DRIVING IMPRESSION: Novag has been quietly poking away at the UK direct drill market, with a number of machines now finding homes here. We take a look at how the coulter system works to see how it is different to other drills.
Just as there are many ways to skin a cat, there are many ways to direct drill a crop. French firm Novag relies on a system that comprises a disc opener with coulter shoes on either side, like an inverted T. Among other things, this coulter arrangement counteracts hair-pinning, where organic material is pushed into the furrow created by the disc and prevents the seed achieving adequate soil contact.
We were in the field with a T-Force Plus 450CT. The T-Force Plus is Novag’s only drill range to date, with the ‘4’ indicating the working width of 4.0 metres and the ‘50’ standing for the current fifth generation. The ‘CT’, in turn, is a reference to controlled traffic, which means that the working width is actually 4.50m to fit in with a 27m to 36m tramline system.
Split hopper
Regardless of which working width you opt for, Novag equips all versions with a double hopper. On our featured machine, the overall hopper capacity is 4,200 litres, which can be split 53:47 or 64:36 by shifting the bolted-in partition wall. The seed and fertiliser are metered by hydraulically powered Accord units. The application rate is set using a spindle to determine the size of the cell
wheel opening. All straightforward tried and tested stuff.
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