When the planting time comes, the grain farmer must be ready to entrust his expensive seed to the good soil. His seedbed must be loose, fine and even to give each seed the best lair in which he can germinate vigorously and grow lush to ensure a winning crop.
Neels Steyn and his girlfriend, Soreta Wessels, in front of the beautiful seedbed that the Tatuskotteleg prepared.
This means that the farmer’s fields must be carefully and thoroughly prepared for the planting season. That’s why Louis Claassen Family Trust Farming near Sasolburg uses only the most efficient, strongest, sturdy tool with few moving parts and no frills that can cause downtime – the Tatu disc harrow from Valtrac.
Niel van der Westhuizen, farm manager, says that the farm already has five of these excellent disc harrows, which gives new meaning to their tillage task.
Two of the Claassens’ eggs have 40 dishes each and three each have 28 dishes. They are towed by a 220 kW and a 92 kW tractor, respectively. The 40-disc harrow is 5,205 meters wide and requires a double farm gate to get on the land, but once you start real you are happy about the large patch of earth that cultivates the wide real with each track. On their lands, the Tatu uses between 6 and 8 liters of diesel per hectare and runs the stubble and weeds and clumps of chaff at 10km / h.
ValtracNeels Steyn indicates how the stoppers are used to still reach the desired depth with the shrinking dishes.
“After the cattle have thoroughly utilized the remains on the fields, we pull the dishes twice, crosswise and crosswise, over the fields and then the fields are ready to lie down until planting time. The only other cultivation is just the seedbed preparations that run in front of the planters, ”says Neil.
“With the first blow we lower the dishes about 150 mm deep and when we pass again, the soil is nicely loose so that we can work 200 mm deep. Behind the dish, the stubble and clumps then disappeared completely under the ground, which is also very fine, ”he says. “The only adjustment to the tool is when you want to set the aggressiveness or the angle of the dishes by just adjusting the angle of the two beams, but we set it once and are now dead satisfied,” he says. The angles can be set at 18, 20 and 22 degrees.
“We have found that the dishes for cultivating 1 200 hectares per year last about five to six seasons and we only need to grease the harrow twice a week. The exceptional feature of the Tatu is that each bearing runs in a sealed oil bath, which makes it virtually unbreakable as long as you do not let the bearings of the bearings holding the shafts rub on the ground.
Neil van der Westhuizen, farm manager of the Claassens’ farm, and Samuel Mcqecma are pleased with the 40-dish Tatu oak that creates a seedbed to dream of.
“Between all five dishes, I replace one lower every third season,” says Neil. Kerneels Steyn also farms in the Paris district and he can’t stop talking about Valtrac’s excellent service. “The after-sales service is excellent and it makes the product much more complete. They were immediately on the scene when we had a problem setting up the disc harrow and they were getting ready to fix, not just working for a while. “Every time we needed spare parts, they were immediately available,” he says. “I have now ordered a second dish because the one works so well.”
The disc harrow is perfectly balanced so that it never pulls skewed or works unevenly. Just hook him behind the tractor, lift his wheels to the right height to control the depth to taste and need and pull loose to form a lovely seedbed. Kerneels has a harrow with 36 dishes and is now using it in his second season. The marriage cultivates about 1,300 hectares per season. “Whether the remains on the land are grazed or not, the Tatu does the primary cultivation and depending on the soil moisture and type of soil and type of crop, I send it through once or twice, but twice is the exception.” Just before planting time, we cut in the weeds so that all the seeds can germinate after the first rain and then clean them for planting, ”says Neels, Kerneels’ son.
Attie de Villiers is the man from Valtrac to tell you more about the fresh and muscular Tatu dish. Please contact him at 083-261-9863, 056-817-7308 or attiedev@valtrac.co.za.