Direct drilling contractors now have more choice as Aitchison extends its lineup to include the Seedmatic Airpro
The Seedmatic Airpro Airseeder unit provides large farmers and contractors with a 4.8m wide purpose built direct drill for rejuvenating old pastures, as well as any arable sowing jobs, and are the latest in the Aitchison lineup for this coming season.
“Direct drilling contractors have been starved for choice when it comes to drills with a sowing width greater than 3.0m until now,” says Rob Baan, director of Reese Agri. “Aitchison wants to be the drill provider of choice, and aims to have a full lineup of drills to suit all customer requirements.”
The Seedmatic Airpro is a quality, versatile New Zealand made tine drill that offers a 4.8m sowing width, has the ability to sow seed and fertiliser and is only 2.7m wide in transport mode. The mechanics of the airseeder unit are brought in from a renowned European manufacturer. Two compartments, with 1600 and 1000L respectively, offer a large holding capacity for seed and fertiliser. Row spacing is set at 150mm.
The three independent sections of 1.6m make up the overall 4.8m width, which ensures good ground following capability. The drill weighs in at 3600kg and requires a minimum 120hp tractor to operate. Travel width is only 2.7m.
The current Seedmatic 3000, 4000 and 8000 range includes a lineup of tine and disc drills ranging in size from the 16-run 2.4m to the 32-run 4.8m units. Apart from size, there are 34 variations depending on whether the customer wants seed only, seed and fertiliser, disc coulters, trailing kits, or simply 3pt linkage. The unique thing about the Seedmatic range is that you can add features like a fertiliser box or trailing kit at a later stage, Baan says.
The Seedmatic 1000 was first developed in the early 1970s by Peter Aitchison, a pioneer in direct seeding technology in this country. Fitting an inverted T-booth to a tine was one of the Aitchison inventions, which has seen many followers worldwide. Over the years, the Seedmatic range has seen many changes but the philosophy of producing purpose build quality seeders has not changed, Baan says.
Today you will find the Aitchison seed drills in more than 20 countries around the world and apart from the Seedmatic range, there is a great lineup of other specialised drilling equipment, quality ATV and 3pt linkage tractor -mounted fertiliser spreaders in addition to aerators and cultivators. Baan says that Aitchison was one of the first companies in the world to see the potential of actively using ATV bikes as an integrated farming tool and developed the first commercially available ATV towed fertiliser spreader as a result.
The Reese Group, which incorporates UFO, Nairn Harvesters and the Aitchison drill company, has a strong dedication to product development and innovation.
“Our product development strength comes from an in-house team of six dedicated professional development engineers that have more than 70 years of experience between them,” says Baan. “With more than 60 percent of our products ending up overseas in places as diverse as Chile and France, you need to feel confident that they are well designed.”
Baan says there have already been strong inquiries from within New Zealand and Australia for the new Seedmatic Airpro and it won’t be long before this unit will find satisfied customers here as well as off shore.