DISC seeders have won over a number of fans in Australian cropping over recent years for a number of performance traits.
Accurate seed placement, leading to better germination results, good performance in dry-sowing environments and the ability to operate on uneven ground are all cited as reasons to switch to a disc machine.
However, according to a salesman with a regional John Deere dealership, this year it is all about trash management.
Derek Reid, salesman with Emmetts, based in Rupanyup in Victoria’s Wimmera, said farmers were looking for seeding equipment capable of getting through heavy stubble loads created by last year’s big harvest.
The 90 Series of John Deere disc seeders, including the 1890 No Till Air Drilll and the 1990 CCS models, have added features to ensure they get through heavy residue situations.
The machines have been designed with the discs on an angle of seven degrees to be more aggressive in getting through heavy stubbles.
They also feature 181kg in down pressure to keep seed placement even.
Farmers are concerned that tined machines may not be able to get through the trash, causing issues with hair pinning where the residue wraps around the tine and smearing, where the residue dragged along smears the soil, causing uneven depth placement.
Most of all, there are worries trash will build up on the machine and will need to be cleared every few minutes, making for a pain-staking sowing process.
Mr Reid said along with the trash management, the new 1890 series seeder could go out as large as 18 metres, markedly larger than its predecessor, allowing farmers to get more crop in when they needed to.