Seed Drill

Overview

A seed drill plants grain crops at a set spacing and depth, doing in one pass what was once broadcasting seed by hand and harrowing it in. Towed behind a tractor on its Main Frame & Hitch, the drill opens a furrow for each row, drops metered seed into it, and closes the soil over the top so every seed sits at a uniform depth in firm contact with moist soil. Even placement is what raises germination and yield over broadcasting.

Seed travels from the Seed Hopper through the Metering Units units, which set how much is sown per hectare. Granular fertiliser is dosed in parallel from a separate Fertiliser Hopper so the crop is fed as it is planted. On the road the frame lifts onto its Transport Wheels wheels and the wings fold to a legal width.

How it works

A ground-driven Land Wheel Drive turns the metering shaft so the seed rate tracks travel speed automatically, go faster and the rollers spin faster, keeping kilograms-per-hectare constant. Each fluted roller scoops a fixed volume per turn; changing the rate gearbox ratio, or driving the shaft with the electric variable-rate motor, resets the rate. Metered seed feeds a Seed Distribution head that splits the flow evenly down a tube to every row.

At the soil, each Coulter Row Unit does the placement: a double-disc opener cuts a clean furrow, a boot drops seed into its base, a gauge wheel holds depth, and a down-pressure spring keeps the disc cutting in hard ground. Behind the openers the Press Wheel Gang firms soil over the seed, and a trailing Trailing Harrow levels the surface.

The operator sets and watches everything through the Rate Controller system, which holds the target rate, drives the variable-rate motor, and uses GPS section sensors to shut off rows on headlands and overlaps so seed is not double-planted. Before a field, the rate is checked by catching a measured discharge in the calibration tray and weighing it.