Placing maize precisely above the liquid manure band
The requirements on services provided by contractors increase continuously. The contractor has to react to this with the corresponding technology but also with the willingness to be open to innovative approaches. The contracting company Wehrendt from Waffensen in Lower Saxony opted for this approach – with great success.
Early summer 2023: On the premises of the contracting company Wehrendt from Wassensen in Lower Saxony the machine halls are empty, the staff park however is completely full! Grass harvest is in full swing, liquid manure is spread on the mown fields, the crop care sprayers are working and maize still has to be sown on some customer fields.
The contracting company in the district of Rotenburg/Wümme that was founded by Heiko and Ralf Wehrendt in 1993, provides a wide range of services. “Except for everything to do with potatoes and sugar beet we offer all agricultural services”, Lukas Wehrendt explains. The agricultural service master who runs the company and in some years will take over as managing director, and his employee Janek Frerks have got their hands full with taking calls from customers, scheduling orders and staff. On days like these when they need every employee this task is even carried out in the tractor cabin.
The district of Rotenburg/Wümme is an agricultural region. It is considered to be the epicentre of biogas production. About 150 plants are currently connected to the grid, and the importance of maize is correspondingly high. “We have adapted our contracting services to these requirements.” In addition to liquid manure spreading services, sowing and harvesting maize plays a major role for the contractor who permanently employs 20 people and about 20 people on a temporary basis. But combining, too, is an important mainstay of sales for the company. Five combines are available for the cereal harvest.
But before the harvest can take place, the seed has to be put into the soil. This also is an important service the Wehrendt contracting company provides.
Precise sowing
A few years ago, the company switched to seeding technology made by HORSCH. “With our previous supplier we more and more had the impression that they did not exhaust all options especially in the seeding sector. As we are a company that again and again takes innovative paths, it was and still is very important to us to rely on technology that offers innovative possibilities”, the contractor states. One of these innovative paths is the use of StripTill technology. A method that is quite demanding for the user. However, in the past years, the Wehrendt company has gained a lot of recognition with this method. “In the meantime, we are already using two StripTill machines, both of which are used to full capacity”, Janek Frerks adds who among others works in the scheduling department of the company.
The service of spreading liquid manure with the StripTill method is booked until well into May. Most recently with a farmer where feeding rye was harvested on one field which then was prepared for sowing maize.
“The liquid manure bands have been placed and today we are sowing maize“, employee Kevin Osmers explains who has already sown about 850 ha of maize this year. He is a trained agricultural services specialist and has been working for the Wehrendt contracting company for three years. His main task in spring is sowing cereals and maize. A field of activity that holds quite some challenges. The sowing density has to be ok, and the grains have to be placed precisely to guarantee optimum starting conditions for the plant.
Optimum compromise
“The working conditions for crop care and the harvest machines are set when sowing. It is now that we already have to pay attention to create optimum conditions for the following working steps“, Kevin Osmers emphasises. For today’s task, however, he has to adjust himself to the conditions that were set some days before with the StripTill method. “During the liquid manure application, track lines were laid which now are the basis for the track control when sowing maize“, Kevin Osmers explains. In addition, the company created an application map to make perfect use of the different soil conditions. In this respect, it is important that the tractor for the application of liquid manure and for the maize seed drill work with the same positioning system.
This day, the single grain seed drill of the HORSCH Maestro line is used. The Maestro RV is combined with a Pronto AS. The 8-row seed drill with a working width of 6 m is an optimum compromise for the contractor who has a lot of customers with rather small fields: on the one hand it is very efficient, on the other hand it is flexible enough to work on complex cut fields. It is equipped with one seed tank per row. In addition to the 3,000 l hopper of the Pronto AS, another 400 l tank is available for fertiliser. Lukas Wehrendt especially appreciates the AirVac metering system which can be used to sow the complete single grain range. The central advantage of the vacuum metering device is: it works with a scraper that does not have to adjusted. You only have to select the correct metering disc. This allows for going beyond the standard single grain range for maize, sugar beet, sunflowers, soya, and rape in the future.
Kevin Osmers appreciates the combination he has been working with for two years. “The machine is easy to handle and it works reliably“, the sowing pro comments. Before he really starts, he checks the position of the maize grains in the soil after the first metres. They are precisely a few centimetres above the liquid manure band.
To work even more efficiently, the DiscSystem of the machine was equipped with two additional discs that are mounted outside the frame. “This guarantees an optimum seed bed“, Kevin Osmers explains.
Defy the dust
To minimise the maintenance effort against the background of the rather dry conditions while sowing, the contracting company had the machine equipped with a central lubrication unit. 53 lubrication spots are connected to the unit. The central lubrication unit guarantees an always sufficient supply with grease and thus prevents dust from getting in. The dense cloud of dust the machines cause this day while sowing maize shows how important this feature is.
After just over an hour, Kevin Osmers has already finished the job on the 3-ha field. There still are two more fields to sow. He does not have to refill seed. The capacity of the eight seed tanks guarantee that these fields can be sown without stopping. These are the last fields where maize has to be sown this year. Kevin Osmers will clean his HORSCH combination thoroughly and prepare it for the winter. Then he can turn to other tasks.
