormous asset. The HORSCH Leeb 5 LT is controlled via ISOBUS. Via an icon the spraying template can be called up on the screen of the terminal. You can adjust or select functions (sucking, mixing or spraying etc.). Important functions can be assigned to the tractor joystick as function keys. Two keys are thus reserved for the control of the steering axle of the sprayer. The large wheels can be turned any time if required even if the sprayer is stationary. Another prerequisite for successful contracting is an absolutely faultlessly working sprayer cleaning. To guarantee this, the HORSCH Leeb 5 LT is equipped with the CCS Pro cleaning system. The desired cleaning program can be started quite simply in the tractor cabin by the push of a button. The continuous inside cleaning of the tank and the boom is turned on. Rinsing and cleaning are carried out automatically. According to Hynek Valík the cleaning system works excellently: “Neither with the previous nor with new sprayer did it happen that spraying mixture residues remain in the sprayer.”
This spring Agroprogres Kateřinky tested band application with total herbicides on a crimson clover population. Strip tillage was carried out in the bands with a spacing of 75 cm including fertilisation and the subsequent sowing of maize. The crimson clover in the space between the rows fixes atmospheric nitrogen in the soil.
Agroprogres is also very satisfied with the hectare output of the Leeb 5 LT. It manages 150 ha in an extended shift; the limiting factor are the long drives on the road. If the fields were closer together, the sprayer would even manage 200 ha per day.

Answer to high quantities of straw

Agroprogres Kateřinky have been cultivating their fields without a plough for the second year in a row. The HORSCH cultivator Terrano 6 FM and the depth cultivator Tiger 4 MT are the key machines for tillage. In the contracting sector, too, they have proven their worth. Especially the Tiger 4 MT is a real gain for the company as it can incorporate even large amounts of harvest residues into the soil.
This year, the employees of Agroprogres tested the new single grain seed drill HORSCH Maestro 12.45 CX (twelve rows with a 45 cm spacing) with underground fertilisation for sowing sugar beet. Due to the large central fertiliser tank, they achieved a high hectare output with this machine. Another advantage compared to the beet seed drill is that sowing is possible without any problems even if there is a high amount of harvest residues. The machine coped excellently with these conditions. Accuracy and the quality of the seed placement were on a very high level. The 200 ha of beets sowed this year achieved a yield of 76 tons per hectare.