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Laid out on the floor with the discharge sock tied off, a drill can be driven over the sheet, the hopper emptied and the machine moved out of the way.
While a 3.0m x 3.0m sheet of heavy-duty PVC might not seem to be cutting edge technology, sometimes the simplest ideas can often be very effective.
The Agricontract SeedSock expands on that basic PVC sheet, featuring lifting loops in each corner and a flexible discharge spout in the middle. It is said to make emptying a seed drill or fertiliser spreader hopper a whole lot easier.
Laid out on the floor with the discharge sock tied off, a drill can be driven over the sheet, the hopper emptied and the machine moved out of the way. The sheet is then gathered up and lifted using pallet forks or a hook attachment on a telehandler or front-end loader.
The 1.4m long outlet ‘sock’ at the centre of the sheet can be untied and the seed residue released into a sack or bulk bag.
Arable farmer Olly Harrison – known primarily for his YouTube videos and farming nearly 2,000 acres in the NW of England – came up with the idea, when he noted the time taken during drilling when changing from one seed variety to another.
By chance, his neighbour manufactured bouncy castles, so was well equipped to manufacture a bespoke “sheet” that could withstand the rigours of life on the farm.
He says that a lot of drills are awkward to empty and usually involve dumping seed on to a concrete floor, then sweeping and shovelling it into a sack. The SeedSock makes the job a whole lot quicker and easier by discharging on to a sheet that turns into a temporary container when lifted off the ground.
Other uses can include emptying a fertiliser spreader hopper after a mechanical break-down or preparing a “home -brew” cover crop seed mixture on the floor, like mixing concrete with a shovel, then loading it from the SeedSock into a drill. The large sheet can also be used to cover empty hoppers or seed or fertiliser on a trailer as weather protection.
The SeedSock is fully tested for CE/UKCA approval with a maximum load rating of 400kg SWL.
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