Friday, 10 November 2023 08:25

Crop care business expands

Written by  Mark Daniel
The full integration of Dutch company Steketee BV into agricultural machinery specialist Lemken will be completed in the coming months. The full integration of Dutch company Steketee BV into agricultural machinery specialist Lemken will be completed in the coming months.

Five years ago, agricultural machinery specialist Lemken acquired the Dutch company Steketee B.V and expanded its crop care product portfolio with implements for mechanical weed control and future-oriented camera-assisted machine guidance.

The full integration of the crop care business will be completed during the coming months and all products will take come in the more familiar blue Lemken colour scheme.

Increasing interest in mechanical weeding solutions has seen sales triple in recent years, necessitating a move by the company to a new site to increase production capability. There is also the likelihood of the current workforce of 60 people doubling in the coming years.

Recently, Lemken released details of its first weeder harrow to round off its range of mechanical weed control implements.

The Thulit harrow is said to break new ground, with four beams and eight rows of harrow tines.

The tine pressure can be continuously adjusted to up to five kilograms on the move, resulting in a precise job, particularly during the early/ sensitive crop growth stages.

Tines are arranged with a spacing of 31.25mm to ensure blockagefree work, using stable, true-to-track, wear-free tine bearings to ensure optimum weed removal.

A straightforward quickchange system makes it easy to replace harrow tines. The Thulit features precise and continuous ground contour. Following with consistent tine pressure, making it a versatile implement – even on uneven ground and operating in ridge grown crops.

Generous clearance height and smart design removes the need for the usual springs and the chances of plants getting caught beneath the frame.

The hydraulic system also supports width control within the frame sections to avoid multiple passes across parts of the field.

A key part of the design brief was to minimise frame weight and has been achieved by reducing the number of moving parts, allowing Thulit to be operated on smaller tractors with lower lifting capacities.

A further benefit of the reduced componentry is that the driver also has a clear view of the harrow tines allowing a better oversight of the final work results.

The Thulit harrow will initially be available in early 2024 in limited quantities with working widths of six and nine metres

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Case IH Wins EIMA Award for Optum Suspension System

With the biannual Italian EIMA machinery Expo less than a month away, Case IH has taken out a Technical Evolution award for the Advanced Vehicle Suspension system available on its Optum 360–440 series tractors.

The Advanced Vehicle Suspension system, available on Optum 360, 390, and 440 models, responds to changing conditions, automatically adjusting how the suspension reacts to absorbs shocks and controlling vehicle movement.

In operation, sensors monitor the vibrations transmitted from the tractor chassis to the operator cabin, allowing the system to adjust suspension damping in real time. The control system incorporates key priorities, such as comfort at lower speeds and stability as speed increases, while also reacting to factors such as lower tyre pressures, where the tyres absorb more of the initial shock.

Case IH said as suspension requirements change throughout the working day, as tractors move between the paddock and road transport, the system manages suspension response in the background as tasks, speeds and conditions change, leaving the operator without the need to make manual adjustments.

Richard Hollins, Optum series tractors global product manager, said: “Pioneering technology must earn its place in the working day. Farmers and contractors will judge an investment by what it delivers, including manageable ownership costs, dependable up-time and the versatility to tackle different jobs. With AVS, we are putting intelligent control to work for comfort and stability, without giving the operator another setting to manage.”

Organised by FederUnacoma, the Italian Agricultural Machinery Manufacturers Federation, the contest has been part of EIMA since 1986, with the Technical Evolution distinction awarded to products that introduce original improvements to solutions already manufactured or patented.

www.caseih.com

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