Overview tillage - strategies, concepts, innovations

The practical requirements for tillage technology are varied. In terraHORSCH, we provide an overview of tried and tested machines and innovations.

From shallow to deep, from disc to tine - the tillage portfolio is diverse and offers an almost customised solution for every farm. Every machine has its justification and its specific purpose. The trick is to combine the requirements and expectations of the customer with the equipment and assets of the machines to find an optimal synergy. The more fields of application there are, the more specialised the machine has to be - hence the variety. There is not the one machine that can be used for everything. The functionality of the component and its optimum integration into the machine are always important.

Deep tillag

From universal cultivators to specialised solutions for extreme conditions, Fortis, Tiger and Terrano cover the cultivation spectrum up to a tillage depth of 35 cm. While the Fortis has been designed as a universal cultivator, the Tiger offers advantages in particularly heavy or dry soils. The Terrano, on the other hand, impresses due to its compact design and flexibility for a wide range of operating conditions.

Fortis

The Fortis family includes the well-proven Fortis AS and the new Fortis LT. Both models are characterised by a 4-bar design and a tine spacing of 27 cm for intensive mixing. Due to their robust design, the cultivators can be used for hardest operating conditions. The Fortis has been designed as a universal cultivator and can be adapted to a wide variety of sites due to the wide range of available packers. For this series, the optional packer angle adjustment allows for reacting quickly to changing conditions. The objective is to achieve an even surface on the field. The two cultivators mainly differ with regard to their range of applications.

The Fortis AS is available in working widths from 5.60 to 8.90 m and is particularly ideal for large farms with more than 1,000 hectares. Due to the robust frame concept, it can also be used in combination with tractors from 500 hp as well as with any caterpillar combinations. The new Fortis LT expands the series with a cultivator that is ideal for medium-sized and larger farms with up to 1,000 ha and tractors up to 500 hp. The LT is significantly more compact and shorter and is available in working widths from 4.60 to 6.75 m.

Tiger

The HORSCH Tigers are designed for hard, heavy and dry conditions with a lot of organic matter on the fields. With the Tiger AS and Tiger MT, two trailed cultivators are currently on the market which are characterised by their robust design and the ability to cultivate the soil deeply and mix it in intensively. The Tiger AS is ideal for intensive mixing, especially in narrow rotations, and is considered an alternative to inversion tillage. The deep breaking of the soil with narrow points produces comparatively smaller soil aggregates which is particularly advantageous on heavy and dry soils. An advantage of the Tiger MT in very dry conditions is the option of working with discs and a tine zone on two levels. In these conditions, the disc produces more fine soil than the tine and ensures intensive mixing and high clearance even with a lot of organic matter. This makes the Tiger MT ideal for incorporating grain maize straw, sunflowers and catch crops. The Tiger AS has a significantly narrower tine spacing which ensures more intensive and even mixing while the Tiger MT is designed for greater clearance and higher quantities of organic matter. The Tiger SL expands the series with a 3-point machine based on the well-proven Tiger concept. The idea behind it is to offer a solution to customers in small-structured regions who appreciate the tine spacing and intensive mixing of the Tiger but are looking for a more compact 3-point machine. This cultivator will be presented for the first time at the Agritechnica in November.

Terrano

The Terrano is the absolute classic in the tillage portfolio. With the FX, HORSCH offers a compact 3-bar cultivator with low horsepower requirement, a three-point linkage and an enormously wide range of applications. It can be used for shallow, all-over stubble cultivation as well as for intensive loosening and mixing. Due to its robust design, it can cope with hardest operating conditions, has a long service life and is ideal for small and medium-sized farms.

The Terrano MT has primarily been designed for very wet and heavy conditions where a lot of organic matter only has to be worked in very shallowly, but deep loosening without mixing is still required. Coarse soil components remain in the soil. This special working method is achieved by a combination of disc and tine zone. The leading, 2-row disc zone mixes the organic matter shallowly into the topsoil while the following tine zone breaks up and loosens the soil at depth. This prevents aerobic conditions when the organic material decomposes. The product family is completed with the Terrano FM. It is the specialist for tillage without a packer and is ideal, for example, for farms that use a cultivator for winter furrowing.

Shallow tillage

In the sector of shallow tillage, the HORSCH portfolio offers solutions for a wide range of requirements. The Finer stands for versatile use all year round while the Cruiser is ideal for intensive stubble cultivation. The Joker disc harrows allow for fast, shallow cultivation while the Cultro knife roller ensures minimum soil movement and maximum crushing.

Finer

The Finer can be used flexibly all year round. The spring tine cultivator is ideal for seedbed preparation, stubble cultivation, mechanical weed control as well as for keeping the soil brown or for incorporating catch crops. For hard conditions and dry soils, the optional double springs are recommended which provide the tines with additional stability. The Finer SL is the classic 4-bar spring tine machine. The compact design makes it a manoeuvrable 3-point solution. The new Finer XL completes the series with a trailed machine with a 6-bar mounting. The Finer XL is ideal for light and medium sites with a medium amount of straw. In spring in particular, it is an efficient solution for seedbed preparation or the incorporation of liquid manure if a correspondingly high work rate is required.

Cruiser

The Cruiser is a special machine designed for perfect stubble cultivation. By precisely guiding the point at a defined working depth of max. 15 cm, the cultivator can break stubble perfectly and distribute the straw ideally. Therefore, it is used primarily on high-yield sites with large quantities of organic matter and in tight rotations where perfect mixing plays a major role - this is precisely where the Cruiser offers an added value compared to the Finer. Due to its 6-bar design, the Cruiser XL mixes and distributes excellently. The high clearance at the tine shaft also allows for high quantities of harvest residues. Due to its design, it is heavier than the Finer XL and also comes with a stable FlexGrip tine.

Joker

The disc harrows of the Joker series are used for shallow, intensively mixing stubble cultivation, for keeping the soil black and for seedbed preparation. To ensure intensive mixing, the operational speed should range between 10 and 18 km/h - the result is a high work rate. In contrast to the tine tools, the horsepower requirement of the disc harrows is lower.